One Long Day

-21.7 C (-16.8 F)
wind chill: -39.9 C (-39.6 F)

Christmas tree made from scrap metal at the South Pole.

On the morning of December 26 (Christmas Day in America), I had just sent out several emails and was just about to make a few phone calls home when the fire alarms sounded. It was 9:00 am. We had been waiting for the mass casualty incident (MCI) drill to happen any day so the alarms weren’t entirely unexpected. Just as I was mustering on my ECW to respond to the call and announcement was made that emergency response was needed in the power plant. Shortly thereafter another announcement was made to shut down all non-critical power and all non-emergency personnel was to gather in the galley. It became quickly apparent that it wasn’t a drill.

I grabbed equipment from one of my fellow responders and ran down the beer can to the tunnel entrance of the power plant. Once there, we were greeted by several firefighters and air that was thick with a strange smoke and rancid smell. As soon as we put down our gear, another call came on the radios for trauma team members to gather at Destination Zulu (DZ: our main entrance) to transport 2 patients to medical. I ran up one flight of stairs in the beer can, out the first outside entrance, and around the station to DZ. There were only 3 others there when I arrived. We needed a minimum of 6 to transport each patient up the very steep and long outside stairs of DZ and then up a second set of inside stairs to get to medical. We started to flag down every passer-by we saw to help.

A snowmobile zooming out the main entrance of the power plant Quonset pulling a sled with the first patient on a gurney soon arrived. I helped transport the first patient and then stayed in medical with the other medical team members as we prepped the room and awaited the other patient. As we unwrapped the first patient from the ECW sleeping bag and gurney I will never forget as Doc Jay stood on one side and I on the other. Jay calmly said “Ok, since this is a drill we’ll just slowly have you move over here.” The patients eyes got huge and then stared back at me, then to Jay, then back to me. I said a little sheepishly (as I wasn’t certain myself), “this isn’t a drill.” Charlie, who is the communications coordinator between medical and the rest of the outside teams, quickly received confirmation that it wasn’t a drill. The atmosphere in the room changed in a split second. Normally during a drill we simulate opening sterile equipment and using oxygen in order to preserve the supplies on station. All of a sudden, everything was being ripped opened, clothes were being torn off, and a second ER bed was being set up. There were 5 of us working in medical, including the 2 doctors.

As the second patient arrived, the story of what had happened slowly filtered into the room. Apparently there was some minor maintenance being conducted on the operating generator (#3) when the exhaust gas heat exchanger has a pressure build up and the valves that normally default to open defaulted to close. The generators all recapture the exhaust for fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions. As the pressure built up, a weak soldered joint blew causing hot steam and glycol to leak from everything. The glycol vaporized as it came in contact with the hot generator resulting in smoke and fumes to quickly fill the power plant. Four people were present when the exchanger failed. They all hit the ground from the large boom of the joint blowing and ran out. The outside “oh shit” button failed and the plant operator ran back in to hit the manual, inside “oh shit” button. As glycol continued to rain down on both generators #3 and #2, the system was switched to the emergency power plant. Generator #1 was already in desperate need for an overhaul and not able to be put on-line. The emergency power plant is not equipped to handle the full load of the stations needs and with no back-up generator in place, all non-critical power was shut down.

The first two patients had been sprayed with glycol and had inhaled glycol fumes of which carbon monoxide can by a by product. As the day wore on, a total of 6 patients came to medical for treatment. At one point, glycol was raining down the walls and from the ceiling as clean-up workers stood in 2-3 inches of glycol already on the floor. The massive clean-up effort resulted in more than 23 55-gallon drums of glycol being cleaned up.
It was a completely exhausting day emotionally and physically. Since we were on emergency power for most of the day, all the Jamesways were evacuated (no heat) and most people were confined to the dinning room. All non-critical equipment that was shut down included all kitchen equipment and the walk-in coolers. The majority of the clean-up effort and management of those with glycol inhalation took until 4:00 pm. People were laying and sleeping all over in the hallways. Since Francie and I were busy with our trauma teams and didn’t report to work, the rest of the galley workers pitched in and made sandwiches for everyone. When everything was under control in medical I started to work in the galley as we now had to keep fed some very exhausted rescue and trauma workers. Francie eventually showed up and we had sandwiches and jello again for supper. Although exhausted and stressed, both of us then completed our galley shifts.

They flew in additional power plant mechanics from McMurdo and were able to get one of the generators back up and running by early evening. They were then able to open up Summer Camp so everyone was able to go back to their Jamesways and sleep. We were still on extreme power conservation since we didn't have a back-up generator working until the next morning.
To say we were extremely lucky is an understatement! Everyone who needed medical treatment recovered fairly quickly and no one needed to be medi-evac’d. Between what could have been severe steam burns, CO inhalation, and electrocution through all the glycol raining through the system and standing on the floor – one person estimated we should have had a minimum of six casualties.

Needless to say, very few people were able to call home and wish their families a Merry Christmas. I was too exhausted and in shock at the enormity of the situation to feel anything on December 26. The next day the feelings came rushing in as I began to feel the scariness and vulnerability of life on this beautiful continent once again. There is no doubt that all of us were the recipient of a Christmas miracle. None of our friends or colleagues was seriously hurt when in all reasonability they should have been.

