Rockin' the Chalet Deck

Condition Fun is a band that has been around for many years and is the brainchild of Sandwich and Bill.  They excel at writing fun and catchy tunes about the vehicles of McMurdo.  Last season, they asked me to join them on drums to fill out their sound.  Now we're up to five members with a sixth contributing clarinet and cigar-box guitar onarious numbers.

Last Saturday, Condition Fun was asked to participate in a live video tele-conference with the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California by the Pricipal Investigator for one of the marine science projects, Gretchen Hoffman.  Gretchen did 2 live interviews from the deck of the Chalet (Sation and NSF management offices), which, by the way, has the best views of any place on Station.  The first interview was with a group of six graders and the second interview occured at night in California during the aquarium's Halloween cocktail party and shindig.

Gretchen thought it would be fun to have us "play out" her interview with a popular tune, C-17.  It was a great treat for us and I think it came out quite well.

The video is on Youtube.  Check it out here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joghsyhnsjc

McMurdo 1955

After one month, I am finally catching my breath and finding time to blog again.  In the past four weeks, the population has doubled and will nearly triple (from WinFly) in the next couple of weeks.  This has been a huge shift in my understanding of what winterovers go through (on a much bigger scale!) when the first flight of WinFly arrives. 

It doesn't take long to get into a rhythm here and to get lulled into the peacefulness of a small population.  Our lives during Mainbody, when the population can soar to over 1150, get focused on planning and scheduling everything.  Even he most mundane things like going to the gym or going to the dining hall have to be carefully planned so that you don't go right at noon or 5:30 pm.  We even get to the point where we don't go to lunch on the half hour or hour because it's too crowded.  After 6 seasons of this behavior, it was an exceptional treat to go wherever I wanted, when I wanted.  All that ended on November 3.

Since then, I've been teaching 3 or 4 software training classes per day and spending the rest of my work time providing software assistance one-on-one or editing the McMurdo intranet.  The station is full of people trying to get to their field camps, the South Pole, Australians (heading to Casey, one of the Australian stations), Italians (heading to Terra Nova) and loads of scientists wishing to get out into the field to do their research.

The weather and the condition of the sea ice this year have made it difficult for anyone to get anywhere. There are giant cracks in the ice where we would normally have an ice road and this has meant that many scientists now need helicopter support to get to locations they would otherwise drive to.  We've also had many days of blowing snow and near white-out conditions which mean that no one goes anywhere!  Right now, 24 Australians are sleeping in "man camp" (a big bunk room) because we can't get a flight out to their station.  Meanwhile,  other program participants heading south have been stuck in LA and elsewhere while the Qantas fleet has been grounded.  There's always a challenge in this program - for many, that's what keeps them coming back year-after-year.  It's never the same!

Another thing that CERTAINLY has not stayed the same over the years is the condition and the look of McMurdo.  Today, I discovered some photos taken in McMurdo in 1955.  They did not have any of the same safety or environmental concerns that we do today and had very different rules.  Back then, dogs were used for pulling sleds.  No one is permitted to bring animals to Antarctica any more - especially when they discovered that dogs were passing along the canine distemper virus to seals.

Today, we'd never be allowed to scamper around the sea ice in those conditions!

We still have a chapel but it doesn't have a picket fence!  Nor is it a quonset hut.

The one thing that hasn't changed...

Note the beer cans.

Snow Day!

In Antarctica, when you have a snow day, you don't get to stay home and go sledding BUT they do cancel flights.  Today is supposed to be the first day of the Mainbody season, the time when almost all of our science occurs and station population can swell to 1200.  Many of the winterovers are scheduled to fly out after 8 months or (in many cases) one year and are giddy with excitement.

On the schedule today are two flights, one a C-17 and the other an Airbus.  The Airbus was slated to bring 70 people to station but now that it has been cancelled due to blowing snow and low visibility, ten priority passengers have been moved to the C-17 which can land in worse conditions than the Airbus.  The C-17 has been delayed and may yet be cancelled, but for now, we're planning on losing 38 people and getting 40.  I can live with that.

Here are some more amazing photos from the science group that is gathering worms on the ocean floor for genetic analysis.

Changeable

From -81F/-60C wind chill to 1F/17C in just two days.  The clouds have moved in overhead and have brought warm, moist air with them.

In the meantime, we are all preparing (mentally, spiritually, physically) for the beginning of Mainbody starting next Monday.  With each flight, we'll get 140 new people and lose only about 100 winterover personnel (in total!).  It will get crazy busy very quickly.  To commemorate the end of WinFly, the carpenters are throwing a big party with live music this Saturday night.  Sadly, I agreed to cover someone's bartending shift so I won't be able to attend.  I hope some people actually come to the bar!

The Carp shop

Gallagher's Pub, where I'll be bartending

More Nacreous Photos

Here are photos of some stunning nacreous clouds we observed a couple of nights ago.  Unfortunately, the photos don't completely capture the variety and clarity of the pastel colors, but you get a good idea of what makes this place so special.