Phil's Antarctica Journal

The end...

2005-10-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

hello again, thanks for all the messages i got from everyone after i wrote out last time (which was too long ago, i think). Winfly got away from me with planning travels and working (notice how "working" came second on the list). it gets hard to concentrate after all this time, and you have a picture of a van you're going to live out of in NZ hanging on the wall, and you stare at it every morning and evening as you get ready for bed...

anyway, it's been incredible to see and experience an entire cycle of town life here (from both sides- coming in new and fresh, and leaving old and crusty). not too crusty, really. i got a lot of compliments on how "with it" i seem after being here so long. i don't know what that means- perhaps it means i won't survive out there in the real world where i have to find my own place to sleep, cook my own food, clean my own dishes, talk to strangers... i've been so institutionalized by now. i told some of you this, but i was so stressed out about all the things i had to do to prepare for people coming in at Winfly, so my workmate Shandra suggested i make a list to get all the things out of my mind... after writing down three things, i couldn't think of any more. i was stressing out about three things i had to do, and i got them all done in an afternoon. sheesh. "how do i do anything outside of this place?" i began to wonder. but i think i'll bounce right back into it like riding a bike... which i haven't done for too long (sure, there was that time on the gravel pass to Scott Base, but i can't count that really since i was on the verge of wiping out the whole time).

and now i have three days of work left, and then a plane takes me to NZ on monday. the first of many planes landed today and didn't break the runway this year, so everything is working out for me to leave here on time. i'll just keep my fingers crossed.

after this stint, i will never come back... for a year-long contract, that is. i can see coming down again for just one season at a time- and maybe my Antarctic world will open up to opportunities working at Pole or Palmer stations. but that will be quite in the future, since i definitely need some time away. it's beautiful and fun and amazing, and i enjoy it all- but there's a lot to be said for home comforts and warm breezes...

for my second consecutive birthday on the ice, we had an awesome party (co-celebrating our friend Anna's birthday which is four days away from mine), and we ate so much good home-cooked food; hearty soup, garlic/rosemary bread, homebrew, fersh-baked cookies and brownies, and the highlight of desserts- Creme Brulee, freshly bruleed and served in a big pan (the kind you find salad dressing being served in at an all-you-can-eat buffet)- i've never seen so much of it at one time, and it tasted amazing. Anna and i got to break the top.

my friend Deborah made me a fur-lined carhartt bomber hat (see attached photo). it made my day. and about the photo- it's sad to say, but i think it reveals my true skin tone.

take care,
Phil

Big Changes

2005-08-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

big changes are coming in just over a week, and some are already here.

four flights of people and cargo will come in at the end of August for Winter Fly-in. those planes will leave taking away about half the winter-overs, but they will leave behind three things we have not had for many months: fresh fruits, mail, and germs. the population of town right now is just over 200. half of those will leave, and over 300 more will come in, doubling the population of town, but it will be about 75% new people from the outside world- tan harbingers of germs. it's kind of like the europeans colonizing the west... on a less drastic scale.

apart from the occasional upset stomach from cafeteria-style food, nobody has been truly sick for months. it will be a shock to our immune systems with all these new people. it will be good to get new people to look at, though.

the sky is changing in leaps and bounds, too- which is quite refreshing. i work in an office with no windows, and a few days ago i was at work and my job had not taken me outside until i left for lunch. i opened the door and was AMAZED at the absence of blackness. the sky was blue, and nacreous clouds were coloring the sky with rainbowy hues. the sun doesn't rise until the 19th (and then, only for an hour or so), but the sky around the middle of the day looks like dawn then dusk... then it's black again. but we get more and more daylight everyday, and the clouds really put on a show. some info from online:

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15-25 km. They are implicated in the formation of ozone holes. The stratosphere is very dry and clouds, as commonly seen in the troposphere, rarely form. In the extreme cold of the polar winter, PSCs of two types may form: various forms of type I of nitric and sulfuric acid; and type II (rarer) of water ice which form below -90°C. As you can imagine, when the sun hits the crystals contained in these clouds they turn into miniature prisms, giving them their signature rainbow-hued color.

the appearance of these beautiful clouds really marks the time for me as to how long i've been here. almost a year ago, i came here and was amazed at the sky- now i get to see it all again from quite a different perspective. i've enjoyed it all immensely, and i'm looking forward to more big changes coming.
in one of the pictures you can see the haze in the town below. when i was a kid, i remember those very cold and calm Sunday mornings when my dad would warm up the car in the driveway before going to church. when it was time to go, i would stand in the thick clouds of exhaust that hung in the air behind the car and just breath what i thought was the sweetest smell of winter. my mom didn't think too much of that, and i was always told that it wasn't good for me and to get in the car, it's time to go. well, on those very cold and calm days down here, all that sweet exhaust (from the buildings, trucks, dozers, and loaders) just hangs in the air over the whole town. it's hard to see more than 50 yards sometimes. so we wait for the breeze to carry it away. fifteen years ago, i would be in heaven- but, Mom, if i could get in a car and leave this exhaust behind, i would. i don't feel very good after working outside in this stuff too long.

i hope you are all doing well!

-Phil

Dinner, plunge, and more work

2005-06-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hey there all,
I just wanted to drop in to say hello. it's been a while since i've written, but things have been just plugging along all regular-like here. i'm sure you all are in the midst summer fun. i remember getting emails from a friend last summer in July while they were wintering down here. and i remember thinking to myself how funny it was that i was in the warmth and sun and they were in the cold darkness. well, i think i know who's laughing now. ME... crazy maniacal laughter. well, maybe not really, but we'll see in a couple more months- because i feel it setting in. i am much more spacey than usual, my language skills are falling apart (conversation is frustrating when you forget easy words, or say "make a camera" instead of "take a picture"), and the other day, i knew something was definitely wrong with me when i forgot to unzip my pants when i went to the bathroom. i was a fraction of a second away from urinating in my trousers before realizing that i had forgotten to open my fly. the image is pretty funny in my head- a guy walks up to the toilet, just stands in front of it and begins to wet his pants- whoops! he missed a crucial step there that he learned as a toddler! i'm so glad i was not that guy- i almost was, though, and that's disturbing enough.