I have never been so proud to work with any group of people than all of those on the trauma and medical teams! Everyone worked extremely hard to manage the situation and was amazing! For some of the trauma team members, this was the first time they had participated in a real trauma and were first responders to a real patient. Everyone had an amazing ability to stay calm and focused. Personally, I was very proud to receive a letter of accomplishment from Dr. Bruce for my efforts on that day. It certainly wasn’t necessary as I didn’t do anything above and beyond anyone else. Everyone’s performance on that day gave me complete confidence and excessive pride in the South Pole’s ability to respond to an MCI. Ironically, the surprise MCI drill was to have happened that afternoon at 2:00 pm. Needless to say, it was determined that we no longer needed an MCI drill.

The day after the incident in the power plant was my day off. I was exhausted from working both Christmas Eve and Day and the trauma incident. Several days earlier, I had set aside a bagel fully labeled with my name (one of the last bagels on station) for my breakfast on my day off. Blue from the holidays and stressed from the trauma the day before, I didn’t care to talk to anyone and was REALLY looking forward to my bagel. As I walked to the galley I was devastated to discover that it had just been eaten by the morning sous chef! It’s all about the little things at Pole. The little things can either make or break your day and someone stealing my bagel on this day was really bad timing! In my exhausted and frustrated state all I could do was call my sister and cry about my missing bagel. My reality side knew that it was JUST a bagel and in light of the previous day’s events, I should have been able to put it into perspective – but I used my stolen bagel to unleash all of my loneliness of the holidays, homesickness, and the anguish, stress, vulnerability, and exhaustion that had accumulated over the previous days. My AM sous chef never saw what hit her. Eventually we were able to patch things up. (After all, it had only been the 3rd time she stole my food.) My sister promised to have bagels for me when I get home.

Me in the galley preparing Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve, 2006.

Merry Christmas!!

-31.3C (-24.3F)
wind chill: -40.8C (-41.4F)

Merry Christmas!!

For the past few weeks now I’ve been trying and trying to figure out why it didn’t feel like Christmas at the South Pole. We have all the makings for Christmas. It’s definitely white, the decorations are up, and dinner is planned. We’ve had the “family” squabbles that always come up around the holidays. (In the galley, ours are mainly about how many hours of Christmas music can be tolerated without someone having to go to medical.)

Being Christmas can be a lonely and depressing time for many people far from home, management wouldn’t put up the holiday decorations until one week before. Their theory is it shortens the Christmas season triggering less depression. Nonetheless, someone put together a Charlie Brown Christmas tree out of scraps and placed it next to the Pole. It looks very cute in that sad, pathetic kind of way especially being it has such a prominent place at the apex of the Earth. Several large chunks of snow now surround the Pole. They’ve been moved there from other areas around the station for a snow sculpting contest. A few of them have been sculpted and look amazing!

Christmas is celebrated at the Pole similar to Thanksgiving. We have our big Christmas dinner yesterday, on Christmas Eve. The reasoning being that the majority of people have Christmas Eve and Day off from work and it’s better to overindulge before a day off than before a work day. On Christmas Eve the Santa Bowl took place which is a Rugby Match between cargo and fuels outside on the ice and snow. The snow and ice aren’t that forgiving and Sven from Sweeden dislocated his collar bone on the first play of the game. The dinning room was once again transformed for the big feast by blocking out the windows, fancy linens, candles, lights, and Christmas trees. Those of us in the galley worked all week and prepared beef Wellington, real mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, chocolate ganache cake, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and Christmas sugar cookies to serve the 244 people on station.

Today, Christmas Day, I work again along with JB and Will giving the rest of the galley staff the day off. The Annual South Pole Race Around the World will take place in which anyone can walk, sled, run, ski, or use any method of non-motorized transport to go around the station and the Pole three times for a total of 2 miles. It’s my understanding that most people dress up really crazy and invent crazy modes of transportation for this race. Immediately afterwards, we put on a spectacular Christmas brunch for everyone. The day is then filled with groups getting together to open gifts sent from their families, a Christmas movie marathon, last week’s football tapes, and Quiz Club Christmas trivia contest.

As I was still struggling to figure out why it didn’t feel like Christmas, I began to wonder if the commercialization actually contributed to the holiday feelings. All of us dream about a Christmas in absence of the commercials, malls, sales, marketing, craziness, and hectic life that happens this time of year, but now that I’ve experienced it, there seems to be a real void where that stuff goes. Perhaps it’s from all the years of conditioning that the stress and craziness are just a part of Christmas.

In the northern hemisphere, Christmas happens during the darkest time of year with the shortest hours of daylight. Being there are 24 hours of daylight, it really does just seem like one long day. I often forget which day of the week it is. The darkness makes the Christmas lights seem brighter and brings an air of coziness to the brightly lit houses.

During a conversation on the lack of the feeling of Christmas, my friend Bill mentioned that the sound of children was missing. We haven’t heard the laughter, playing, crying, silliness, or innocence that is children in over 2 months. In his normal life, Bill would hang out with his nieces and nephews on a weekly basis. I realized that this was it for me! The reason a Christmas feeling was missing. The excited and wide eyed children remind us that Christmas means happiness, innocence and hope; a new beginning. Children allow us to become children again, revisiting memories and gaining shear joy from giving.

