Life after the Ice

How exactly do you get used to grass, darkness, dogs, and LOTS of people after being in Antarctica for 5 months? Well, that's a good question! This is my best attempt.
Jon and I decided to travel together after only dating for a couple weeks, a huge step for us, but it worked out great!
Our itinerary was changed a few times due to the cargo vessel being delayed. Our final itinerary was...
February:
13th: Jon departs the Ice
14th: My last day of work
15th: I depart the Ice(and arrive in darkness and rain!)

My ride- C17

16th: Mail suitcases home, pick up rental car, drive to Hanmer Springs
17th: Drive to Greymouth on New Zealand's South Island, West coast. Watch my first full beautiful, amazing sunset over the water

Sunset!

18th: Drive to Arthur's Pass
19th: Return rental car, fly to Sydney
20th: Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!!

On top of the world!

21st: Ferry to Manly Beach
22nd: Fly to Ayers Rock Resort in the middle of Australia
23rd: Hike around Uluru, View sunset on Uluru

Uluru

24th: Sunrise on Kata Tjuta, Hike Valley of the Winds, Sunset on Kata Tjuta
25th: Sunrise on Uluru, return rental car, fly back to Sydney
26th: Museums in Sydney, happen upon thousands at the New South Wales Wine Festival(too many people!) then fly overnight to Honolulu and arrive earlier than we left on the same day
26th Cont: Laundry, showers, rainy afternoon= movie! dinner in Waikiki with an old Sea Base friend!

Aloha! Jon's 50th State!

27th: Explore, hike Diamond Head Crater
28th: Pearl Harbor
29th: Pack up, fly overnight
March 1st: After a several hour delay I made it to Burlington, Jon made it home.

What a trip it was. We had a great time. Jon was an amazing chauffeur. Driving manual transmissions plus on the opposite side of the road couldn't have been easy.

My chauffeur!

Happy Camper

As employees we get a morale trip and mine was selected to be Snow Survival School aka Happy Camper. I’ve heard many things about the 2 day/ 1 night program. Most loved it but some hated it. I was pretty nervous because our beautiful summer weather had just left and winter seemed to be knocking a little too loud at the door! I had told myself when I read about the program during orientation(months ago while sitting in an air conditioned room in Denver, CO!) that I would sleep in a snow trench, or at least try! So I packed up all the required extreme cold weather gear and supplemented it with some of my own stuff hoping it would be enough. The last item that I got was borrowed from Jon… his pee bottle. Don’t worry it was empty and clean. Talk about taking our relationship to a new level!

So what does Happy Camper include?

We met in a classroom setting to go over what our schedule looked like and to learn a little about the extreme conditions and what that can do to you, like frost bite, hypothermia, etc. We then gathered up some more supplies and loaded up in the Delta, picked up some bag lunches from the galley and headed out on the sea ice.

We were dropped off on the side of the Pegasus Runway Road, loaded our things into a snowmobile sled and walked off into the snow towards a couple buildings in the distance. 

The Walk...

Once we arrived we had a bunch of activities from learning to use the ultra light stoves to how to sleep warmly. 

Learning time!

Then we got to the more hands on part. We got our own sleeping gear and headed out to where we would make our camp. From there on it was constant movement all while trying to maintain our body temperature in the blowing cold. 

We learned how to set up Scott Tents(double walled canvas, very similar to the ones Scott used 100 years ago on his expeditions), regular camping tents, stake all those down(no grass or dirt to dig into here!), then it was on to making a kitchen by using hand saws to cut the ice/snow into blocks for a wind block wall. 

The tools of the trade!

We had a quick tutorial in how to make a snow trench and then we were on our own until 7:30 the next morning. So we dug, cut, and stacked all while melting snow to boil water for dinner. Hours later the wall was finished, tents set up, and water was on it’s way to a boil, I started on my trench. About 4 feet deep and 7 long, I used blocks of snow/ice to build up the sides more, then using two sleds I made a roof. Home sweet trench! 

Home Sweet Trench!

I set up my sleeping kit all while knocking snow off the walls of the trench. Broad shoulders!

