Frosty Boy

South Pole
-31.6C, -24.9F
(wind chill: -44.2C, -47.5F)



People are talking about the heat wave today. It has been colder than normal temperatures and today brought lighter winds. I overheard one guy say he only wore a "light jacket." It's amazing how the body adapts very quickly to the weather. It's all relative. When I was in McMurdo, it was -15F and felt very warm to me. I even saw some mud that was in the direct sunlight. The weather is like anything else. You adapt and you actually DO get used to it, even in these very cold temperatures. It should even warm up to 0C around late Dec/early Jan!

Stacia, one of my fellow HAPE evacuees, and I made it back to the South Pole without incident, although we almost missed the plane. In the wee early hours, long before our transport time of 7:15am, someone decided to pull the fire alarm. Now, we’ve all been through many business mandatory fire drills, but those in Antarctica are different. First, when you evacuate a building you need to put on as much gear protecting yourself from the elements as the firemen themselves. Second, the 24 hr blinding sunlight fools your mind into thinking it’s the middle of the day. Going back to your darkened room and trying to go back to bed after you peel off your layers is a major chore. Stacia and I were asleep for only a second when the transporter called our room wondering where we were. For the second time in 6 hours our hearts leapt out of our chests as we jumped out of bed, threw on our 17 layers of ECW, and stumbled and wobbled as fast as any stay puffed marshmallow men can up a steep hill to the transport. The transport bus whisked us out to the ice runway, or ski-way, just as I was coughing up another lung and undoing all my recouping efforts.

This LC-130 ride was different than the first three. Stacia and I were the only passengers. There wasn’t even any cargo besides our personal bags. I asked why such an empty flight to the Pole? The crew explained that we were transporting several hundreds of pounds of fuel in the wings for the Pole. I guess if we crash, it will be a warm landing. The 5 person crew let us hang out in the cockpit for as long as we wanted and shared bags of M&M’s with us. We were able to stretch out and sleep on those oh, so comfy netting chairs. Being from North Dakota and the great expanse of the outdoors, I’m pretty certain that I’ve peed more outside than I have inside. So, I am just as shocked as you to realize that I’d developed this strange aversion to peeing conditions. It must be a girl thing. Nonetheless, I sucked it up and with such a small audience I had to brave the LC-130 bathroom. I was relieved to discover the rumors weren’t true! Aside from the lovely green shower curtain and the feeling of going in the middle of a room, it was better than most bar bathrooms. There was even a very nice, warm heater blowing up the, well, you know, to keep everything toasty. I could have sat there all day.

I love the friendly, small town feel of the Pole! My executive chef, James Brown, was out in the -80.3F wind chill once again to greet me off the plane, give hugs, and carry my bag. It was so cold that is was an instant ice cream headache all over the body along with all the air being sucked out of you. I panted the short walk to the main station and the tip of my nose that was exposed got frostbite in less than 2 minutes. I was settled in a big, comfy room in the main station as part of the new acclimation plan and then wondered into the galley. Right away when I was recognized, someone yelled into the galley “Stephanie’s back!” and then I continued to receive hugs and well wishes and “welcome back” over and over again and not just from galley workers, but from everyone. It felt great to be “home”! It’s truly amazing how quickly you connect with people you normally may not when you’re thrown down the same path.

After all of the “welcome backs,” the hugs, and the questions answered about HAPE and the drama of the medi-evac, the first thing everyone had to tell me was about Frosty Boy. “Did you hear!? Frosty Boy is back!” Once again, when life is broken down into its simplest elements and is very routine, the tiniest, smallest things make everything else bearable. “Did you hear? Frosty Boy now has chocolate and twist!” Frosty Boy is the soft serve ice cream machine. They’ve never had chocolate before. I very much start to feel like I’m in 6th grade when I round another corner. “Frosty Boy was down last week and they had to get a special part. There was almost a riot.” They had Frosty Boy in McMurdo and it was so popular that they always ran out and so it was only available for a few days after the weekly food delivery, and they didn’t have chocolate. I walk down a hallway “Hey welcome back! Did you hear about the Frosty Boy?”

I just don’t understand the obsession. It’s more popular than coffee. These days it averages -45F (-80 wind chill) and most people work all or part of their day outside. I work inside and have never had a Frosty boy, here or at McMurdo, and all I can think about is pouring the hottest, scalding beverage down my throat to warm up. If I’m lucky, I’ll get blisters. I don’t want to eat something that is freezing cold and looks exactly like you just walked outside to a snow bank with a giant spoon and a bowl. If Frosty Boy ran for President of Antarctica he would win and I highly doubt there would be negative campaign ads or any competition for that matter. In fact, if Frosty Boy would promise to never break down, he could be King of Antarctica. I stopped to greet one of the station administrators and said “Do you realize that the entire fate of successful operations and scientific missions at the South Pole is dependant on Frosty Boy?” He answered “Oh, believe me, we know!” I wonder if they’ll decide to put more money into the Frosty Boy than the Pole telescopes. I wonder if it’s eligible for National Science Foundation funding. I wonder if good ole’ Frosty could use that money for his political campaign. Maybe Frosty would be more warm hearted that some of American’s politicians.