The day before Christmas Eve, my friend, Stacia, reserved one of the movie lounges and played Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Christmas Concert special. As cheesy and nerdy as it sounds, I knew this would be the one thing that I could do for myself that would make my Christmas. Before seat belts and car seats were determined to be important, my mom would rock each of us to sleep as we drove long distances in the dark North Dakota winter as she would sing Peter, Paul, and Mary songs. All you would see is the snow drifting across the road shining in the headlights, hearing the wind and my mom’s singing. I drank my bottle of wine and became nostalgic as the concert special brought back those memories of Christmas past that normally children’s voices do. That was my Christmas. That was when I felt like Christmas.

Today the South Pole web cam will be directly pointed at 90 degrees South and capture a traditional flag rising for POW/MIA and the Race Around the World. It will be up from 8 am – 12 pm (2 pm – 6 pm CST). http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/spwebcam.cfm

A Harsh Continent

-32.1 C (-25.8F)
wind chill: -41.9C (-43.5)

The Happy Camper group getting ready to go home. I'm in the middle with my hood up.

Just after telling you all about the nice creature comforts the South Pole has to offer, I need to remind myself that Antarctica is a harsh continent.

All of these comforts have been instituted because of the very long and hard work hours in the harsh conditions. Not only is the South Pole cold and at a high elevation, but it is also an extremely dry desert with only 2-3% humidity all year long making it the driest place on Earth. In comparison, the Mojave Desert has an average of 10% humidity during its driest summer season. The dryness causes your mucus membranes to be excessively dry causing it harder to fight viruses. Sleeping is difficult with a dry nose and while you sleep the tiny capillaries in your nose break. I normally have a little bloody nose every morning. I also get edema, or water retention and swelling in my hands every night. On most mornings, when I wake up my right hand is so swollen that I have trouble making a fist. I usually stick my hand in the snow and walk without a glove on for a few yards. By the time I begin work, the swelling has gone and I’m fully functional.

My hands have aged by 50 years since I’ve been here. It’s strange having a body part that you no longer recognize as your own. When my nephew, Tyler, was a little boy, he looked at my mom’s hands and said “Your hands look like lefse.” Today, my hands look like lefse that has been sitting out on the counter for over a month, brittle, hard, wrinkled, pale, and dry. (for my city friends who don’t know, lefse is a Norwegian potato bread that is flat, and wrinkled with brown spots) I am in a constant battle with my knuckles and fingers splitting and being painful. In the galley we are continuously washing out hands so it is difficult keeping them moisturized. At one point I had over 7 splits and 2 of them deep enough that they looked like cuts from a knife. Finally super glue came to my rescue and allowed the splits to heal into calluses.

Since the dryness of the atmosphere is so severe, we are continuously losing water through our skin and while we breathe. All of us have a Nalgene bottle which can carry 32 oz (1 quart) of water. I try and drink a minimum of 4 battles (1 gallon) of water a day. In talking to my friends who work outside, they try to drink a minimum of 6 bottles (1 ½ gallons) of water a day. Immediately when you arrive at Pole you have a huge thirst of water. Over time, that thirst has subsided but the need for the water doesn’t. Of course we are extremely fortunate here in that we are drinking the purest water found in nature. Our water comes from a deep wells drilled through the ice to capture the underground melt water. The water we drink hasn’t ever been involved, either directly or indirectly, in human activity. This water was frozen before humans were around. The ice taken from deep below the surface has the air bubbles trapped inside that are so tiny and concentrated that it makes very loud popping noises (louder than normal) when you put it in your drinks.

In America, we associate snow with it being wet. At the Pole, the snow is very dry. It blows around and feels like fine sand on a beach. Cardboard boxes are used for outdoor storage and are never in any danger of getting wet. Also, the outside particle board of the main station has been and can be exposed for a long period of time without fear of moisture damage until the siding is completed. The snow doesn’t really stick to you or your clothes, but when it does, the dryness allows it to be brushed off as easily as dandruff so it never makes your clothes wet. There are also certain common items that don’t work very well when it gets this cold, one of them being tape. The boxes containing our frozen foods are taped together and are always coming open. It’s also hard to tape any labels to anything. Also the emergency oxygen masks and tubing snap and break easily in this cold. We found that out the hard way during some of our outdoor training drills. I don’t imagine there’s a huge need for -40 to -100 F oxygen tubing and tape.

Most people lose weight while at the Pole. Your body consumes more energy from continuously working harder than normal to keep warm, hydrated, and oxygenated. A GA (general assistant) is one of the hardest working positions. They do everything from shoveling snow, construction, and delivering food. It is estimated that people in outdoor positions such as these can consume over 6000 calories a day and still lose weight. In general, most people can increase their calories by 50% and they will still lose weight or barely maintain. You are definitely hungry on a consistent basis and cravings for high calorie foods such as desserts increase. I suppose that is why they hired Jake the Baker who is the most talented of all the galley folks and does and excellent job of keeping us fat and happy.

The dryness, cold, and living in close quarters also makes it significantly harder to stay healthy. Two years ago a flu epidemic roared through the South Pole population and incapacitated over 75% of the population and yet the station had to still function. We receive passengers going in and out from McMurdo on a weekly basis as they come for brief visits for their scientific projects. We are warned of flu and cold epidemics in McMurdo and Christchurch, NZ as they are likely to spread here. I have friends in the galley at McMurdo who were quarantined to their rooms immediately after getting the flu to prevent spreading. This past week we’ve have 2 South Pole galley workers sick with colds and 1 was just diagnosed with strep throat. I’ve been working longer hours to fill in when they are gone and I’ve been fortunate enough to stay healthy. I’m obsessed with getting plenty of sleep and always taking my vitamins. This place is difficult enough without having to deal with being sick. Signs posted all over the station promote frequent and proper hand washing to prevent the spread of any illness. Of course this just exacerbates my already painful hand problems.

