For those who love to read about weather

The climatic conditions in Antarctica can be just that- climatic. I'm not one to obsess about weather forecasting, I usually just take it as it comes. But its a whole different story down here.

McMurdo station may have fairer conditions compared to the South Pole or various field camps around the continent, but things can get quite grizzly down here nonetheless. As such they use a weather rating system that isn’t used everywhere around the world. It consists of three conditions, and they are:

Condition 3: ‘Normal’ weather at McMurdo.
• Wind speeds: less than 48 knots
• Temperature: wind chills warmer than -75oF
• Visibility: greater than ¼ mile

Condition 2: Required to check out with Firehouse by radio prior to leaving town and upon return. Defined by one or more of the following conditions:
• Wind speeds: 48-55 knots
• Temperature: wind chills -75oF to -100oF
• Visibility: less than ¼ mile

Condition 1: Only ‘mission critical’ travel is permitted with permission from station managers; everyone is confined to the building they are in during the entire duration. Defined by one or more of the following conditions:
• Wind speeds: greater than 55 knots
• Temperature: wind chills colder than -100oF
• Visibility: less than 100 feet

Forecasting- weather balloons are launched daily and there are several weather observers and forecasters working around the clock to predict the weather conditions. Despite all their efforts, this region is renowned for having quite unpredictable weather, and we rarely see forecasting for more than a day or two in advance.

Life on the Ice

Many people wonder what there actually is to do here. Well after a 12 hour work day, there are still many things to be done, and most all of its free. Here are some of the more popular and bizarre things:

~Gerbil gym. This small building is packed with exercise machines, small fogged over windows, and suprisingly little body odor.

~Main gym. A bit more of a walk, a half tube in shape, and home to soccer night, basketball night, volleyball night, Zumba classes, the annual Halloween party and a rock climbing wall.

~Bar hopping. There are two bars (Gallagher's and Southern Exposure) and a Coffeehouse (coffee, wine and whiskey). They're all next to each other, so there's not much hopping to be done. Just make sure the big red parka that you take is your own. Open days for night crews. Suitable in flipflops.

~Building 063. Recently condemned when asbestos was found after part of the roof collapsed. Used to house the weight room, a ceramics studio and world's oldest Brunswick manual set pins bowling alley in the world. Bummer.

~Science lectures every Sunday and Wednesday night, where members of the scientific community present the work they are conducting down here.

~Tap dancing classes.

~Yoga classes. Usually in the chapel, but sometimes held in the bar.

~Craft room. Haven't explored this since the hour before the halloween party.

~Movies. Shown constantly on television, often at the Coffeehouse, and occasionally in the Galley.

~Travelogues. People give presentations on the places they've traveled. I gave one on Borneo.

~Hiking and Skiing. There are about a half dozen trails around the station that one can explore. Varying in duration and difficulty.

~Scott base. The New Zealand base, which is located 2 miles from here, hosts an American night every Thursday night. They invite us over to their pub. $1.60 a beer.

~Foosball, billards, pingpong. Can be found in nearly all the lounges and at the bar. I'm specializing in Foosball, but there is some tough competition. I chaulk this up to being a rookie on the Ice. My learning curve is sharp and I am confident.

~Trails. A network of short trails around the station for hiking and cross-country skiing.

South Pole Traverse

The South Pole Traverse is a logistics project a few years in the making. The theory was that hauling fuel and other critical supplies to the South Pole overland would be more cost effective than relying on all supplies being delivered by air cargo.

Last week ten people in eight specialized tractors (see below) left McMurdo station with hundreds of tons of fuel in bladders on sleds in tow.

The traverse is nearly 1,000 miles crossing a very dangerous shear zone with deep crevasses and vast tracts of land that rise in altitude and have no traces of human civilizations. Last year was the first complete round trip to and from the Pole.

By making this 60+ day return trip, the South Pole station can get a delivery of valuable fuel for a fraction of the cost that it would take to fly fuel in by C-130 cargo plane.

