Last Wednesday, a group of friends and I were invited to Scott Base (the New Zealand presence on Ross Island) for dinner. We were picked up by the chef at Scott Base — our Kiwi contact — and driven two miles over Fuels Pass (the ridge at the nose of the peninsula separating the bases) […]
Hi from Antarctica. Many people have been asking for more photos. So, here’s a post that’s full of them! I will try to put more photos up soon and more with each post. But, the Internet down here is unstable at best, so I can’t guarantee anything. Thanks for reading!
Every year, about 20 people get the silly idea in their heads to run a marathon in Antarctica. I mean, why not? Right? What else is there to do on the one day a week you get to sleep in? At least, that’s what was going through my head when the alarm went off at […]
Do you ever wish that everything was free? Free food, free electricity, free clothes, free rent? When you just give McMurdo a glance, that what it looks like. Our lifestyles down here are paid for by the American tax payers — and we do pay taxes on our wages — but all our day-to-day needs […]
My alarm goes off in the dark. My phone blinks 5:25 a.m. (or 3:25 a.m. depending on the day). Our room has no windows, so I get ready by the light of my headlamp so as to not wake Richard. After a trip down the hall to the bathroom, I reluctantly put on my uniform. […]
For the last two-day weekend for the summer season, the base prepped for IceStock. It’s an outdoor music festival at McMurdo that features bands cobbled together from friends on the ice. It began at 4 p.m. Saturday and went until 1 a.m. Sunday, (or until people were done dancing — I’m not sure; I went […]
A valuable piece of history sits on a windy prominence within view of McMurdo. Discovery Hut was built in 1902 during the Discovery Expedition of Robert Falcon Scott. What is now known as Hut Point is only a 10-minute walk from base. On Saturday, it was open for tours. As a lovely Christmas gift from […]
Hello from the future! It has been 2016 for almost 17 hours now. It’s just fine so far. Today was a working day for the station, but most people will get another two-day weekend, so everyone’s stoked. This will be the last two-day weekend for the rest of the season. Some people stayed up to […]
Christmas at McMurdo is a BIG DEAL! At a time when people are usually with their families, instead, they are stuck on a block of ice, thousands of miles from their loved ones. To accommodate for the potential loneliness, the meals are made elaborately and everyone is encouraged to spend time away from work. Most […]
My life on the ice has been cleaning, cleaning, dishes, sweeping, mopping, exercising, reading, cleaning. While the work is not awesome, the people are! Not just the people I work with, but the new friends I’ve made in other departments. The reality of McMurdo is that they keep you working long, hard hours so that […]