(Wondered if I was going to talk about that, eh?)
Before you get on the plane, usually at some unGodly hour like 2am, you have to get your cold weather gear from the CDC, or clothing distribution center. Mike, the man who runs this, is the only thing that makes this bearable. You have to try on all the long johns, sweaters, balaclava, hats, gloves, mittens, wind pants, bunny boots and shirts and trousers, and-don't forget the PARKA- they issue you, to make sure they fit. (Sure, they only have the size you don't wear...) Then you get to pack it all into 2, count em, and DON'T mix them up!! bags they give you. One is for stuff that will be loaded on the plane, that you can NOT get to, the other is for stuff you have to have with you, in case the plane goes down in the frigid, frozen water between here and there. You are allowed 70 pounds in the bag you can't get to, along with "luggage" of your choice. The bag you have to have with you, full of heavy cold weather gear, can only have 35 pounds, including your camera and reading book.

Then you put on your long johns, trousers, shirt, sweater and parka and head for the plane. Does the Pillsbury Dough boy ring bells here? If you are lucky, the plane does not have problems, and you actually take off for a wonderful 8 hour plane ride in a plane with no seats. You heard that right folks, no seat. You have a nylon sheet stretched over metal bars, that seats 2 comfortably, but has 4 people in it. These sling seats run the length of both sides, in whatever room is left after they stuff as many huge boxes of cargo or mail into the plane. This could be plane parts (Antarctic is HARD on planes), scientific equipment, food, sodas, toilet paper or medical supplies. This is the flying grocery store/bus, here folks. Except for the ships that come in near the END of the season, this is how everything gets to McMurdo. You try to get comfortable on top of something, put in your ear plugs, get out your book and settle down for the 8 hours.

UNLESS! sometimes you have to go BACK to Christchurch, because the weather is too bad to land. They usually make this decision before half way out, but then you have to do this all over again. But that is not as bad as trying to get OFF the ice and this happens to you. Planes break down, weather gets bad, you head back after thinking you were FREE of this God forsaken place... sob... oh well.

But hopefully, you arrive inMcMurdo, safe and sound, and now, COLD!@! It can range from -30* to about +20* in December. But, the sun is probably shining, no matter when you get there. Yup, the land of 24 hour sun! It travels, in reverse, at about 30 degrees off the horizon. The sun and the ice pack make it actually pretty warm there, IF the wind is not blowing. There are days when you can work outside in a long sleeve black Harley shirt (of course...) and keep warm by just working. But there are days when no matter how close to the heater you are in a Jamesway (more later), you can not keep warm. When the wind and snow kicks up, it can get COLD. I have seen drifts higher than the buildings we worked in, some times.

At McMurdo, the housing is in dorms. Most have 2 people, and every 2 rooms shares a bathroom with toilet and shower, the sink in the rooms. Water is from the de-salinization plant, and sometimes in short supply, so showers are quick and only 2 or 3 a week. Some are smoking dorms, and sometimes non-smokers get stuck there. Gee, how do I know? I collapsed my sinuses twice in one season there before a generous soul traded rooms with me. The food is really quite good, once the Navy gave up and gave it to ASA, or Antarctic Support Associates. They are the folks who "run" McMurdo these days, since the Navy is getting OUT of that job. The Navy still flies the planes and runs the Medical services, tho I hear they are getting out of that, and the Helicopters too, and the LC-130's too, if they could find pilots crazy enough to volunteer for that run! ASA hires all the folks who work there, and then take care of them while there.

About 1,200 folks live in McMurdo in the summer (Sept to Mar), and about 100 Kiwis (New Zealand military) at Scott's Base, about 7 KM away. In the winter, only about 200 folks total stay there to keep the station running. I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE ONE OF THEM. I DO NOT LIKE COLD WEATHER.

They, NSBF, work out on the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, at Willy Field. This is where the planes land. Did you know, that you can land a C-5, the HUGE planes, on only 5 -yes you read that right- 5 feet of ice? If it is the right kind, and right time, and so-and-so says you can. I was amazed more by this fact than many down there. Anyway, the Hercs (LC-130's) land at Willy Field. There is a crew of about 15 people who run caterpillar tractor snow blades down there to clean/grade the runways. They used to all live at Willy, but someone decided that the effort to support folks living out there was too much. So we still work there, but with much less support. Getting things done is not like going to the corner grocery/hardware store. Things must be sent down months in advance to get space on a Herc. We ship helium to fill the balloons in huge metal cages that take up a whole plane! And we ship 2 of them a year! And all the other 60,000 pounds of equipment and science stuff too!

WHY? you ask? Because that is where the scientists want to go. (I would like to tell them where to go, some times...) At the poles, the magnetic pull of the earth is as low as they can get, so they go there for these kind of reasons. Some are also doing ozone research at the pole; we have flown for scientists doing Cosmic ray research, Solar flare research, ozone research, Atmospheric sciences, and particle Physic sciences. Don't ask me, hey, I just work on the balloon systems!! Here is a page by one of the scientists we flew, and even some nice photos too.