Me, crawling out of a single man trench or quincy.

So every morning I wake up with an incredible thirst, extremely dry nose, a small nose bleed, swollen and achy hands, cramps in my stomach from hunger, and an achy body from standing at work for 12 hours. All of these things resolve quickly as I make my way to the main station to enjoy the wonderful South Pole comforts. It is said that the greatest attribute to a mountaineer is their short memory and I would say they same thing of Polies. Sighting my short term memory of where I was currently living, I did the most stupid thing I have ever done. I decided to sign up for Extreme Cold Weather Camping. In fact, I was so excited to go that I lined up ½ hour early and missed a trauma training in order to sign up! I had been preparing JB for permission to go and arranging my work schedule for this adventure for over 3 weeks!!

Our fearless leader and guide, CC, traveled from McMurdo for the weekend to educate us and take us on this adventure. CC hails from Vancouver, BC and is a very experienced mountain guide and currently works for a department that leads teams over the harsh continent to their desired camping areas for their scientific research. We met for a 2 hour briefing on Friday night and then departed on Saturday night to spend 14 hours surviving in the Antarctica cold. I was still very excited to do this along with the 11 other people who also signed up. I knew everyone on the trip very well and knew that they were all fun people to be around. CC was encouraging and optimistic saying that they’ve geared the South Pole camping trip to be more recreational since we weren’t there for training as much as fun. Yes! I said fun – we were all excited because this was going to be fun! It was to be a relatively warm night of -20 F, bright and sunny with little wind (wind chill -30 F). I can do this – even though this will be the longest consecutive amount of time I’ve spent outside at the Pole how bad can it be? That 15 minute walk outside from the Jamesways feels great and refreshing! Besides, it’s summer at the Pole and I always go camping in the summer.

On Saturday with all of us wearing more clothes than that kid who couldn’t put his arms down in the movie A Christmas Story, we took a Piston Bully about 3 km outside of the station to arrive at 8pm with all of our equipment waiting for us. CC gave us a tour of our camp site showing us the 2 previously built Quincy’s from earlier camping groups. A Quincy is essentially an igloo made of snow, but instead of using blocks of snow it is made out of compacted snow. There are 2 methods of construction. One is to make a mound of compacted snow and then dig out the inside. The second is to place all your gear in a pile and place several feet of snow over the top of it. You then dig out all the gear from the inside creating a hollow space which is easier than digging out the snow. A rear construction entrance is used to hollow out the interior which is later sealed up again with snow while a front entrance is created that goes down under the wall of the Quincy and curves up into it. The concept of the low entrance is that when the air on the inside is heated up slightly with body heat, the heat will remain inside since heat rises and not escape the low entrance in the floor.

CC then continues to show us around the camp showing us the Scott tent which is essentially the same tent that was used by Robert Scott and his team traversed across the Antarctic to reach the Pole in 1912. It resembles a teepee right down to not having a floor. The other major construction at the site is a previously made wind wall made out of blocks of snow. The obvious purpose being to block the wind from tents and other structures.

After a short break of hot chocolate from our thermoses, we started constructing our Quincy. We take off our ECW jackets while we shovel to prevent sweating, pile all of our sleeping bags and tents together and shovel layers of snow on top, packing down each layer as we go. My hands begin to get cold and numb and I remember a friend from the galley gave me a package of hand warmers and chocolate to take with me.
The hand warmers were a godsend as once they warmed up, the rest of my body became warm. After we finished piling on the snow, we needed to let the snow settle or rest before we dug it out. While we waited, we began constructing our wind wall. We first dug a trench and then used saws to saw through the snow and create even blocks. We piled the blocks making a large wall to protect our tents. This was easier said than done since the snow is so dry it doesn’t stick together very well. At times it was like building a wall with sandstone. We finally found a few quarries of snow that held together and made nice blocks.

Both of these construction projects took substantial time. After we dug out our Quincy we had been watching the sun travel in a circle for over 5 hours. It was now 1 am. Since my normal bedtime is around 9 pm I was very tired. CC gathered us together and talked to us about where everyone was going to sleep and how to prepare for a comfortable night. She said that here is no reason why everyone couldn’t get a warm night’s rest and that it just came from being adequately situated. Since CC painted such an optimistic picture I figured that I didn’t come all the way to the South Pole to camp in a tent and opted for a Quincy. Jeff Kind, our South Pole HR representative, and I were assigned to one of the previously built Quincy’s.

We first gathered the equipment of 6 sleeping pads, 4 sleeping bags, and our personal gear. CC told us to keep anything we wanted to prevent from freezing inside the sleeping bag with us. It took Jeff and I nearly 1 ½ hours to get situated in the Quincy through relaying all of our gear through the small door. The Quincy we were in had a very low clearance making it difficult to move around and situate your bed. I could only sit up in a low, crouched position. The key to keeping warm is to put as many layers between you and the snow you were sleeping on as possible. I placed my sleeping bag on top of 3 foam sleeping pads and my ECW jacket and pants. I layered on 2 more layers of fleece pants and sweatshirts and crawled in. I wore 2 hats and pulled the hood of my sleeping bag tight around me. I used the second sleeping bag as another layer to cover me up. I curled around my full Nalgene water bottle, my camera, and a baggie full of almonds and walnuts. One of the main ways to combat hypothermia is to stay hydrated and keep your body fueled with the good high fat foods such as nuts.