A little over a week ago, we celebrated mid-winter with a great dinner. it was fun to get dressed up and eat like it was thanksgiving (i.e., until all you could do was lay down on the reclining chair and sleep like uncle Laverne). the tables in the galley were covered with white table cloths, and the mood was just like a fancy banquet. however, people could not do without the blue cafeteria trays when we sat down to dine. it's a complex that has taken over our eating habits- the trays are liked for numerous reasons. for example- you take your plate, pile it up with food, and oh shucky-darn... you ran out of room before you got to the end of the line! hey, no problem, just plop those mashed potatoes on your tray there next to your glass of juice and you're all set. also, when you sit down to eat, you can eat however sloppy you want. it's hard just to eat the food here sometimes- you really have to pick through it, rearrange piles of food, and push things to the side that looked good but taste awful. by the time you're done with your meal, your tray can look like you had to eat your food without the use of your hands. so if you spill off the side of your plate, don't worry! it's just a blue tray! and especially on this night with table cloths as white as our arms, who would want to spill a drop on them? bring on the blue trays! very classy.

Another habit taking over our dining experiences is eating off each others' plates. i'm not talking about family-style "please pass the squash" kind of thing... oh no, this is like sitting at a table with 5 other Helen Keller impersonators, grabbing food off each other's plates and eating it. to explain better... so you sit down with your plate (and tray) of food, thinking you're all set. but hey, oh wait, what's that on Matt's plate? spicy chili krab salad? you didn't see that up there. you bet it tastes good. without asking, you take your fork and stab a piece of krab, wipe up a little sauce, and pop it in your mouth. mmm, not too bad, maybe you'll get some for yourself. does this phase Matt? not in the least. if anyone at the table were to do that with your food... well, what's the problem? this has become standard and accepted behavior at the table. we'll have to remedy this at Winfly when 300 new people from the outside show up.

I've attached four pictures of what i've mainly been doing these past few months... which is my job. it requires me to do computer work, inventory material outside and inside, pull and reserve that same material, and drive the Pickle to move/store cargo for the science groups. for a perfect description of what the Pickle is, please refer to my friend Phil Jacobsen's website.

he left in February, leaving me to carry on as the solitary Phil on station. he has some great stories, and i highly recommend reading through them. my favorite is the one on Sir Ed's visit.

this past weekend, Scott Base hosted the mid-winter polar plunge. i stripped down to nothing but my sneakers, wrote a message in marker on my butt, and jumped into the 28-degree water under the Antarctic moon (the real one, accompanied by my friends' own glowing white moons). afterwards, the Scottish party got underway (why Scottish? you ask... well, i guess they needed a reason to cook and serve the Haggis they had in their food stores). it was damn fine haggis- smelled like a sheep's butt- mmm, mmm.

lastly, a few weeks ago, i was taken up to help with a flagging trip out towards Black Island, the hub for all our connections to the outside world. it's a prime spot for line-of-sight to satellites. so it's good to have the road properly marked if a party had to go out and fix things. it was beautiful out there- the moon low on the horizon, auroras overhead, and not a drop of wind. i was only out for the day, but it was amazing to get out of town into the dark. on a later trip, where a group stayed at the camp on Black Island to do preventative maintenance and such, the leader was able to get some amazing photos of the auroras they saw that time, so i've attached a couple.

i hope all is well in your worlds. love,

Phil

PS- picture "plunge2" is R-rated!! but it's nothing my mom hasn't seen before...

Auroras...

2005-05-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

after dodgeball, this weekend, and two nights of hiking around on the outskirts of town with -50
windchills, i'm feeling pretty beat up. but it was all worth it last night.

halfway up Ob Hill, the sky lit up and gave me my best auroral show ever. a deep green, wide band
of light created a huge arc in the sky and rippled like a river, crossing over the Milky Way. it
stayed bright for a little while, then slowly faded away as it moved south like a cloud of sparkly
dust drifting with a breeze. other little shows came and went, but that was amazing. i hope to see
more this winter.

i didn't have the fancy photography equipment to capture any of it, but the station manager was also
out last night- and he is a real photographer. he posted some great pictures on the common drive
this morning. i didn't see any reds when i went out, but apparantly he did.

i'm still hoping for a big storm...

-Phil

Exciting

2005-05-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today was exciting:

Back in February, there was this glass fish bowl with fake glass fish in it sitting on the
counter here in the stockroom. It kept clanking around every time someone bumped the
counter.�Man, it really annoyed Shandra and me, and we wanted to dump the water out. Then
we thought, "How long do you think it would take for all that water just to evaporate?"
Well, say no more, we had our bets down on the dates we thought the bowl would be dry. We
defined "dry" to be "a couple small pools of water on the bottom no bigger than your pinky
nail"- not "bone dry". Keeping in mind this was a humidified building with 30% humidity
(rather than the usual 3-5% in other buildings), Shandra placed her day 9 weeks out and I
placed mine at just over 12 weeks. We put the bowl in a place where people wouldn't fill it
up, thinking they would be doing us a favor, and we agreed not to mess with the water
levels.� We tracked its decline every week, making a mark on the side of the bowl with a
date.� Nine weeks came and went with ounces of water in the bowl. Today, twelve weeks and
one day after the bet, my date we recorded in the bet book, the bowl has been announced "dry"
by a third independent party. Victory!

Yesterday was exciting:

the beer I brewed Thursday night got crazy, clogged the airlock while it vigorously
fermented, I had no blow-off tube, so it blew out the lid and puked all over the floor. I
made a spur-of-the-moment blow-off tube and cleaned up the mess- I was late for work. As I
could spare the time during the day, I would continuously check on it, and like taking care
of a sick child, I wiped up the puke and cleaned its mouth and hoped for the best. It
settled down by the end of the day.� I'm hoping the whole "bacteria can't live in Antarctica"
thing will work for me. I see examples of it all the time. The banana someone hoarded away
since December and forgot about- it didn't rot, it just dried up and looks like a wrinkly,
shrunken, black banana for a hungry, wrinkly, shrunken head.� The orange Shandra hoarded on
her desk for 5 weeks after the last fresh fruit came in on a plane... the skin was all dry
and wrinkly and the color was closer to brown than orange, so it was, "hey Phil, want an
orange before it goes bad?" youbetcha! That orange tasted awesome. So I have hope for the
beer.

