Cold, Hard Cash

Outside of the store, which accepts debit/credit cards, all commerce on station is in cash.  Originally, people would chose an amount to be withheld from their paychecks and dispersed as cash.  While that option is still used at Pole (and McMurdo in extenuating circumstances), around 2000, things got a little easier at McMurdo:

That's right, two Wells Fargo ATMs.  And Wells Fargo is even kind enough to waive any fees they normally charge for non-customers using their equipment (though other banks may still charge a fee).  Only one is ever active at a time with the other acting as a spare.  Both are serviced every few years, however, both are supposed to be completely replaced with newer units this season.

Another interesting, related fact is that for the most part, all cash on station is recycled.  So the Saturday night drinking money a person gets from the ATM may actually be the same bills they got a couple weeks prior.  Money does end up leaving the station each year as people redeploy and it wears out, so each year they bring down a set amount of currency.  However, planning does not always meet need, which leads to signs like this appearing:

The text at the bottom reads:

"Round, shiny, worth 25 cents... has a head and a tail.  We need 'em to come home to the Finance office.  If you've a jar of change, or even just some in your pocket, please bring it in to Finance this week.  Thanks a million!"

According to the station manager, each year a different item ends up going missing.  One year it was salt shakers, another year bowls, and another year the sugar dispensers.  This year it's quarters and coffee cups.

For some more information, a Wells Fargo blog post that talks about the ATMs can be found here and an interview with a Wells Fargo employee about the ATMs can be found here.

Condition 2

We had some weather move in earlier in the week that shut down operations at the runway, helipad, and most of the closer field locations.  The first day, McMurdo and Scott Base went to Condition 2 while everything else was Condition 1.  The second day, McMurdo and Scott Base stayed at Condition 3 while everything else went Condition 2.

Here are the definitions of the conditions from the Wikipedia page on Antarctic Climate.  I find the description of Condition 3 amusing given the thresholds.

Condition 1

Windspeed over 55 knots (60 miles per hour)

Visibility less than 100 feet (30 meters)

Wind chill below −100 °F (−73 °C)

Description: Dangerous conditions; outside travel is not permitted.

Condition 2

Windspeed of 48 to 55 knots (55 to 63 miles per hour)

Visibility 1/4 of a mile to 100 feet (402 to 30 meters)

Wind chill of −75 °F (−60 °C) to −100 °F (−73 °C)

Description: Unpleasant conditions; outside travel is permitted but not recommended.

Condition 3

Windspeed below 48 knots (55 miles per hour)

Visibility greater than 1/4 of a mile (402 meters)

Wind chill above −75 °F (−60 °C)

Description: Pleasant conditions; all outside travel is permitted.

I took this video from outside the JSOC (Joint Spacecraft Operations Center) shortly after we were downgraded to Condition 2.  The large blue building you see on the left side of the screen when the video starts is Building 155, the hub of most activity on the station, and is about 100 meters away.

Observation Tube

A short walk from town, out on the ice just past the transition from solid ground to the sea ice, is this sight:

Not a Mario Brothers tribute (though there a few folks here that could pass as Mario or Luigi in their Carhart bibs), this is the Observation Tube.  It's a large sewer pipe that has been modified to include a small room at one end that gives an amazing 360 degree view under the sea ice.  There's only room for one person at a time to go in and it's recommended that Big Red be left in the warming hut (the temperature was cool, but manageable in the tube).  The dive shack is nearby and if you're lucky, divers will be coming in or out of the water when you're there, or even see seals moving around (I wasn't that lucky).  Even if you don't see any seals, you usually hear them calling to each other.

Unfortunately, getting good pictures or video is very difficult and can't begin to convey the experience.  Here are best pictures out of the batch I took.  I do have a video where you can hear seals calling to each other, but I need to shorten the lenght to make online viewing more manageable.

From the bottom of the tube, looking up.  The observation room is 10-15 feet down.

Looking out one of the windows up at the sea ice.  If you look closely, you can see ice stalactites that have formed under the ice sheet.

The water was full of these little sea creatures.

Another shot with a wider angle.  You can see an ice stalactite with a small minnow sized fish in front of it.  The other light colored specks are more of the sea creatures shown in the picture above.

Everybody had to have a look-see.

Darth Maul Hikes Hut Point

Some folks will recognize our protagonist in these next pictures.  Shortly after starting my "real" job (how I refer to the job I am currently on a leave of absence from to purse this adventure), I was given a Star Wars bobblehead for my desk by a coworker.  A few others had one and the bobblehead was supposed to be somewhat symbolic of our personality.  Originally, I was given a Tusken Raider ("easily startled, but soon they'll be back and in greater numbers" - yeah, not really me), but after being particularly devious one day, I was upgraded to Darth Maul (I was amused and proud, but did follow it with "Hey, wait a minute...").

As I was cleanup my cubicle prior to leaving, I wasn't sure if I should give him back or leave him to guard the cubicle while I was gone.  After some discussion with coworkers, the traveling gnome idea was thrown out.  Here are pictures from his first excursion, which was with me on the Hut Point hike.

