On Top of the Bottom of the World

---

As soon as life begins to fall into a routine that seems as though I could be living it anywhere on earth, all I need to do is look out the window at the incredible mountain ranges surrounding McMurdo and my breath is lost when I realize where I am. Every time I hear someone complain about the unexciting dinner options, infrequency of incoming mail packages due to backed-up flights, or prevalence of muddy volcanic-ash around town, I go for a hike beyond this Americanized bubble and once again remember how incredible it is that our lives are so “normal” here. And just as soon as I have begun to learn everyone’s name in the Carp Shop, where tools and supplies are kept, and how to operate each machine without loosing a finger or two, it was Thanksgiving break (2 days off!) and then I was told I was to go to Granite Harbor to “pull out” (take down) a field camp which is as far from “routine” as imaginable. Ah, what a life!

A lot of you have asked about my daily life here in McMurdo. Well, it has the tendency to be pretty boring or amazingly exciting, depending on the weather, work orders, and my personal motivation to get out and explore in the evenings and Sundays. Have I mentioned that it’s always sunny so there’s no “night” to limit the possibilities of activities?!? I usually wake up around 6:30AM, put on Polypropylene long underwear and Carhartts, grab some coffee and breakfast from the dining hall downstairs, and ascend the Goat Path to the Carp Shop at the top of town. From there we have a morning meeting at 7:30 every morning, followed by a healthy round of stretching (which actually gets billed on our time cards as a separate code!) before starting our tasks. As I mentioned before, the Carp Shop builds a lot of wooden boxes to hold a variety of things from solar panels to heaters to cook stoves to outhouse facilities. We also make all the signs around town, fill “honey-do” lists for science crews, deliver propane to and make repairs on all the nearby field camps, and put-in/pull-out all of the deep field camps as needed by science crews on NSF grants. It’s always really busy at the shop because a bunch of people are out at a variety of field camps at any given time and everyone here is building stuff, fixing things, making structures RFI (Ready-For-Issue), painting things, and delivering it all around town but it’s always jovial and friendly. Since we’re not getting paid by the job and our whole goal is to “support science,” there’s a nice, relaxed atmosphere of getting every job done well and not rushed. All my coworkers are super friendly and very willing to answer all my questions and help me out. Everyone here is actually tooo nice and I've been seeking out the (very few) other New Yorkers just in case I ever have the urge to curse someone out one of these days. People keep looking at me like I'm from Mars when I tell them I'm from New York City (about 90%!o(MISSING)f the people here are either from Alaska or Colorado) and one of the scientists even called me "conversationally confrontational" but I took it as a compliment. I also take pride in the fact that everyone has told me, "You don't sound like you're from New York." Whew! I told them they should speak on the phone to some of my relatives... At work we have 2 breaks (10AM and 3PM) where we all crowd into the break room for a massive feeding frenzy and coffee/tea/espresso inhalation while we take in the view of town out the huge windows. We break for an hour at noon to go down to the galley for lunch, and I’m usually ready for dinner (Again in the galley! It’s a popular place…) right after work ends at 5:30. And I repeat this 6 days/week. Boring? Not quite! Every night of the week there are so many things going on that I have yet to even scratch the surface. We have a 1961 bowling alley (see photos), climbing walls, an open gym, a “gerbil gym” (treadmills and such), 3 bars (the Coffeehouse/wine bar that often hosts acoustic musicians, Southern Exposure, the smoking bar that I have yet to step foot in, and Gallagher’s, the typical bar that has larger bands performing along with darts, shuffle board and foosball), a ceramics studio, crafts room and well-stocked library. There are also classes being offered in everything from belly dancing to Spanish, open leagues of dodge ball, ultimate frisbee, darts, etc, and weekly travelogue and science lectures that are always sound promising but are often presented by brilliant people with no presentation skills (ie stage presence) which can make any fascinating topic seem like an awful lecture. Oh well, at least the photos in their Powerpoints are always stunning. Speaking of people, there are well over 1100 really interesting folks living around me who are friendly and love to tell their stories and learn about your life. As someone who likes to talk a lot, I have passed countless hours nursing a large mug of hot beverage, munching on some of the amazing desserts that our chefs whip up, and chatting about everything and nothing with fellow Mac-towners (as McMurdo-ites are often referred to) deep into the “night.” Plus, since the sun never sets to remind you to go to sleep, 4PM and 4AM look exactly alike which is still eerie but incredible.