Tonight will be exciting:
League play for Dodge ball is back on!� Look for upcoming emails with news of broken specs...

My shirt is exciting:

A random trip to Squa Central a few weeks ago landed me a new work shirt. I dig it so much,
I wear it everyday. People say that's gross, but hey, I wash it... when it needs it.� Plus,
it's very official looking (for a host of a children's television show). I put this shirt on
for work, and I am full of pep- I could sing about letters and numbers all day long. All
Shandra needs is a moppet outfit, and we'd have some real adventures.

The next few days promise to be exciting:

Geomagnetic storms have sent us a good opportunity to see some awesome auroras- if the skies
stay clear. if not auroras, perhaps a huge storm- right around May 16th, for 7 out of 9
winters, condition one storms have beat up McMurdo. Doors and roofs ripped off buildings,
plywood impaling the sides of buildings, and crates of cargo disappearing leaving only shards
of their contents behind. Either way, auroras or storms, I hope to have some good
pictures...

Take care,
Phil

2 Quick Pictures

2005-04-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

here's a couple pictures from just yesterday.

picture 1 is Mt. Discovery with the moon just after noon.

turning 180 degrees from the Mt Discovery view, picture 2 is looking up out of the divot in which the town of McMurdo sits. you can't see the 14,000-foot volcano of Erebus, but you can see its shadow projected onto the clouds. that was a gorgeous site, and i wish i was able to quickly get higher out of town to see it better. sadly, it was already the end of my lunch hour.

the days look like that fantasy stationary people had when i was in junior-high; pastelly pinks and purples with unicorns and planets floating around mountains on some distant planet. no, i didn't personally own any of this stationary, i swear- i just secretly envied the girls who did. the sun has set and is gone until mid-august. we still have twilight for a couple hours on each side of noon, but that window of time is closing.

things are settling nicely into a winter routine. everyone has their schedule and patterns to everyday life- our bodies have become synched-up with the ruling entity in our lives... our jobs. you can set your watch to my bowel movements.

it's a constant battle to keep my mind from completely sinking and drowning in the company-life sometimes. because your job and even your life outside of work is so controlled by Raytheon's policies (down to what and when you eat), it is so easy to talk talk talk about the company and its effects on EVERY part of life here ALL the time. too often, it's very hard to think about something other than the company and its rule in your life 24 hours a day. a friend was telling me a story last night as we were hanging out having a social time- like too many times before, conversation drifted to "what happened at
work today". she told me about how their wooden holders for covax auger-bits had been lost on station sometime between 1995 and now, and the machinist (who we happened to see, sparking this story in the first place) who made them way back when offered to do it again- yeah, he's a great guy, no kidding. fast forward to a few hours later: i'm sleeping and dreaming- i'm a superhero, and after a harrowing adventure, i have found and rescued the missing wooden-covax-auger-bit-holders. the young lady gives me a kiss on my cheek, and the machinist heartily shakes my hand thanking me for saving the long-lost fruits of his labor. jeez, aside from your small circle of friends, your main relationship with everyone here is on a work-related basis. you run into somebody somewhere or you see someone walk into a bar, and immediately you're thinking/talking/complaining about something work-related. i feel myself sinking into this a little more everyday. the bright side to this will be when i leave in October- i will revel in such simple pleasures such as an unscheduled poo.

but we do make our own fun. please don't think i'm down on life here. hell, no- quite the opposite. i wrote about this to another friend recently: last saturday, i celebrated Passover with a group of friends- there were only two genuine jews in the whole bunch, and they're not known for their devout ways. so it was more eating the traditional foods, reading from the book (i forget what it was called) and following the directions in the book while drinking and toasting with a lot of wine. Elijah never showed, but after a few glasses of wine, we cut up a dreadlock wig and glued curly locks to our temples to dress-up like Hassidic jews- in their honor, of course. everything after that became 100 times funnier (for example, Shannon eating kugel is not so funny... Shannon eating kugel with two big locks of hair hanging from the side of her head is VERY funny... as it is said). throw a folded napkin on your head for a yarmulke, and you've got yourself a grand saturday night.

nights like these and amazing sites like the ones in the pictures are the perfect things to take my mind out of everyday life in this little town. it's nice here.

-Phil

Station Closed

2005-03-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

hello again, station finally closed a little over a week ago. we toasted the plane with champagne from the deck of the Chalet as it flew close by the station and tipped its wings in farewell. watching a C-17 fly towards town and bank hard and fly by was pretty impressive. it was loud, and as the sound of it dwindled, people were quiet. then we cheered.

the kitchen had been stockpiling all the fresh food coming in on the last few planes. they broke it all out at dinner the night of the last flight. salad is now being served at lunch and dinner everyday instead of for dinner once a week. huge bowls of fruit are out at all times of the day- even back home i could not get plums any better than i get in Antarctica (since they're fresh from NZ, of course). a funny concept, though. however, it's a little over a week since station close and the salad is down to the dregs, we're back to Stemmies for fresh vegetables (stems of broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, etc.), and the bananas are perfect for making banana bread. here we go. the sun is setting at night, but still it's too early for darkness. the light at night is beautiful, though. pink mountains and clouds, orange skies- i just wish it weren't so damn cold and windy sometimes, so i could stand outside longer to look at it! the temperatures are going down fast. and the community of about 240 people is starting to take shape- i'm learning first and last names and everyone is getting to know everyone else... for better or for worse.