I opened up four more hand warmers and gave them to Jeff since I noticed that he was no longer able to use his hands and he complained of severe cold on his feet. Jeff and I were both exhausted!! It was extremely exhausting getting situated and we had to take frequent breaks. Even after we were both in our sleeping bags, it took another ½ hour to wiggle around and find any comfort. Since the hood of my sleeping bag was pulled tight around my head I struggled between needing fresh air and wanting to stay warm. When my head was inside my sleeping bag I was warm, but was unable to slow my breath down and relax. When I stuck my face out to breathe the air was bitter cold, beyond any cold I could remember! Within the first hour to trying to find comfort, Jeff and I both agreed that this was the most stupid idea ever! We were miserable and started praying for the morning to arrive quickly!!!

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I woke up freezing from the waist down. My feet were incredibly cold and my legs were cramping. I could feel the cold from the snow and ice through the sleeping pads and ECW gear. I realized my horrible mistake. Cotton is the worst fabric to keep you warm. You should never wear cotton as a first or second layer of clothing since is absorbs and releases moisture cooling you off. I followed the rules with all of my clothing except I had on cotton socks as a first layer since I didn’t having anything else. I started shivering which is a sign of hypothermia. I placed my second sleeping bag underneath me as another barrier against the snow and put my hand warmers in my socks. My body very quickly warmed up and I was able to find sleep again. The hand warmers came to the rescue again.

Sleep was not constant or restful. Jeff was having a very hard time and tossed and turned with intermittent bouts of snoring. Every time I heard snoring I was insanely jealous that I wasn’t sleeping. For long periods of time we both lay there staring up at the compacted snow just 4 feet above our heads. Since the snow is so incredibly pure, it shines a soft beautiful blue as the sun hit it from above. It looked as if we were sleeping under the ocean but felt as if we were in the coldest hell cave on Earth. Those 6 or 7 hours that we struggled for warmth and sleep in the Quincy were my longest hours ever!

Of course the one thing that always wakes you up doesn’t take a break when you’re freezing in a snow igloo at the South Pole – you eventually have to pee. CC warned that you should always do what will make you most comfortable, no matter how short-term horrible, to fight against hypothermia. During our initial meeting it was suggested to pee in your pee bottles and keeping the bottle in the sleeping bag with you in order to generate more warmth. That may be good in theory, but bad in practice. First, I had only 4 feet of clearance to struggle out of my multiple layers of clothing and try to squat, and second I was sharing this very small space with a boy I didn’t know really well. I had to get up.

I put my ECW pants back on and for the first time took advantage of the most wonderful feature of the pants, the attached Velcro, drop down back end. By the time I took care of business, my hands were so frozen that I could only pull back up 2 layers of my clothing. My fingers weren’t able to grasp any zippers. I quickly crawled back into the Quincy to find some warmth and more hand warmers. Jeff was up at this time wandering around the camp praying that it was close to morning and therefore soon to go home. I was nauseous, achy, freezing cold, and very very dehydrated! I found my water bottle in my sleeping back and was shocked to discover that I had to poke through a layer of ice covering the inside in order to reach the water. This was the water bottle next to my body all night and there it is partially frozen?! How cold could it have been inside my bag? I took a long time eating frozen nuts and chocolate, hugging my hand warmers, and wiggling back into my clothing. I knew I would feel better as soon as I had some water and wouldn’t allow myself to leave the Quincy until all of it was gone. Jeff was eager to pack up and so I also handed him all his equipment and supplies. It also was a great activity to keep moving and get warm.

Every cell in my body screamed for me to curl up in a ball and not move. I had to fight against what my body was telling me to do and what my brain knew was a much smarter decision to getting warm, to get moving. I finally finished getting the rest of my ECW on, finished the water, and hauled my gear outside to join Jeff and the now-awake Jason from a neighboring Quincy for a walk. After a very long 45 minutes I was starting to feel better. My hands and feet were warm again and the little quart of water I did have was beginning to make the difference! Jason then told us it was 7:30 am which picked up my spirits since the Piston Bully would pick us up at 9:30 am. Only 2 hours left to go! I can do this!

Everyone else in camp slowly started to wake up and CC began making us hot water for drinks. Since the sun was immensely bright, my goggles were frozen over, and I was standing directly under one of the largest ozone holes in history I began searching for the sunscreen again only to find it frozen solid. I don’t imagine there is a large market for sub-zero anti-freezing sunscreen. I’ll just have to face the consequences. I then noticed that certain people in our group were having a much harder time this morning than I was. Those of us now healthy and strong were beginning to help the others. One person’s hands were hurting so badly that she began crying as others made her walk around to get her circulation going. I found one friend sitting directly on the snow as she told me she was having trouble waking and she seemed apathetic that her ECW coat wasn’t zipped. I made her walk with me the same route I had done earlier while drinking hot chocolate. Another in our group was a diabetic and couldn’t make her hands function properly to open any food to eat and someone else helped feed her until she recovered. Everyone recovered after receiving water and moving around and was able to help tear down camp.