Finally, here's a short video of him out and about.  There was a slight breeze that was strong enough to make his head bob slightly.  Initially, there is nothing to hear.  No need to turn up your speakers, that's the silence I talked about in the Hut Point Hike post.  The video is about 50MB, so those on slower connections will want to wait and watch it when a faster connection is available.

The voice cut off at the very end was Travis yelling "Put on a hat, Darth!"

Above 0F!

I have a longer post in the works, but I felt it important to document the first time the ambient temperature went above 0F since arriving.  The green colored 3s indication the current Condition (1, 2, or 3) at the various locations.

Hut Point Hike

Saturday morning I made it to one of the Outdoor Safety Lectures, which are required to do any sort of hiking or skiing outside of town.  After work that evening, I hiked the Hut Point trail where Discovery Hut (or Scott's Hut) is found.  It was a fun hike of just under 3 miles and climbing the steeper portions of the trail helped offset the temperatures that were down around -10F.

This first picture is of the future ice pier and is at the edge of McMurdo on the way to Hut Point.  The plan is to use the pier to offload the cargo ship that will be showing up later in the season when the ice thins and either clears out, or is broken up by the icebreaker.  Though there is some question as to how well the pier will hold up due to the weak ice this year.  Last year the ice pier broke up and floated out to sea, though one of the main chunks was spotted this year by recon flights and is "doing well".

This is taken from the top of Hut Point, looking down.  Apparently the seals like to come up and tan here.

Another shot from Hut Point, this time looking away from the Point, more in the direction of Mt. Erebus (not visible from here).

Same location as the last picture, but catching more of the island and less of the sea.

This is the cross built at Hut Point built in honor of George T. Vince.

Farther up the hiking trail is another memorial, this one for Richard T. Williams, a Navy Seabee who lost his life when his bulldozer broke through the ice 1956.  In the background to the left, you can see part of McMurdo.  In the background to the right, you can make out the road that leads out to the sea ice runway, which serves as McMurdo's principal runway until mid to late November or early December.  A runway that, while in a different location, is out on the same sea ice that Williams broke through.  A strong reminder of how harsh and unforgiving this continent can be and some of the associated risks.

Up the trail some more, both in distance and height.

A good picture of McMurdo, with Observation Hill in the background.  There are a couple different trails that go around and up Observation Hill that I will hike at some point.

Another picture of McMurdo taken from the same location as the previous, just zoomed in to give more detail.

This one is one of my favorite pictures and locations so far.  Father up the trail, below Arrival Heights, I was able to walk off the trail and out towards the cliff edge that overlooked the sea.  The cliff edge was a good 10 feet or so below the trail with a little cairn of rocks to sit on.  Once there, the silence of Antarctica hit me.  Oh so faintly I could hear McMurdo's generators, but other than that, nothing.  No wind blowing through grass or tree leaves, no birds (the skuas should arrive in November), and no insects or rodents moving about.  Absolute quiet, not much unlike a sensory deprivation chamber.

And for the final picture, Mt. Erebus.

McMurdo Arrival

Ok, finally the post everybody has been waiting for!  The flight to McMurdo was uneventful from a weather standpoint.  It was a little foggy in Christchurch when we took off, but as soon as we got above the clouds it was bright and sunny.  We were above clouds for about half the flight, but as we reached the pack ice, the clouds cleared out and we had a great view.

 

As soon as they told us the clouds were clearing and the pack ice was coming into view, the rest of the flight was excited conversation and camera shutters clicking.  The crew of the Airbus kept the cockpit doors open and let people come up to take pictures and chat.  There were some spectacular views of the Transantarctic Mountains.  I made the comment to the pilot that this is probably routine for him by now and his response was each time he sees something new and incredible.

About 30 minutes before landing, we all had to put on our ECW gear.  I'm still not sure why, but it did make for a warm end to the flight.  I'm quite impressed with the windpants and Big Red (the parka).  So far I have not used any of the thermal underwear I brought and have been fine, though so far the coldest I've seen is -13F with a windchill that makes it feel somewhere in the minus 30s.  Winfly had a day where the ambient temperature was around -40 with the windchill taking it to -80.  If I get to see any of those days before leaving in February, I imagine the thermal underwear will have to be used.

 We landed somewhere between noon and 1300.  I'm not carrying a watch or cellphone, so times are becoming more general when I'm not near a computer to check.

Not only is it amazing to think that the sea ice is thick enough to land a C-5, but that last year, where I was standing to take those pictures was open water.  Unfortunately, the video I took with my camera on landing came out pretty blurry, so the pictures will have to due.  It was about -4F when we landed with the windchill making it feel in the minus 20s and didn't feel any different than a similar day in Minnesota.

So far the first couple of days have been briefings, tours, and learning the job.  After we landed and received a welcome brief, we were shown to our dorms, picked up linen, and left alone to settle in and meet our roommates.  Yesterday was the first full day of work and today (Sunday), is the day most of  the station has off.  I made it to the outdoor safety brief which was required before hiking any of the trails around McMurdo.  Spent a few hours last night hiking one of them and a few of us plan on going out to the Observation Tube where we can get below the sea ice and look around.