All traverse crew are equipment operators/mechanics/fuel specialists with multiple years of experience working in Antarctica. Pretty impressive.

Movember - Help support Prostate Cancer Research and my creepy moustache!

The mission: Grow a moustache during the month of November. Make it as big, robust, bushy, absurd, creepy, Errol Flynnesque, or goofy as possible.

Grow a moustache. It itches. People look at you funny. Write about it, take pictures of it, name it, make it absurd, something your grandkids will cringe at. Have an individualized page on a website dedicated just to growing moustaches in November. Call it Movember. Solicit donations. All in the name of men's health, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LiveStrong.

Check it out at:

http://us.movember.com/mospace/459577

Donations accepted through December 9, 2009. Receive a postcard from Antarctica if you contribute $10 or more!

Saving Japan Dolphins

There are two key elements to my job here in Antarctica:

1. Driving in adverse conditions (snow, ice, huge holes in the ice, complaining passengers)and 2. Waiting

The latter often leaves a lot of time to read, think, write, knit, trade life-stories and.... do absurd mock photo shoots for the fun of it. One of which incidentally collaborated with a good cause.

Check out this great cause, its cool merchandise, some smoking hot models, and a couple of the less absurd pics at:

http://www.ecojoia.com/index.php/site/news/ecojoia

About the Continent - According to the USAP

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, harshest continent, and with little precipitation (roughly 2 inches per year) is the driest place on earth. It is roughly 14 million sq km (5.4 million sq. mi.), has an average elevation of more than 2,000 m (6,500 ft.), and 98% of the landmass is covered by an ice sheet estimated to be 29 million cu km (7 million cu. mi.).

The average annual temperature at South Pole Station is -56°F. During the austral summer, temperatures at McMurdo Station may reach as high as 50°F, while at South Pole Station the summer temperature may reach 0°F. Palmer Station has a milder climate, with summer temperatures reaching as high as 55°F.

Temperature patterns vary so widely because the continent is covered in continuous darkness during the austral winter and continuous sunlight during the austral summer, with a few weeks of sunrises and sunsets in between seasons.

Plant life in Antarctica is limited, consisting of mostly algae, lichens, and mosses, and there are only a few known species of flowering plants. As far as animal life, only microscopic animals (such as mites and worms) and insects exist on the land; however, the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is full of sea life, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, squid, seals, whales, and seabirds.

--Taken from USAP (http://www.usap.gov/usapgov/aboutTheContinent/index.cfm?m=2)

Antarctica???

Down here people commonly refer to it as the Ice or the Harsh Continent. It's that spec of land at the bottom of the Earth, that place on the map where all the lines converge. Where the icicles hang from the world.

And why the hell am I here? I suppose I'll be trying trying to answer that question for quite a while. It is a question I've been asked and have asked myself since I've signed the contract, and I'm sure its something I'll really be asking myself three months when I've all but forgotten what a tree or the dark of night looks like.

I first heard about the opportunity in 2002 from an antenna rigger named Jay. He had just wintered over (spent one year at McMurdo) and shared many crazy stories in the two days we were snowed into a hut in remote Patagonia. It had stuck in my mind since then, but the timing was never right. The timing became right this spring, I applied, I threw around the names of a few friends that had worked there, and I got an offer.

Adventure. A new experience. A good story for the grandkids someday. My last continent to set foot on. The cherry on top of an already absurd resume. These are a few of the reasons I chose to come to Antarctica.

The trip down... DEN-LAX-SYD-CHC-MCM

I've just started reading Ernest Shackleton's South, a memoir of his failed 1914 Antarctic expedition. In light of this I am reluctant to whinge about the length of my trip down here, how poor the airplane food was, the jetlag, etc. Besides, it wasn't that bad anyway.