When hypothermia starts to take its hold very funny things happen. Since your body is trying to reroute blood to all the essential organs including diverting blood to your brain stem, your hands, feet, and frontal lobe of your brain begin to suffer. You begin to get apathetic, crabby, angry, lethargic, not wanting to participate, tired, and very emotional. You just want to sit there. You have to fight against all the urges your body is telling you to do and trust on the reasoning side of your brain. It’s very scary stuff and it is now extremely easy for me to see how quickly and why someone could just sit there and die from the cold. I had profound and new respect for those adventurers such as Ernest Shackelton, Scott, and Amundson who had to live in these conditions for months on end. I was miserable after just a few hours and was suffering after 14. I always thought I would have the will to survive under such conditions but now am completely doubtful that I would.

We quickly tore down camp and watched at the Piston Bully made its way from the station. We were all very excited! Even though we could see the station on the horizon the entire time we were camping, we all felt a million miles away from warmth. We took a few moments for a group photo with all of us having the “let’s get the hell out of here” expression on our faces. The drive back was long as we were pulling our heavy equipment on a sled as most of us slept.

I was the only one of the group who had to work immediately when I got back. I had to put on Sunday brunch. I had convinced JB to allow me to be an hour late for work because of this adventure. I can’t believe I begged for this opportunity and now had a long day on my feet in front of me. Nonetheless, I was happy to be back to civilization.

It has taken me over 2 days to recover. I have a slight sunburned face, can’t seem to get enough sleep, and am still slightly dehydrated. I think someone forgot to tell me I was camping at the South Pole! I guess my short-term memory is taking effect again as I am very happy that I tried this adventure but I’ve learned a few certainties about my life through the process. I will NEVER do it again. I will never be a mountaineer. I have no desire to go camping ever again below 32F. I will never be a part of an extreme cold weather scientific team. I’ll be happy if I only spend only 30 minutes a day outdoors at the Pole for the remainder of my 7 weeks here. I may move to Florida when I return to America.

Me on top of the quincy where I spent the frigid night.

Day to Day

-27.5C (-17.3F)
wind chil: -35.8C (-32.5F)
Wind: 6 knots

I FINALLY made it! I finally walked to the other side of the station and traveled those few yards to the actual South Pole! It became one of those things that was just outside the door, but you never made time for. I am constantly gazing out the window at the Pole and the brilliant world before me, so I can’t believe that it’s taken this long. Also, I needed to find someone who wasn’t working when I was to follow me and take pictures. The main thought that plagued me is if, knock-on-wood, something were to happen to me again and I had to leave the Pole immediately I still wouldn’t have the pictures that said it all. The picture that said I stood at exactly 90 degrees South, the point about which the Earth rotates, and that it was a long, damn hard road to get here.

95 years ago on Dec 14, Roald Amundsen and his party arrived at 90 degrees South, the first person/s to stand at the geographic South Pole. It’s amazing to think about what it must have been like to achieve that goal at this very location, alone, and without any back-up support. I thought it was hard enough to get here with all of our modern technologies.

I receive many inquisitions on what day-to-day life is like on this bitter cold continent. What is it like in when it’s THAT cold? Do you always have to walk outside completely covered up? Would you get frostbite instantly if you didn’t? Actually, I’ve seen a few people walk to the bathroom from their Jamesway in shorts and a T-shirt. At first I thought my brother, Erik, had followed me here since he is always walking around in the snow in shorts and sandals. I’m unable to do that. You can be outside for VERY short periods of time with exposed skin, but it’s a quick cold jog to the bathroom and not really worth it to me (besides, I now have a very comfortable pee can). I can walk outside to the other buildings in Summer Camp (gym, lounge, and bathroom) with only my insulated sweat pants, heavy bunny boots, T-shirt, fleece, hat, sunglasses, and gloves. I don’t necessarily need my ECW pants or jacket for short distances. Anything longer than 20 yards or so I need to gear up completely. I absolutely cannot go outside without sunglasses or gloves.

I’m still amazed that my Jamesway room keeps me as warm as it does since I can see the daylight through the weakening seams of the military canvas. Each Jamesway is heated by a diesel fuel furnace and I’m able to sleep comfortably in only shorts and tank top. Donya, my sister-in-law, did the most thoughtful and loving thing for me before I left. She and Brother Erik both took a day off of work to meet me in Denver while I was going through orientation. Donya had painstakingly put together a photo book/diary for me. I hadn’t had the time or energy to take any pictures with me to keep me company. She included several extra photos with the book. I’ve now taped all those photos to the canvas that hangs over my bed along with all the cards of encouragement I’ve received. I had to do something to cover up where the previous occupants wrote “105 days in the hole,” “it’s a harsh continent,” and so-and-so “was here and was miserable.” They certainly weren’t encouraging words on my first day.

I spend most of my time in the main station. My Jamesway is extremely comfortable to sleep in and do a little reading, but not much else. The Summer Camp exercise room has old equipment and then you’d have to travel outside after you get all sweaty working out. I haven’t spent any time in the Summer Camp lounge although it is just cheesy and hole-in-the-wall enough for me to love and is a great place to meet friends. There is a toga party in a few days in the lounge. I just hope we don’t lose anyone in the snow with their pale skin and white toga’s. I think I’ll find some blue or flowered sheets for my toga.