i found some rope that had been cured with sap or the distilled liquid from wood or something to make it tacky, so when you tie things up with it, it really sticks together. it smells like campfire and the odor is overwhelming. so i put a bunch in a bag and i carry the bag around in my jacket pocket. the smell permeates into my jacket and anything i put in that pocket. i love smelling my hat now.

this week, i'm finally getting over a nasty cold. Shandra, the lady i work with everyday, 10 hours a day, six days a week, until we get new people in August, has had to endure my hacking, blowing, spitting, and snorting while trying to talk with me for the past few weeks. we've been auditing all the material outside in the cold for at least two hours at a time, and i was becoming pretty skilled at the farmer blow. one day, however, the snot was a little too stiff. i blew it out my nose, but its elasticity brought it swinging back up into my face, across my cheek, and onto my glasses. i had to get in the truck to find a kleenex or something. even after all she'd been through so far, Shandra was absolutely disgusted. as appalled as she was, she can laugh about it now, but it was a true test to our working relationship. so now, to save her the spectacles of me blowing my nose onto my face, i just loudly snort the snot back into my throat, one nostril at a time; then through a series of gurgles and what-not, i prepare the phlegm in my throat and hork it into the air, trying to catch the wind for a new personal best in distance. sometimes Shandra would rather me blow my nose onto my cheek.

i've attached some photos- one is of the last flight from the deck. the others are the camp at New Harbor. my friend Jessie was kind enough to lend me some of her photos from a trip she took out there to clean up the camp. you can see the camp on the shore with the mountains in the back, and the valley goes to the left. the other picture is of the solar panel and wind-powered generator i helped set up. mostly, i dug the holes for and put in the anchors, and a little more work in getting the equipment up and tied down. for scale, the solar panels are about nine feet tall and the tower for the wind turbine is a little over thirty feet. i hope you are all doing well!

love, Phil

Booster Shot

2005-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

Only in the past day or so have planes (carrying mail and fresh food) been flying. it's been about a month since we've gotten package mail (christmas presents are still sitting in NZ) or anything fresh (9000 pallets of fresh food rotted in Christchurch waiting for the planes to fly down here). it seems that everything was going wrong, but the clouds have cleared, broken down planes are fixed, the ice breaker is chopping up the channel again after being broken for over a week, so maybe things are turning around. i just got a package today (mailed December 9), and that has made my month so much brighter. my friend Liz got christmas cookies from her mom, but she was unable to enjoy them with all the green fuzz on them. however, she got a nice sweater as well... that's two sizes too big. oh well, it's a package and that's all that matters these days. carrying that package home under your arm is like winning the lottery.

the mail we got in last night was less than half of what is still there, and there are rumors that we will have fresh food by the end of the week. so things are definitely looking up as the summer season winds down.

another pick-me-up was that i was able to get out on a snowmobile to pack the trail to Room With a View. it's really just a long trail up towards Erebus to the top of a hill to look out at the peninsula where McMurdo is set. there really isn't any room- there's lots of wide open space, though. it was just my friend Deborah and me, we took off after work, and there was no wind whatsoever- except the wind we made for ourselves by riding. it was beautiful, and in one area, the trail dipped down into the low lying clouds. riding through the fog was pretty awesome. we didn't get back to town until around 2am, which made for a long next day, but it was worth it.

and right up there in things to make me happy, is the blasting that's been going on behind the building where i work. i get a front row seat everyday at 2:30 when they blow up the frozen rock. friends from other workcenters even come over to visit me and see the show. my replacement is flying in tomorrow, so i'll be starting my "new job" next week sometime already. it's funny to think where i was mentally this time last year. i had traveling on my mind, and i was just itching to leave. this year, i see planes flying north, and it doesn't even occur to me to wish to be on one. i just think, "plane in the sky". that's it. lots of good friends will be here, and i'm excited for my 25-pound bag of granola to get here that i ordered online last week.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------

so i've been writing this email for a couple days now, and it's another day. the line above is me sleeping.

fresh fruits and vegetables came in last night! it's all anybody could talk about. no more greetings of "hi" or "how's it going"- it's all "hey, freshies came in!" and "i can't wait for a banana!" i had a discussion in the shuttle on my ride home from skiing out at Willy Field about what i would rather have to eat, a salad or a banana, because it just doesn't occur to anyone that we could have both.

i know some people who actually set their alarm clocks to get up in the middle of the night to go to the midnight meal for night shift workers. why? because they knew there would be fresh stuff served there. i didn't go because i thought i needed sleep more than anything else after staying up so late the night before, and i blew it off thinking the galley wouldn't be that quick to put it all out there. but i talked to some friends this morning, and they told me tales of gorging themselves on salads and apples. "are you sure you aren't thinking of last October?" NO! they would say, insisting it wasn't a dream. they showed me their stains on their clothes- the drippings of fresh tomatos. dang.

so at breaktime this morning, i went to the galley in hopes they would put out some fruit like they use to back in the day when big working planes were plentiful. no fruit. but then, my friend Marnie (who works in the galley) came out to say hi. we chatted, i asked about fruit bowls for break, and i was told that at only certain mealtimes will they be available. i asked wether or not they'd put out bananas. Marnie told me they were still not ripe enough. Ripe Schmipe, i said, bananas are what this place needs. so she offered to go get me one. she brought it out in a brown paper bag. as if i were involved in a drug deal, i finally got my banana. i will let it ripen for a day or two... maybe. i might just eat it.

take care,
Phil

My Holiday Outing

2005-01-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

I hope your holidays were great, and that you're having a good new year so far!

I was finally able to get out of town this season! And I feel like I really got out. It was perfect to clear my head before the winter. It's funny to come to such a barren land and feel crowded, but that is what a small town with over 1000 people crammed in feels like.

A week or two ago, it worked out that I was "invited" to New Harbor (across the sound at the entrance to the valley pictured below (New Harbor is where the sea ice meets the brown), one valley in the vast system of the Dry Valleys area)- my mission: to dig ditches and jackhammer three-foot deep holes in the permafrost to lay anchors for the wind and solar powered energy systems. It worked out further that this was right before the luxurious two-day weekend in celebration of Christmas. My friend Deborah had been working out at Lake Hoare camp (up the valley from New Harbor) for the past 3 weeks, and I was invited to spend the weekend there. Tucked away next to the Canada Glacier and Lake Hoare, Lake Hoare camp was cozy and inviting after an 8-hour hike up the valley.

