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.
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