Anyway, as I was saying . . . main station. The main station is situated right next to The Dome, or the old station. The Dome is exactly that, a dome that was placed directly on top of the snow and ice without a floor. It essentially was built to protect against the wind and therefore cut out some of the cold. The Dome once covered other buildings offering protection such as the galley, living quarters, and scientific operations. As technology advanced, so did the need for a South Pole modernization project and hence the new station which is still under construction. Early pictures of the Dome show it sitting directly on top of the snow. Now, the snow has drifted around it in such quantities that it looks as if it was built below ground and the entrance is continually dug out. The Dome is now used as storage and all of the buildings inside have been torn down. The Dome will eventually be dismantled as well.

Just across the entrance to the Dome is a large, tall, silver, un-insulated, cylindrical structure attached to the main station. This structure is called “the beer can” and has a very scary and unreliable freight elevator and several flights of stairs. You can take these stairs into the main station and it’s a favorite exercise activity for some to run the stairs of the beer can. The beer can is a remnant of

I still can’t get over the fact that the inside of the main station looks like something directly out of 2001 Space Odyssey. Then again, this entire area looks and feels as if we are on the moon. I am certain that they will use all of the information gained here about how to successfully populate a space station or the moon. I pack a bag every night and drag it with me to the main station to have everything I need for the day: gym clothes, work clothes, books, etc. They activity coordinator does an excellent job making certain there is something going on every evening of the week. Monday is board game night and Charleston Dance lessons, Tuesday SciFi movie night and basketball, Wednesday documentary film and volleyball, Thursday swing and salsa dance lessons, Friday basketball and dodge ball, Saturday bingo, and Sunday is most everyone’s day off so everything is going on. I sometimes take part in the board games on Monday, Tuesday I work late, Wednesday is my day off but the evening is full of meetings and training. I then go to Thursday swing/salsa lessons and bingo. Every week we receive tapes of the pervious week’s NFL games in which one game is shown on Saturday afternoons.
All of these activities are taught or organized by volunteers. For example, swing/salsa lessons are taught by Andy Martinez our station manager. Bingo on Saturdays is the craziest bingo I’ve ever experienced! My boss, JB paints his face and slips into a crazy bingo caller mode and the crowd heckles and cajoles him.

If you want, you can come and visit me for approximately 3 hours through an adventure/tourism group called Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions. It will cost you just over $30,000 and being this is a government building you’ll need to get special permission for a tour, but I can run our and meet you. We had our first tourists yesterday and all of us wanted to run out and take pictures of them. A father/son duo from Austria had gone to the North Pole last year. Usually the tourists come inside for coffee and shop at our little store.

I have volunteered for the trauma team since I thought my experience having EMT training, being a CRP instructor, my comfort around medical procedures, and working in various hospitals around Chicago would come in handy. I’ve come to discover that my experience is much more in need than I expected. For a community with a population of 250, there are only 20 people who have volunteered on the trauma team and very few of them have any medical experience. The worst fears of anyone is an incident involving multiple victims in which case, all hands are needed despite experience. (The worst case scenario they envision here is an incident with one of the LC-130 landing/take-offs.) They teach safe transport to medical as the best method to treat any patient since the weather is our worst enemy. Without knowing my background, I was asked by Dr. Bruce and Dr. Jay, the doctors at the South Pole who took care of me while I was sick, to join the medical response team consisting of only themselves and 3 others. It’s very interesting how things come full circle. They asked me to be on the team after our long conversations of when I was sick. We are equipped to handle 2 major traumas concurrently, but both doctors would still need assistance. If major traumas were accompanying by minor ones, the doctors would quickly become overwhelmed and really need assistance. I’m currently spending my Wednesday evenings learning how to assist the docs and set up the medical ward as well as cold weather first responder tactics with the trauma team. I’m issued a radio in order to hear emergency calls while sleeping.

Life outside of the main station is also very interesting and exciting. They’ve now set up a Frisbee golf course outside and a rugby game usually breaks out once a week on the ice. There are skis and boots to check out in order to use a cross-country ski route. I’m eager to try cross-country skiing, but I hear it is a very difficult cardio run and I’m trying to get my endurance up first. Although it hasn’t snowed here in hundreds of years, snow removal is a constant job. All the snow that is here has just stayed here since before the Roman Empire and just continually blows around burying things. They’ve made a giant pile in front of the station that has now been converted into a sledding hill. Some dinning trays have been smuggled in from McMurdo and are now used a sleds.

The main mode of transportation around the Pole is snowmobile. They have several old ski-doos (the kind with only one ski in front which are now outlawed in the US) which pull these crazy sleds to haul people and equipment back and forth from a work site. There are 2 cargo vans, a few pickup trucks, and 4 cranes.

Work outside the station is just as busy as work inside. There are multiple construction projects going on such as Ice Cube, a new telescope (more on these things later), and finishing the new station. Work is conducted around the clock. The crews who work the swing shift (2 pm-midnight) are called “swingers” and social activities are set up for them around 2 and 3 am and as well as at 9 am for the night shifters. So if you ever have trouble sleeping there is always something going on.

