The Ice Desert - An Alien Land - Antarctica

McMurdo Station is actually on Ross Island, on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.  Notice, magnetic south pole, is north of us!!

Antarctica has a beauty all its own.  From my office in the chapel here, I have this incredible view, looking southward over the frozen ocean, (the McMurdo Sound and Ross ice shelf) toward the Transantarctic mountains and my favorite mountain, Mt Discovery.  When you can see them, they are quite majestic, especially when the sun is out.

The weather here changes all the time, hour by hour.  There is no such thing as a “sunny day”  or a “cloudy day” here.  The sun does come out, but in an hour it will be cloudy and windy, or snowing.  Later in the day, it maybe sunny again. 

Antarctica is actually a desert, and it is extremely dry here.  It is an ice desert.  It is way more dry here than the American Southwest deserts, or the Arabian desert.  It is the driest place on earth!

You must drink water all the time.  And I mean, ALL THE TIME.  With every meal I drink 4 large glasses of water.  When I get up I drink a liter of water, and in between meals, and before I go to bed.  I must force myself to do this, as I do not get thirsty here.  Most people carry a water bottle with them everywhere they go here.

I have already learned the hard way about dehydration.  Last week I got very fatigued.  Then I got a very bad charlie horse on my back side for a whole day.  And I never get those.  I thought I was drinking enough water, but I was not.  So I upped my water intake, and now I feel better.

This place is inhospitable on all fronts.  Extreme cold, intense wind, no moisture, no plants or trees, no animals, no sounds of birds, no smells except of cold and the diesel trucks and vehicles.  The sounds here are vehicles, helicopters, heaters running, and sometimes the wind whistling and howling.

They say when you go out to the more remote areas, there is no sound at all!

The hills around McMurdo are black, volcanic hills and rock.  The hills that are not covered with snow and ice are black, and have a soot-ish look to them.  In fact, the whole place is devoid of color.  It is mainly black and white here.

The  other day I was walking up the stairs to my dorm building, and happened to look under the building.  Rocks, stones...black and dark reddish, all volcanic.  They looked like moon rocks, iron, or meteorites.  Very alien.  There are no weeds, no grass, no nothing.  No life. 

There is life though.  Right now we just can’t see it.  There is sea life under the frozen ice, and the seals and the penguins are currently in other parts of the continent.  I have not seen any of them as yet .  Sure hope I do!

Yes, this is a very alien place.... with a beauty all its own.    Remote, frozen, foreign.   But it is actually us (humans) that are the aliens here.  Everyone here.... is a foreigner.

Life at McMurdo Station, Not the 9 to 5 Crowd

I have been here now about a week and am learning the culture and meeting many people here. 

What is this place like?  We work 12 hours days, 6 days a week.  Being the chaplain, I do not get Sundays off, so there goes a day off.

We live in dorms, just like the college days.  Some people are doubled up, some dorms are open bay with many beds. 

As I write this, it is the beginning of Spring here, and more and more people are coming in to work the season here.  In February, the vast majority will leave. 

We are 77 degrees south latitude here, and currently 20 hours ahead of you in Arizona  or Pacific time.  So today is Tuesday here, for you it is Monday, but you are 4 hours ahead...but yesterday!


Presently, the sun does set, at about 11 pm, but it does not get dark here.  The sun skims the mountain tops, and rises a few hours later.  It is strange to walk outside at 10 pm, and it is still light outside!   Soon, the sun will be up 24 / 7, and just circle around in the sky.

There are many agencies here, the National Science Foundation, a company called Raytheon, the US Antarctic Program, the USAF, and the Kiwis (New Zealand). 

There is a distinct culture here.   Many of the people here come back, year after year, season after season.  I am one of the rare ones, as this is my first time here.  Most of the people all know each other and have many friends here.

The crowd reminds me of Boulder, Colorado, a bit of Berkeley and Seattle.  There is a mountainy - artsy - adventurist feel to the people here.   The vast majority are civilians working various jobs; scientists, research, support services... Many of them are world travelers.  When not here, they are in Nepal, or going across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, or some other exotic place.

Many have very high educations, graduate degrees, but may be doing the dishes here.    They come for adventure...and to pay off student loans.

It is a close community.  It is like a small mining town in Alaska.  There are no cell phones here, but we do have pagers.  Being that there are no cell phones, people actually talk to each other!!  In person!!  Amazing!

McMurdo has three bars, a small hospital, a chapel, many dorm buildings, 2 ice runways, the science labs, supply, a very small store, a large dining facility (and the food is very good), and many other buildings.  The buildings are not pretty, they have an industrial look. 

Mt Erebus is only a few miles away, and it is an active volcano.  I can see smoke coming out of its top!  So, isn’t that comforting...we live in sub zero weather, land on ice runways, and live on an active volcano!!

There is a distinct vocabulary here.  Here are a few words I have picked up: 

“Winter overs” - the people who stay here over the Antarctic winter (April thru SEP).  It is mostly dark (night) and very cold.  These are hardy souls. 

“Freshies”  - fresh vegetable and fruits.  These are very coveted things, as all fresh veggies must be flown in.  They last only a few days and then run out.    My first 5 days here we had no freshies, no salads, no veggies.  It was rough!  The winter overs have no freshies all winter long!

“The gerbil gym”  there are 3 gyms here at McMurdo, one of them has treadmills, and stationary bikes, called the gerbil gym.

“Win-fly”  - this is when people fly in at first light, in early August.  Usually no planes can come in during the winter due to the extreme cold and weather. 

“Finjee” - a word made up of an acronym FNG.  It means (expletive) new guy.

“Skua”  - skua means things that are stolen, taken or found or salvaged.  It is from the Skua birds that come in later, aggressive seagulls who snatch the food from your hand as you walk out of the dining hall.  So if you get something stolen, it is “skua’d”, or you just got "skua'd"!

More later!!

Pinning Ceremony, Promotion to Lt Col, McMurdo Style!

For many months I have been waiting for the federal recognition, as it is called to come through on my promotion to Lt Col.  Months have gone by, there have been a few bureaucratic errors, more waiting.  I wondered if I ever was going to get federal rec! 

I tried to visualize getting pinned in my blues, but it wasn't clicking.  Now I know why!!

The other day, I received the news my federal recognition finally came through.  And here I am in Antarctica!

So we decided to do a promotion pinning, McMurdo style!!  In the bar!

I wore my chaplain shirt (it is actually a rugby jersey I am told), as this is my uniform here.  As the commander read the orders, I was pinned, we had wine, and then we went outside to do the oath of office, as a flag must be visible to do this!  And one was over the building two or three buildings over.

It was a great little ceremony.  Unique, unusual, and well worth the wait!

God is always full of surprises!