A few flights and a bunch of timezones and I find myself transplanted to Christchurch, New Zealand. We had two days here to adjust to this side of the world, provision ourselves with last minute goodies, get outfitted with all the clothing we'll need for the extreme weather down below, and fill our bellies with sushi and lamb.

In addition to long underwear, fleeces, gloves, hats, etc., everyone is outfitted with Extreme Cold Weather gear (or ECW in this land of acronyms, more on that in another post). The ECW consists of carhartt overalls, ski goggles, the iconic red parkas (known as 'big reds') and cold weather military boots (known as 'bunny boots').

On departure day we get up early, and get transferred to a special sector of the Christchurch airport where we check in and have our bags and our persons weighed. After this there is a opportunity to get a bite to eat; it is our last chance to exercise our free will of food choice for several months. Mine was an egg sandwich and a fancy fruit juice.

Next its a flight briefing. We learned how to fit earplugs, where we should sit, that we need to have our overalls undone before we enter the lavatory (for the sake of timeliness), and what what will occur in case of a boomerang. In case you don't know, a flight boomerangs when it gets close to its destination, but then has to return due to destination weather conditions. Apparently this can happen quite often. It makes a long day of sitting in a loud airplane, but also gives passengers another precious night in Christchurch. Apparently the record number of boomerangs is seven! Can you imagine logging over 70 hours of uncomfortable flight time just to get to a frozen continent???



Our chariot is an Air Force C-17. I don't know much about planes, but this one is big and gray and meant to fit both passengers and cargo.









A view from the front of the plane facing the tail. They place some airline seats across the center of the plane but many people sit along the side, facing the cargo.










My seat.



















The view from my seat.















Corrine, John, Brandon, and myself.











Their aren't really any windows in the cabin of the airplane. This is quite strange because you don't get any sense of where you are, how fast you're going, or if you are taking off or landing. We were fortunate enough to have the captain invite us into the cockpit. These were my first views of the Antarctic continent.



















A C-17 landing at the Ice Runway at McMurdo Station Antarctica. We made it!














And so began my Antarctic experience. For me it was only a journey of four days to reach this continent. It is truly humbling to think of the epic struggles explorers like Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen made just a century ago to reach these places. You can read more about them here.

in Alexandria

From Egypt, December 9, 2008
(The post below is from a group email I sent to my friends and family while traveling years ago. I include it in this blog as an archive to my travels. It remains in the the raw state that I originally sent it, foolishness of younger years intact, typos and sics untouched.)

We arrived in Alexandria today after an overnight train ride and a 3 hour bus journey. Vin and others were up until 3am playing "Oh Hell", but Wendy and I were more sensible and got a good amount of sleep in. Wendy's been good, but just started spewing from both ends this afternoon and is now resting. I think she's a bit overwhelmed at this point but I figure a few days in the desert will rebalance her.

Tomorrow morning we head out for the western desert, a part of Egypt that despite its extreme isolation, has had human history for 5,000 years in its trade routes and oases. The coming days will bring Celopatra's Bath, true oases, exotic fruits like dates and figs, and a night of camping in the White Desert. It also means a lot of sand, and driving...

We've just come from Luxor and Aswan where we saw many of the big sights of ancient world. It has been intriguing to see in person these monuments to time, history, engineering, civic solidarity, etc etc that I had once studied in school.

To compliment this we spent 2 nights on a felucca on the Nile. These simple, flat decked sailboats have huge triangular sails set at a strange angle that help them to tack their way back and forth down the Nile. We spent the days cruising and taking in the sights of the shore and the nights banging drums and dancing around a campfire. Really don't know how I'm gonna go back to work!

Is also been interesting because today is Eid, a big holiday in the muslim world that is similar in concept to Thanksgiving and close in popularity to Xmas. The shops are mostly closed, but everyone is out in their finest clothes and the kids have been approaching us non-stop to practice their English and have a laugh (so much so that we've retreated to the balconies of our hotel rooms that face the open Mediterreanian Sea). We've also seen several animals being slaughtered right on the sidewalk with blood running down the streets to the gutters! Quite fascnating all this, and we're not sure what to expect when the night comes.