There is no wildlife at the South Pole. All of the penguins and seals are around the coast with many colonies near McMurdo. A few weeks ago several penguins decided to take a walk along the ski-way at McMurdo and had to be ushered off in order for the planes to depart and land. Although I wasn’t there, I’ve been able to get some pictures from people who were. You can find several more pictures of the penguins on the photo book link. I like the ones where they are walking near the LC-130’s. Humans definitely seem to be the ones out of place.

I’ve painted a bright, cozy, and wonderful life here at the bottom of the Earth, but in reality it is still a very harsh continent and life isn’t easy. Although cold, on most days the weather is an extremely bright, clear blue sky. I’m still amazed every day at how bright and beautiful and clean the world is here. I recently overheard a conversation of someone expressing how they miss dirt. I began thinking about how I miss colors -- the bright greens and red or trees and flowers. Living in a world of white, I'm certain everything will seem brighter to me when I leave.

We have had several reporters traveling to the Pole recently. One reporter and photographer was from MSNBC. I've added the link to his blog. He was only at Pole one day, but he goes into more detail on day-to-day operations in Antarctica in general. He has run an excellent series of stories with details of things that I just don't have time to tell you. He called the food excellent at Pole (and he was here on the day when only Francie and I were cooking). There was also another reporter/photographer from the Chicago Tribune which will run a series of stories about life at Pole in February.

Enjoy!

Snow Stakes

-29.7C (-21.5F)
Wind Chill: -41.9C (-43.5F)

Aerial photo of the South Pole Station. The new main station is just to the left of the Dome. The actual South Pole is south of the main station, in the lower right hand corner. The Summer Camp is the first set of horizontal lines you find going north of the Dome.

When you’re young you have a very small vision of the world. Your world consciousness doesn’t reach beyond yourself and life is very good when it’s only revolving around you. Now being older and having broad world awareness it’s strange that the world still appears very small. Right now, the world is literally revolving around me, or just a few feet away from me and yet someone said during dinner “What are the chances that 3 people sitting at this table have traveled through Minot, ND and are currently at the South Pole?” Small world indeed. Francie had traveled to Minot during her stint in restaurant sales and Don had traveled through as he returned from Alaska. Don was very excited to go to Tool Crib in Minot and had a meal at a diner there in which the meal still stands out in his memory.

It has been estimated that fewer than 10,000 people in the history of mankind has ever stepped foot at the South Pole. More people than that have stepped foot in Minot, ND but the number of people who have done both is minute and quite the accomplishment. Thoughts of eternity and numbers and statistics plaque me often these days. I am continually wondering how many people have ever been on this exact spot and made a snow angel? How many have walked this line and thought these thoughts? How am I different from everyone before me? How am I the same? This is a vast, harsh continent.

All of the station managers cooked this past Saturday giving the galley workers a day off for their Thanksgiving holiday. The meteorologists (mets) on station gave the galley workers first opportunity to volunteer for a field trip. The mets have stakes placed every 20 meters for 20 km leading in 7 different directions from the station. The stakes consist of bamboo poles with a flag marking the path next to a small diameter pvc pipe stuck in the snow. Once a season, they take 7 trips and travel straight out in each direction measuring each snow stake to determine accumulation and to replace the flags that mark the way. Four of us galley workers were excited for the adventurous trip on our day off. We traveled in the Pisten Bully, a slow moving, mini tractor-type, snow ATV that bounced and jostled us across the vastness on hard benches. The entire trip takes anywhere between 5-6 hours. At each stop we would take turns jumping out to record the data as John, the meteorologist took the measurements of all 40 snow stakes. Often we would all jump out to take pictures and run around in the complete isolation.

As we traveled further and further away from the station, again complete vulnerability and insignificance set in. All we had marking our way was a set of bamboo flag poles, no road, no previous tracks. For 360 degrees around us was one long, beautiful complete horizon of solid white that continued on without interruption by a telephone pole or wires or road or hill or mountain. Only the sun that chased us in a circle overhead broke the horizon view.

We were to check in the comms (the communication office) every hour. We eventually drove out of radio range by stake 35 and were unable to check in. This silent, bright and brilliant white world with all of its bitter coldness now felt more cold knowing a very limited amount of help would be hours away if needed. It also evoked a very calming and peaceful reality. Life always goes in circles, uninterrupted like the sun and the horizon. Nature does not have perfect straight lines.


After our short break of hot chocolate and sandwiches at the end of line, we turned around and now, since our work was done, were able to return driving continuously. I sat in the passenger seat of the Piston Bully on the return trip and quickly became mesmerized by the small ripples and waves of snow passing beneath my feet. One of my most favorite pastimes is fishing with my dad and siblings on Lake Sakacawea. When I was younger I used to crawl to the front and hang my head over the bow and stare at the waves being swallowed up by the boat as we drove fast over the water. This was very hypnotic and calming to me, the feeling of the safest place on Earth, meditation of being one with the water. Whenever life gets too crazy to handle I find my center again staring at those waves. I guess that’s why my dad named his boat “My Therapy.” Now, in Antarctica, just off center of the axis of the Earth it was happening again. The waves of snow being swallowed by the Piston Bully were eerily reminiscent of hanging my head over the boat. I slipped into a trance and stared at the waves all the way back to the station.

During the trip, Francie commented how crazy it was that 2 months ago all of us where in completely different parts of the US not having any idea who each other was and that now we find ourselves at the South Pole sharing our inner most selves. Although nature does not have any perfectly straight lines or direct routes, some adventures certainly feel as if a direct route was taken to get here.