This picture was borrowed off the web to show you my hike. It was taken from the top of 1882- one of the peaks in the valley. The person taking this picture was flown to the peak. Anyway, starting at the edge of brown in the top third of the picture, I hiked to the first lump of ice on the left of the valley. This is the Commonwealth Glacier, and it had a perfectly vertical face and ended in the dirt. I didn't have my own camera, so the first 5 hours of my hike, I didn't get any pictures- but it was perfectly silent, and I went at my own pace. What a phenomenal feeling to be alone out there in the warm sun and calming silence. The glacier was absolutely huge and beautiful. I hiked along it for quite a while until I veered off to hike along the next white feature in the picture, Lake Fryxell. Over halfway up is where I met Deborah, and we hiked over the Canada glacier, the second blob of ice you see in the valley. The Canada glacier feeds Lake Hoare, and the camp is nestled right in that corner. The sun was out, so the tents were very nice and warm to sleep in- such quiet sleep that I have not had since coming here.

This is me on the hike over the glacier- ice falls in the background.

That night, I relaxed in the sun on the "beach"- a mound of sand right next to the glacier, not far from camp. The sun was bright, and it warmed the sand so much we wandered around in our bare feet. Man, that felt good.

Christmas was nice and relaxing. After jack-hammering for two days, main hut with warm drinks and cookies and cribbage was just what I needed. The weather had turned, and the clouds and cold wind outside made it feel that much cozier.

The next day was my last day, so I went for a hike further up the valley. We hiked along Lake Hoare to the Seuss (I think I'm spelling it right) Glacier- the blob of ice at the bottom of the picture. On the way, there were remains from disoriented seals who wandered up the valley over 500 years ago and starved. There are no real organisms to break them down, so they are very well preserved- most of them still had quite a bit of skin on them! We hiked around to the other side of the glacier, rested a bit, and hiked up the hill (to the right of the Seuss in the picture) to an open plateau that had huge boulders. The boulders have been shaped by the blowing wind and dirt over millions of years and look totally wild. The one I'm pictured sitting in had a perfect bowl carved out to relax in.

A dead seal, next to Lake Hoare, looking up the valley to the Seuss Glacier.

Me, next to the Seuss- it gives you an idea of how big the Commonwealth is, which is even larger than this.

huddled from the wind in the ventifact.

This was an incredible time for me. There are people on station (both working for Uncle Ray-Ray or on their science) that get to go here everyday. But for me, it was the chance of a lifetime. Not only did I see the most amazing things in my life, I was released from a crazy little town for 5 days to feel normal again- being outside more often, hiking around more, and cooking good food and doing my own dishes.

Plus, I gathered and melted enough ice from the Canada Glacier to brew a five-gallon batch of beer- I had a large container to bring over five gallons of water back with me on the helicopter.� It is a honey-ginger ale with orange peel and a hint of cinnamon.

I'm looking forward to the winter when there won't be so many people, and I'll get to see the stars and auroras. A lot of close friends will be staying as well, so I think I'm in for a real good time. Then, when it's all over, some real warm beach... Thank you, everyone, for the packages you've sent (that have arrived or are still waiting in NZ to come down)- time away from friends and family during the holidays can be sad.

I wish you all a very happy new year. Take care and be well,

Phil

Quick Update

2004-12-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

Here's a couple pictures from the past couple weeks. it's work as usual, with some different things going on once in a while. i ran the Turkey Trot, just a small 5k run for Thanksgiving- down the hill, through mud and deep wet snow, out onto the sea ice (the road to the ice runway), then back and through all that and up the hill. it was about 25 or 30 degrees, and the wind wasn't blowing and the sun was shining, so it was really nice. the dry air hurt the most. this picture is from running back up the hill. the other picture is from after thanksgiving and during Sir Edmund Hillary's visit (interesting article, by the way- ). i was just going to lunch and accidentally got in the picture. i didn't notice he was right next to me. but i will never forget that day because they were serving this really good roasted pumpkin hotdish with red peppers and leeks. his talk was really great because he told his story about when he traversed from here to the South Pole in the late '50s with a small crew and old farm tractors. they were using the tractors over anything else because they got them for free. their job was to lay fuel caches for Vivien Fuchs, who was doing a continental traverse from the shores south of Chile, through the Pole, to McMurdo Sound. take care, and i will write more soon. if things go as scheduled, i'll be heading out to New Harbor (on the actual continent) to jack-hammer out a ditch to lay cables in for a wind-powered generator. it's at the mouth of the Dry Valleys, so there's potential for some beautiful hikes and visits via helicopter to other camps in the valley. we'll see, though.

Phil

Happy Camper

2004-11-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, i've been trucking right along these days. WORK, yoga, WORK, bowl, WORK, bottle beer, WORK, library, WORK, radio show....... i have this little calendar strip from the Sierra Club (1" x 14") on my computer monitor that lists the days and months starting in September 2004 and ends in August 2005. work was a little slow this morning, so i used a permanent marker to cross out the days i've been here so far. when i was done with that, all these blank little days stared back at me and it finally dawned on me how long i will be here. every one of those days i'll be here in this little town, and the strip doesn't even cover the last two months i'll be here. i will be so ready for a vacation. last week, i went to snow school (aka Snow Craft I/Happy Camper). we leave town and stay out on the Ross Ice Shelf for two days and one night to learn some basic outdoor skills for the Antarctic. we cut blocks of hard-packed snow to make shelters from the wind, made piles of snow to hollow out and sleep in, set up tents (double-wall canvas Scott Tents), and heated water for hot drinks and dehydrated meals. we survived no problem. it was a lot like car camping in the snow. to pass the class, though, we had to take care of ourselves and the group and weren't allowed inside the car or the instructor's hut from about noon the first day to noon the second day. it was awesome, and i could've gone for a second night. it was cloudy the whole time, and the wind came and went, but when we were working on building something (a friend and i built the kitchen) we were pretty hot. right before we were going to clean up for dinner, the wind picked up and we had a white-out for about 20 minutes. we just had to hunker down in the kitchen until it blew over. i was cozy in my Scott Tent for sleeping (i slept in a snow mound last year on a camping trip i did with friends and didn't feel the need to do that again). so now i'm qualified if my help is ever needed to fly somewhere and work in a field camp. i'm hoping hard for that time to come. yesterday i learned it was illegal to mail beer, and now my name is on The List. whoops. that's it for now from here.
take care,
Phil