By this time my stomach was growling and the water was boiling, I enjoyed some dehydrated bean chili in a bag with a hot mug of hot chocolate. Luckily we had a stash of snickers bars and trail mix to supplement. I made my final trip to the outhouse for the night and tucked myself into bed a bit after 8 and set my alarm for 5 something am. I had reserved a spot in a Scott Tent incase I got too cold or uncomfortable in the trench, but I didn’t need it! I made it the whole night! I only woke up a couple of times to turn over. Sleeping with a shovel at your side makes turning a bit more interesting!

We broke down camp and boiled more water for oatmeal and hot drinks. After everything was stowed away we had more learning to do plus some scenarios to practice what we learned. We set up a survival bag in 30 minutes. That includes one tent set up and secured, snow melted, water boiling, radio set up and contact made and a small wind block wall made. Plus we had one participant, Christine, play the role of a hypothermic person we had to tend to.

Another scenario was one person is unaccounted for and it’s condition one outside, how do we find them. We did a search pattern and found our person in about 8 minutes! All with buckets on our heads to simulate low visibility.

We also attempted to radio the South Pole but there had been too many solar flares recently so we couldn’t contact them, instead we spoke to Mac Ops.

We packed up and rode back to town, repacked the kits for the next Happy Camper, then the last thing was a video of helicopter safety and demo seatbelts.

I was on a bit of a high when it was over. I took a nice long shower and then a nap was in order before dinner!

If you’re wondering about Jon’s pee bottle… I didn’t end up using it. So I returned it.

Happy Camper was a great time. Learned a lot and completed my goal to sleep in the trench!

McMurdo Ice Marathon

One of the many activities that the recreation office puts on at McMurdo is the annual Ice Marathon.

Full Marathon Start

 The route was slightly different than previous years because of the movement of the road to the Pegasus runway. The route this year was to start at mile 1 of the Pegasus road, go out to the runway(mile 14), turn around and return to the start. The half marathon started at the runway and went to mile 1. There was also the option to ski either the full or half.

Roommates! Nate, Jon, and Craig- All ran the full Marathon!

The need for aid stations was evident as there is nothing on the side of the road in Antarctica. So a few volunteers, including myself signed up to run aid stations.

 

 

 

Another aid station. Beer and BBQ tempting runners and skiers to finish early.

My aid station. That's me in the middle waving!

  We had a van as a warming station, a table, two chairs, water and Gatorade, and a few snacks. And the all important pee bottles! We headed out and dropped off the folks running the half marathon start then set up our station.

Offering up some refreshments

 Karen and I got our things together and not long after we had the first full marathon skier show up.
We were busy from then on with the skiers and runners. We danced around and cheered folks, handed out drinks, and broke up the long route.

Some frosty hair!

Deany traditional cross country skiing the full marathon. And no he doesn't have a shirt on!

The Kiwi team pulling the sled!

Jon

Jon ran the full marathon. He reported having some pain in his leg/foot towards the end but still had a great time. 

Jon with a frosty beard!

Touring the R/V Nathaniel Palmer

Before I was even officially hired I had researched so many aspects of Antarctica. One piece of that included a special research vessel that the National Science Foundation owns and runs around Antarctica. I read about it and thought how neat it would be to work on it, but I wasn’t qualified for the jobs I could find. I did read a blog about someone at McMurdo that got to tour the vessel when it pulled up to the ice pier.

R/V Nathaniel B Palmer

 I got this chance last week! I was so excited when Chef Bill told me that the recreation office was offering tours that night for one night only. I happened that the sign up time was during our serving period for lunch so I went and signed up on my break. 

 

We arrived at the ice pier at about 8:15 for our 8:30pm tour and crossed the ice following the flagged route and walked up the gangway onto the boat.

Walking to the Ice Pier

Crossing the Pier!

While we waited for the others in our tour to arrive we marveled at the boat and took a few pictures.

 

Once the tour started I was like a kid in a candy shop. I had googly eyes and wanted to see it all! We got to see a room they use to launch equipment out the starboard side of the vessel, then a lab room with several deep freezers.

Galley

Looking off the stern

Other rooms we saw were chemical labs, wet labs, the galley, some cabins, and my favorite part… the bridge!!

The Bridge

 And I got to meet the captain!! It was a great time and I am so grateful to have been able to tour it.

Post Tour!