You eat Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years' Day holiday feasts, in the chow hall. They do their best to make things nice. ASA works 6 days a week, so the holidays are on Saturdays to get 2 days off. There are 3 bars there, so you can stumble home in the bright sun and have no excuses for getting lost in the dark! There is a gym, a 2 lane bowling alley, an aerobics room, library, and Chapel there. There is a lot of good music there, and lots of folks get into "Icestock", a live gig after New Years'. I have heard some of the best live music down in Antarctica folks. Talent of many kinds end up there. These are folks who are NOT into the ordinary, they are there for the sheer experience of it. There are folks from 18 to almost 80 there. If you can pass the physical, and they have a job for you, you can probably go. I would not want to do it (ASA) without my husband, but one season might be ok to try, just ONCE.

The land is awesomely beautiful. The first year, we flew our first balloon early on Christmas morning, after being up about 20 hours already. I went outside to take a break. It was crystal clear, sun shining, no wind, and you could see all the way to the Royal Society Mountain Range. And that is almost 200 miles. Mt. Erebus, an active volcano, is about 40 miles away, but looked like you could walk over and climb its' 7,000 foot peak in about an hours easy hike. It was probably the most pristine, crisp, clear and gorgeous site I've seen in my life. The Grand Canyon is right up there too. How can someone look at sights like these, and say there is no GOD??

Most folks don't realize that Antarctica is the worlds largest desert. Yes, desert. There is less than 2-4% humidity there. I take 3 kinds of moisturizers there, and use them daily! There are dry valleys there where there has NEVER been any rain or snow. Things mummify there and do not decay. There are seal carcases there that they have dated to be quite old. Looking like they were live, but not moving; preserved till ???

The wildlife there consists of the locals about 11pm on Saturday night, no... There are Scuas, the seagull like birds that scavenge off garbage and sea life. There are seals, quite a few types that I don't have the names of. There are the orcas, that eat the seals, if they can. The seals eat, what everyone thinks about when they hear Antarctica: PENGUINS! Yes, there are penguins there, and I have seen 2 types, the small Adelies and the larger Emperor penguin. The emperor was obviously lost, he was alone and at Willy, where they NEVER show up. The adelies come thru quite regularly, on their way to where, I sure don't know.

Working there poses challenges you don't face anywhere else. We have to pump helium from tank to tank because we don't have a source except the tanks we take with us, and at low volume, they don't flow well due to the temperature. Metal becomes a dangerous thing to hands at cold temperature, it tends to stick to bare flesh. You have to wear gloves, making connections hard to complete on ballon systems. Tape does not stick there, and we LIVE and BREATHE duct tape and masking tape to keep things straight on the payloads. Computer components freeze, then get too hot when insulated. Cables turn to solid objects and break when run over with vans. (Vans can be dangerous, I stepped out of one and tore ligaments in my ankle. I got a free ride home in a Herc and spent the next 3 months flat on my back, recovering from the most painful injury of my entire life. That was MUCH worse than having my daughter EVER was!!) The wind can kick up suddenly and make putting up antennas on the roof a life-challenging job!

They had a Jamesway next to our building to use as a meeting room/chow hall. A Jamesway is a large canvas quanset hut that can be put up in about 8 hours. It comes out on a Delta, a large flatbed truck that has huge earth mover tires on it, to traverse the ice and snow roads. The canvas is multi layered and just goes over the joists that come out of the floor, which is the box this is all carried in. A home in a box! The canvas rolls up and is carried on top of the (floor) box. It is about 50 feet long and about 20 feet wide, and 10 feet tall at the center. We had a stove and a water-tank sink, and a refrigerator with box outside in the snow for a freezer. It had two oil heaters in it, and they kept it warm, most of the time.

They fly 2 flights during our time there. It is long, hard work. Sometimes you wait on the scientist to get ready, and then when he is, you wait on the weather to come around and die down. We like to launch at surface wind levels below 10 knots and upper winds below 13 knots. With an 800 foot balloon, you have to know what is happening 500-1000 feet above the surface, too! So many times we rush, sometimes we wait. It is hard to be away from your family at the holidays, but you keep your spirits up. You have to. But it is nice, when you are on that Herc, and it lands at Christchurch!

I hope this will pique your interest in Antarctica. I have a page of South Pole photos.
I have added a whole page of 14 new photos from McMurdo, Willy and wildlife.
If you feel like working there, get ahold of ASA. If you want to hear more gory details, e-mail me. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The fact that I have done it 4 times is the reason it is not as thrilling to me anymore. But there are folks who go back year after year. I know a lady who has been there 18 years in a row, who runs a Cat at Willy. It is a world unto itself, and for some, it is heaven.