Beautiful Banana

2004-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have had the best desserts since we've been getting fresh fruit now. I'll put a little bit of the "ice cream" in a bowl, a couple scoops of crushed oreos, and then slice up a banana, and it's so tasty. i had two desserts last night and one at lunch today. don't worry, i'm working out. i've attached a few pictures from friends' outings. i hope to get out soon myself. my roommate, who works in Fleet Ops driving a dozer, was part of a traverse to Marble Point (across the frozen McMurdo Sound) to drop off supplies and haul back waste. The dead seal and sunrise pictures are his. you can see the icebergs frozen into the ice. another friend went out to Lake Fryxell to clean the camp up after this last winter's huge storm. They needed to get it ready for science groups working out there this summer. she took a picture of a ventifact with Erebus in the background. A ventifact is any rock that's been shaped by the blowing wind that carries snow and sand. Some are huge, and some you can put in your pocket, but they're all so cool to look at. The rocks have been shaped over thousands of years. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the author of "The Earth From Above", is on station and is getting ready to go out and take more pictures of Antarctica as part of his next book. he's already taken some near the French base, but i'm sure he'll get some amazing things here, too. last night, he gave a slide show on his work- the pictures were so awesome, and he would comment on every one; he would tell what it was, where it was, and how he got the picture, etc. it was amazing! baking bagels was awesome, and the baker will let me know when he's doing them on a Saturday night again, or when he's baking bread. brewing has not been so kind to me. the equipment is fine, but the ingredients i used were indeed OLD, and the beer tastes like dog biscuits. maybe i can still sell it, though. i ordered good stuff on line, so i'm waiting for that to come in the mail. the good beer on station is all gone, so i hope to get my ingredients soon. but i always have the Biscuit Brew to fall back on. other than that, things have been super busy for me with the field mechanics always coming in and needing stuff to take with them. so once they leave, perhaps things will settle down. my pants now have 8 patches on them, and i finally got my glasses fixed from when they got broken in Dodgeball a month and a half ago. even though i did play with goggles on, i was spectating when i got hit in the face. i'm wearing my goggles ALL the time for summer league play. and i've found a group to play Pinochle with come winter time.

take care, Phil

Broken Runway

2004-10-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey, the first flight of summer came in this week- a C-17 landed with VIPs and science cargo and banged up the ice runway, so the other plane turned back, and now we won't get another flight for at least 5 more days when we were expecting to have had 4 flights in by now. the ice out there is about 4 years old- usually, it has broken up completely, floated out to leave all open water, and then refrozen to make new ice every year. so the sun and planes have beaten on it for four years and the top layers have gotten weak. the plane landed and found all the weak spots. so now the people, science groups, mail, and fresh food is backed up. that's how it goes, i guess. the lady training me in on my job flew out on the plane that came in, so now i'm the only person in the warehouse and swamped with boxes, pallets, and crates of stuff to receive into inventory. it happens pretty often where we don't get what was ordered, and that means lots of paperwork. so i've been super busy at work since that plane came to take away my coworker and leave me with a ton of stuff to unpack. but it's really fun learning a new job and making my own decisions about what i'm doing everyday. and maybe by February, i'll be looking forward to a fun new job at Crary. and i was able to find someone who had some brewing equipment dumped in their lap at the end of last summer. it has sat in their warehouse since then. so when i took it away, it was completely dusty and dirty. and there were some grains, extract, hops, and dry yeast in the boxes, so i'm making something this weekend if my yeast starter works. it'll be interesting since i have to improvise on the equipment and the recipe. i'm going for a pale ale with oak flavor (i went up to the Carp Shop and got a piece of oak planed down for me). so we'll see how that turns out. i need a better bucket for fermenting, too, so i'm getting some human waste buckets from the BFC. they're new! i swear. they're just used for human waste in the field camps once and then shipped off station. so they're just new buckets that have "Human Waste" painted on them- that way, nobody should bother my beer while it's fermenting. i also made aquaintances with one of the bakers, Peter. he's a nice guy and works nights now. we've made plans for me to come in saturday nights and bake with him- we'll be making specialty breads and good bagels into the wee hours of the morning. it'll be awesome because then i get to learn good baking on such a mass scale. and i'll get fresh FRESH bagels every sunday morning- or whenever i wake up. here is a picture of the Winfly crew i worked with. a couple are gone now, but more are coming.

talk to you all later!

Phil

Flagging

2004-09-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day off of work since i volunteered to help flag the route to Cape Evans.

We were seven people, a haaglund (two boxy things linked together on tracks), a pisten bully (one boxy thing on tracks), and two snowmachines. the haaglund
was first in the train that followed the GPS route to make sure we were on the right track. the pisten bully followed behind and a person was up top throwing a flag down every 150 ft (we dragged a 150-ft rope behind the pisten bully and when the end of the rope was at the last flag, the person threw down another one). then we had two teams on snowmachines leapfrogging each other that were drilling holes into the ice and sticking the flag in it. we rotated through the positions for chances to drive everything and warm up in the vehicles. my face mask froze solid from my breath and turned into more of an ice barrier from the wind. it was cold, but i had enough layers on to stay decently warm. it warmed up to -20, with wind chills down to -50. my toes and hands were numb most of the day.

my friend Ryan took some pictures, so i'll send some when i get copies of them. the picture i'm sending is of Mt. Discovery with the moon at 9:30am. My roommate took this one.