As I mentioned, we had a rejuvenating 2 day weekend for Thanksgiving, which we celebrated (in style!) on Saturday (my birthday!). Checking the calendar I was bummed that my birthday would not fall on the holiday this year, but in Antarctica everything relating to a calendar seems arbitrary (time is tied to New Zealand for supply flights, it’s always tomorrow compared to America, and seasons are cold, cold, colder, coldest) so it was fitting to pick Saturday for our Thanksgiving. On Friday afternoon we got out of work early for an All-Hands meeting where as many people as possible cram into the galley (dining hall) and the Station Manager and department representatives went over policy changes and upcoming events. On Saturday I slept in and missed the annual 5K Turkey Trot but I decided skip my lagging laundry and graduate school applications to climb Observation Hill as a birthday treat to myself. I picked the most incredible day we have had so far- the sky was cloudless, wind was relatively calm and the visibility was unparalleled! It’s a 20 minute steep scramble up unstable volcanic rocks and accumulated snow, but the view from the top is unrivaled. At the top I started talking to some of the deep water divers who hiked up right after me, and learned that one is from Dover Plains, NY. Small world! I took lots of photos (including a 360* sequence of shots of every mountain range in our surroundings) and then sat down on a warm stone to drink my coffee, eat a pastry and write in my journal for almost an hour. I was literally on top of the bottom of the world and it was one of the most empowering moments of my life. Once the winds began to pick up I descended and made it back to my dorm just as my suitemates (I live in the only suite in our building- there are 4 rooms for 14 people branching off a cozy common area with couches and a TV) were microwaving nachos made of stolen ingredients (chips from the Crary science building, cheese and salsa from brunch, jalapeno peppers from who-knows-where, and a highly-coveted fresh avocado that someone had bribed off a recent arrival from New Zealand) that hit the spot, birthday style! We all dressed up in our finest clothes for Thanksgiving dinner (I put on my only skirt but only had sneakers to wear with it!) and ate in shifts (3PM, 5PM, 7PM or midnight) because everyone lingered for a while. I had been planning on breaking my vegetarianism on such a holiday but there were so many amazing looking vegetarian options that I settled for turkey stuffing and lots of other classic side dishes. The chefs went all-out (they even flew in fresh shrimp and chocolate-covered strawberries!) and the galley staff put out cloth tablecloths and festive decorations. In return, many people volunteered to wash dishes that evening and otherwise help with the massive meal. I, on the other hand, decided to take a volunteer-free night for my birthday and in the process met 4 (yes, 4!) other people on station who share my birthday. I’ve met very few people born on November 24th so this was quite unexpected. I have yet to meet another Betty in Antarctica, but I’m still searching…

The next morning I got up early because I had signed up for a Delta trip to Cape Evans. At breakfast I met an educator working with the ANDRILL team who lives on 1st Ave and 1st St, three blocks from my apartment in NYC, and works with one of my NYU classmates at Columbia University. What a small world! I then bundled up in ECW (extreme cold weather) gear and boarded the Delta with an assortment of Air National Guard members, research scientists and others for this recreational trip. We traveled about an hour and a half to visit a historic hut built by Robert Falcon Scott (Wikipedia him for info about his race to the South Pole to which he was second behind the winning Roald Amundsen but died whilst trying to return to this base camp) where he and his men overwintered while waiting to cross the continent. The cold, dry climate has preserved everything perfectly and you can walk around the hut and check out all the old cans and bottles of preserved food (knowing that the explorers died of lack of food on their journey), the tiny bunks, the numerous leather and seal-skin clothes and boots, and even a dead penguin splayed out on the table for scientific experiments. It’s amazing to put our pampered life into perspective when you see how they survived the harshness of Antarctica! The drive there was slow because we were in a Delta (photos coming soon) going about 6 mph on a sea ice “road” north along the peninsula of Ross Island but the scenery was great and the humming and bouncing of the Delta quickly lulled me to sleep. On the way back we stopped to check out some weddell seals that were sunning themselves near crevasses on the sea ice and even stood near an air hole while one emerged from the icy waters below for some gulps of oxygen. From afar they look like slugs but once you get up close (but not too close- they are protected by the Antarctic Treaty and humans cannot interrupt their behavior) they are adorable and furry. Plus, they are so blubbery that they’re awkward on land and move like inchworms or just lay and bake in the sun. What a life…

Random Antarctic Story: According to legend, along the ill-fated journey back from the South Pole one of Scott’s men, Oates, was so badly afflicted by frostbite and felt that his disability was endangering the remainder of the party such that one morning he stepped out of the tent into a blizzard with the memorable words "I am just going outside and may be some time," and was never seen again nor was his body every recovered.

---

Comments

[Judith Parker]

Maps
Just clicked on the map of Antarctica and realized that on the map you are south of the South Pole, which in some weird way (similar to negative numbers in mathematics?) actually puts you North of the South Pole.... a real challenge for us directionally-challenged folks. BTW, I saw some of the new images of Antarctica released by NASA-- dubbed the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica --- a realistic, nearly cloudless view of the southernmost continent with a resolution 10 times greater than in previous images. Amazing!