New Zealand

It was a long flight, but I made it to Kiwi country yesterday.  An interesting paperwork issue delayed the Denver to LA flight (I've never seen a pilot fired up, let alone come into the cabin and get on the PA to apologize to the passengers and authorize free drinks for everybody over 21) but we made it to LA just in time to catch the flight to Auckland.  The Jet lag hasn't been too bad so far.  Though, I was thinking about it and if you throw out the international date line, the difference from Minnesota is only 6 hours right now.

The weather in Chrustchurch has been great!  Sunny and 60 with a breeze.  I spent part of yesterday and most of today walking around seeing the city.  There's a lot of evidence of the February earthquake, whether it clearly damaged buildings,

buildings being torn down,

or steeples in the wrong place.

But, from what I've seen and heard, this sign is very indicative of the attitude the city has:

The shuttle driver from the airport was telling us about the day of the earthquake.  He said after the quake, lines at gas stations and McDonald's were the longest he had ever seen.  His explanation was "everybody wanted a Big Mac and a big shake".

ECW issue was this morning as consisted of trying everything on and giving back anything we didn't think we'd need or didn't want, other than the required gear, and getting the ice flight manifests.  My check in is at 0500 with an anticipated flight time of 0700.  Two separate flights go out tomorrow and while drawing short straw on the flight time, it means flying on "Skippy" the Airbus instead of a C-17.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures of McMurdo on the approach in.

As long as we don't boomerang due to weather, I should be on the ice by mid afternoon tomorrow.

Next Stop: Antarctica

Denver

First day of orientation is complete. Nothing to exciting: welcome to the program, finance, HR, InfoSec, and travel. Judging from those who are returning for another season, the highlight of the first day of orientation (2nd for those who had a day of OSHA briefings) is supposed to be receiving our luggage tags:

Apparently, they change color each year and there was much discussion over which color(s) were left to choose from, with 'clear' coming as a surprise.  I'll admit, it is cool to see them on the bags, and they're a heck of a lot better built than tags you buy in stores.  They also made me realize I never thought to pack my Tux stress penguin (for those unfamiliar with Linux, Tux the penguin is the mascot for the Linux Kernel).  It's such an appropriate desktop fixture I may need to have it sent down.

The only other event of the day was me forgetting that Denver is a mile above sea level and 2 hours of October sun is significantly different here than in Minnesota.  Sporting some nice color on half my face and the top of my head.  Should make for an interesting tan if it doesn't even out.

The other program participants are fairly diverse.  College age, approaching retirement age, tree hugger looking, white collar, blue collar, Caucasian, African America, male, female.  Just about every demographic is represented.  I even ran into another Minnesotan.

The vast majority are people returning for their nth season, but what surprised me was the number of people that are returning after long absences.  I have talked to people that did a series of seasons (over anywhere from 2-5+ years), then left the program for anywhere from 3-10 years, and have come back.  So far it seems an even split between people who have seasonal summer jobs (motorcycle mechanic, biologist, dude ranch, etc) so they do this instead of taking the winter off and those that are drawn to life on the ice.

Next stop: New Zealand

You're Doing What?!?

Based on responses I received when posting the link on Facebook, I probably should have given some background for those folks that I haven't talked to in awhile. 

In late August I discovered that the "Antarctica job" (my term for the collection of Network Engineer positions in Antarctica) was once again available.  Unlike when I applied in college, I was actually qualified this time, so I decided to apply and see what happened.  I first accepted an offer for an Alternate position (I woud go if somebody backed out or didn't physically qualify (PQ), and I PQ'd) and began the PQ process.  In early September, the offer was bumped to a Primary position and I was PQ'd in late September.  I leave MSP on October 8th and expect to be on the ice on or around October 14th.  I will be working at McMurdo Station until approximately mid February.

Now to address the common questions people have after finding out:

Are you crazy?  Unknown at this point.  Passing a psych eval is only required for people that winter over (there's no leaving once winter starts).

Why the hell are you going to Antarctica?  There are a few reasons.  Why not for one.  The adventure is another.  But the big one is while I was in the Army, I realized that because of the deployment to Iraq I had been to 3 continents already, and getting to the remaining 4 should be possible in my lifetime.  Obviously, Antarctica is the hardest one to get to, so this is a great, unique opportunity for me.  Upon returning in February, I will have visited 5 continents, worked on 4, and lived on 3.  I'm going to try and return through Sydney, Australia, leaving Africa as the only continent left for me to visit.

You know it's cold there, right?  Yes, but during the summer, not as cold as people think.

0x0

Houston, we have a blog.

I started this blog to create a centralized place where people interested in my deployment to McMurdo Station, Antarctica could see my pictures and read about the experience.

Hopefully, unleashing a small part of my mind to the Internet will not break it like typing "Google" into Google.