i start my radio show tonight- every Wednesday from 7-9pm. starting in October, i'll start my bowling league again with the same people. and starting in a couple weeks, i'll be taking a librarian shift every thursday from 7-9pm. and when summer comes, i'll be taking over the Library Coordinator position for the year. that'll be real nice to be in there at least once a week. so i'm keeping busy.

take care all,
Phil

Clouds

2004-08-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

after a few days of work, things seem to be settling nicely. the Winfly time is so much nicer than the busy summer season. the days seem like real days with light and dark times, the galley and the bars aren't crowded, and it's quiet around town. it's still super cold, but when the wind is not blowing, it's just like having a cold snap in a Minnesota winter. but when it does blow, windchill is easily 60-80 below. my breath freezes on my face just walking to work which is only a 2 minute walk outside.

today, it's only about -25 F, with little wind, so i'm going on a little hike up Ob Hill with some friends to see the sun and the pink light it casts on the ice and mountains. from right in town, we're in an indentation surrounded by hills all over, so the sun hasn't shone in town yet. soon, though. there are still some winterovers who haven't seen the sun directly yet.

i've attached a couple pictures of the nacreous clouds i've been able to see when the sun starts to go down at night. they're super-cooled water vapor and they GLOW with rainbow colors by diffracting the last bits of sunlight in the day. they're gorgeous. below is some more interesting reading on them that does a better job of explaining them.

my job this year is working in a warehouse that has 95% of its material stored inside- unlike last year where 95% of it was outside. i don't get to drive the big loader i did last year, but i'm hoping that working inside will give me more energy to go outside in my off time on hikes and such. when it's nice out. i'll be the only person in the warehouse for the summer, then i'll move to Crary Lab supply in the winter where i'll be a supervisor. so right now i'm dealing with all the parts and pieces for small engines that are used in field science (snowmachines, rock drills, icehole melters, generators, herman-nelsons, etc.). then in the winter i'll be dealing with all the science lab equipment. i'm already looking forward to winter with a small population and my own room and less hectic work environment.

i'm off to hike up the hill. i'll send out my mailing address soon- some numbers changed from last time and i want to make sure i have the right one. take care, and talk to you soon.
love,
Phil

Polar Stratospheric Clouds - (Abbreviated PSC; also called nacreous clouds, mother-of-pearl clouds; rarely, luminous clouds.) Clouds are cirrus or altocumulus lenticularis, and show very strong irisation similar to that of mother-of-pearl, especially when the sun is several degrees below the horizon. They occur at heights about 20-30 km above the earth. These clouds are rarely seen, and it would appear that they can be observed only in certain regions. They have been observed mainly over Antarctica due to the colder temperatures present there in the circumpolar vortex. They also form over Scotland and Scandinavia in winter during periods with an intense, broad, deep, and homogeneous westerly to northwesterly flow of air over northern Europe; they are also observed in Alaska. Less frequent sightings have been reported at lower latitudes. The simultaneous occurrence of various colors of the spectrum in more or less irregular patterns strongly suggests diffraction by spherical particles. The exact physical constitution of cloud particles has been determined by aircraft (e.g., the NASA ER2 aircraft) penetration showing the presence of nitric acid hydrates (in particular nitric acid tri-hydrate, type I) with the addition of water ice at temperatures a few degrees colder (type II). Nuclei for clouds are thought to be sulfuric acid aerosol, possibly of volcanic origin. The clouds form in regions where dynamic lifting or radiational cooling lowers the air to temperatures below saturation for these different constituents (about -95ÕC). PSC are thought to play a major role in the formation of the "ozone hole" because they absorb odd nitrogen from the atmosphere, which allows the catalytic destruction of ozone to occur. Nacreous clouds appear stationary and, by day, often resemble pale cirrus. At sunset, all the colors of the spectrum appear; as the sky darkens after sunset, they increase in brilliance. As the sun drops lower and lower below the horizon and the clouds are lighted by last rays, the various colors are replaced by a general coloration that is first orange and then becomes pink, contrasting vividly with the darkening sky. The clouds next become gray and the colors of
the spectrum reappear but very weakly, then fade out rapidly. Later, up until about two hours after sunset, the nacreous clouds can still be distinguished standing out against the starry sky as tenuous and gray clouds. They can even be observed all night if there is moonlight. Before dawn, the same series of aspects appear, but in reverse order. (from: AMS Glossary of Meteorology, 2nd addition)

Crew

2004-01-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

go team.

cathy, janet, zoe, laena, phil, bob, willie.

Nice Condition 1 Photos

2003-12-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

early this week, we had some nasty weather for about 3 days. after it finally broke, whole trucks and sides of buildings were buried in drifty snow. we were in Condition 1 (can't leave buildings at all) most of the time- too dangerous to be outside due to winds and visibility. the pictures i attached for the storm, you can see people outside- that was Condition 2, where you have to travel with at least one other person outside, but going outside is not advisable. People have been sledding, snow-ball fighting, and fort-building all week. Last night, i went sledding with friends around the other side of Ob Hill. the powder was up to our mid-thigh, so we carved a path with some sleds. we would FLY down that hill, the sled would swerve a bit, we would wipe out and go tumbling through the powder the rest of the way down the hill. it was a huge hill and steep at parts. it was the best sledding i've ever done!

and, here's a picture of my department waiting for the condition 1 to lift so we could leave and go back to work after
lunch. Faces, left to right;

Laena (whom i work with pretty much everyday)
Zoe (use to be in the airforce- nice lady)
Sally Moore (Crary Lab Supply supervisor, Mel's wife)
Cathyjean (my supervisor- super funny lady)
Mel Moore (the guy who hired me, Cathy's supervisor)
Bob (surfer from NYC)
Me (trying to be as tough as Bob, leaning into the picture)
Sara (cut-off in the picture, works for the MET (Mapcon
Edit Team)- married to Jacob Middleton who works with us in
the Carpshop)