Inkalandia

From Peru, July 24, 2002
(The post below is from a group email I sent to my friends and family while traveling years ago. I include it in this blog as an archive to my travels. It remains in the the raw state that I originally sent it, foolishness of younger years intact, typos and sics untouched.)

Hello all! its been a while i know, i`ve been settling into my new temporary life here in cusco, peru. working as for a river rafting company. the apurimac river. beautiful and technical it is nestled in a deep canyon outside of cusco. i am a trainee to be a river rafting guide. i`m doing it for the life more than anything. for me it is the perfect combination of work, fun, adrenaline and tranquility. i get up early in the morning, jump in the back of a truck and try to sleep for the five hour twisting turning ride to the river. i set up the gear with the other guides and wait for the passengers. we cruise down the river for four days at a time through amazing rapids and a gorgeuous canyon. i assist in setting up camp and the cooking. i ride along in the cargo raft or in an inflatable kayak. i am responible for the photography and videography of the group. there is nothing like sleeping on the beach under the stars listening to the water flow by.

after four days we return and party until the wee hours of the morning. recover a day, some laundry and out again. i`ve been abandoned by all my travelling friends and now find myself immersed in spanish culture. my friends, guides and other aquaintances, compliment me on my spanish. i don`t agree. it`s quite crude and i rarely use a tense other than the present. perhaps they are confusing it with my body language which i use whenever i need to get my point across.

so that is my life, but not my most recent adventures. i just returned last night from the inca trail. or incalandia as i like to call it. to those who are unfamiliar, the inca trail is a pilgrimage route through the region of cusco past several significant ruins to the famous and formerly sacred city of machu picchu. it is a four day trek covering 42 kilometers of strenuous terrain.

and lots of gringos and restrictions (thus the amusement park name i`ve given it... Inkalandia) i would never do a trek back home with this many paople on it. in fact the only thing i appreciated about all the people on the trail was passing them.

it was my first trekking experience using porters. i was rather stubborn. i insisted on using my own tent, carrying and setting it up myself. it just doesn`t seem right otherwise. i also brought extra food, i didn`t have faith in what they might bring and prepare (although it was alright). in the end i ended up having a pack as heavy as the porters. i think it was a matter of pride for me. i still am disgusted by the people i saw carrying nothing more than a light daypack and having hot tea delivered to their tents in the morning.

somewhere along the line i was joking with the porter. we agreed to change roles on the second half of the third day. i would take his potato sack of food and other camp essentials and run ahead of everyone else to the camp while he strolled behind with my backpack and ate candies, sipped water and chatted with my friends. so i stormed ahead. damn was i good. i was passing other dumbfounded porters left and right. i got to a campsite after about 20 minutes when it takes the gringoes normally one and a half to two hours. i joked and talked to some porters from another group. they didn`t know about my campsite but say there was another one further down the trail. okay, so i set off again. going like crazy, but now the terrain had changed. i descended hundreds and hundreds of ancient incan stairs (which means they were stone, large and very inconsistent). after almost an hour of (practically) running downhill descending more than 600 meters from the previous campsite the porter i traded places with caught up with me. the problem was no one told me when to stop. i almost died (sorry mom), i nearly cried... if only i had the energy to do either. we were in fact camp at the campsite now a distant peak 600 meters in altitude above my head. so i crawled back. if only i could describe how evil these stairs were. on top of that i had to explain to each and every tourist and porter why i was going the wrong way.

finally, two plus hours later i rearrived to camp. everyone seemed to think it was funny. my legs didn`t.

we passed out that night around 8pm. woke at 2am and starting hiking again at 3am. to see the sunrise over machu picchu. i`m still not sure it was worth it. or that i appreciated the famous ruins as much as i did a hot shower and warm bed when i returned that night.

tomorrow i go rafting again. this is my life...

love to all....

j