Seals for Real

2003-11-27T10:38:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Here are the seal pictures i said i'd show so long ago. they've been sitting on my camera for a while. after we stole the fish, you can see how ugly it is as i hold it, getting ready to put it in the tank at the Crary Lab aquarium. this is the Antarctic Cod (or mawsoni, i'm not sure if i spelled that right), that live on the bottom and taste great- like halibut. we got to eat some for dinner last saturday. the seals will dive all the way to the bottom and chase these things down, grab them with their claws and work their way up to the head. then the seals drag the fish to the surface in their mouth, holding it by the jaw, to take a little rest. they'll dive down again and chew off its head, take another breather, then go back down and start eating it. we stole two fish that day, one was 60 pounds and the other was 20 pounds. a couple days before i went out, they stole an 85 pounder. in the other picture, you can see the fish hut we were in out on the ice. later, these will have to be dug out and dragged off the ice (they're on big skis). the ice is about 15 feet thick right now, but it's not part of the permanent ice shelf. they'll land planes on the non-permanent stuff until early/mid December, when the ice starts getting squishy. hopefully, it will break out this year, but we'll see; everyone's watching the huge B-15 iceberg (as big as Delaware). it broke in half a month or two ago, so some people are worried that the broken half may drift over and block the ships from entering McMurdo sound. that would not be good since the ship is the resupply for the station for the entire next year. okay, time for bed, take care, all, and i hope to hear from you soon- thanks for all the emails!

Phil

THE Day

2003-11-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

well, i finally had my day. i was able to get out with a scientist doing some fishing studies. we snowmobiled out to Cape Evans, fished a little, i didn't catch anything, then he turned over the snowmobiles to me and five other people on the trip and we headed out to Cape Royds. On the way, we encountered some Emperor Penguins. We stopped and they walked right up to us. I've never seen a penguin in my life, not even at a zoo- as far as i can remember. So to have about 15 big ones walk right up to me and check me out for a bit, that has been the most incredible experience with wildlife ever. After they moved on, so did we to Cape Royds and the Adelie penguin colony. They weren't as majestic, and about half the size of the emperors, but they were so funny to watch. I was also able to visit and go inside Shackleton's hut there. We came back after a full day and drove up near Barn Glacier which was huge and amazing. As we went out, the sky was clear and a perfect picture with Erebus behind it, but when we came back, it clouded up- a missed photo opportunity for sure. oh well. so most of these pictures are about 45% of their real resolution, so i hope they still look okay. i finally saw my penguin.

Phil

Outing

2003-11-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today were totally awesome. It took an hour and a half to get out to Scott's other hut in Cape Evans (only 8 miles), but it was very worth it. As if the hut was not cool enough, we were so lucky to see a newborn seal pup. the blood and afterbirth were still smeared all over the ice at the transition (sea ice meeting land), and the pup still had its umbilical cord. it was so cute. the mom was passed out (for obvious reasons one would think), and the pup was rolling around, flashing us its big eyes, and chewing on its flippers.

the hut was amazing. Scott built it, but Shackleton also used it. The ship Aurora was anchored there with some men on board and about 20 in the hut. a huge storm blew in, ripped both anchors off the ship (which are still in the ground there) and it floated away- stranding the 20 men there for about 2 years. When they were finally rescued, they dropped everything and got the hell out. everything is exactly as they left it- maybe some stuff was picked up off the floors during the restoration, but there are shoes, furs, socks, sleeping bags, all strewn on the bunks. food and medicines all on the shelves, and a dead penguin on the cutting block. there is even a huge mound of seal blubber in the storage area. it was amazing to see and smell and feel this place that's been literally frozen in time for about 90 years. these guys were hardcore to the extreme.

then today i had sea ice training where we learned to identify cracks in the ice and profile them. also i learned that it's okay to drive over a crack with open water in it as long as it's no more than 1/3 of the length with which the wheels or tracks touch the ground, and the ice on either side is no less than 30". personally, i'd be rather nervous driving over that even if the vehicle was large enough. we drilled holes and profiled a tidal crack we found- it was safe for any vehicle to drive over- we hit water at about 1.5 meters on either side of the crack- but we still got our feet a little wet.

i'm off to knit more on my hat. take care all,

Phil

Been A While

2003-11-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
it's been busy around here for me lately, so i haven't written in a while. i'm using the government email since it's so much faster right now. i've been trying to get pictures off my camera on the open computers, but they're just not working, so i'll use my roommate's laptop again sometime. work keeps me busy, and there's always stuff to do afterwards. last week, i made a special trip out to the ice runway to eat dinner with some friends. we got pretty close to the planes and it was awesome to see some views from out on the ice. we also found a clear part in the snow where the ice wasn't covered- it tastes pretty salty even when it's frozen.

the next couple days are going to be awesome. today, i'm signed up for a delta trip out to Cape Evans where there's another of Scott's huts, and this one is even better than the one right here. i hear it has a dead penguin still lying on the table inside, so maybe i'll finally be able to send some penguin pictures. it's a beautiful clear day outside, too, so viewing the mountains around here from the ice will be prime. the last time i went out there with a delta, we didn't make it because we kept getting stuck and bad weather was rolling in. then tomorrow, i'm signed up to do sea ice training all day long- we'll learn how to identify cracks in the ice, profile them, drill some holes, and probably see some wildlife.

the weather is warming up here, except for a cold snap a few days ago when the wind chill dipped back down to -50 or -60 with blowing snow and whiteout conditions. other than that, we've been blessed with balmy 0-10 degree days with sunshine around the clock. last night, i was coming home from knitting and hanging out and had to wear my sunglasses at 1 am. that was fun. and you can tell that warmer weather is coming because there are Skua birds around town now- it's like seeing the first robin of spring, except these Skuas are like the seagulls from hell. they'll sit in the road and won't move, they'll dive bomb you if you have anything resembling food in your hands, and there have been incidents where they actually rip sandwhiches out of people's hands. and because of the Antarctic Treaty in 1975- you risk a fine of up to $60,000 and possible jail time if you were to hit one of these demon birds in self-defense. we are not supposed to do ANYTHING to the wildlife that alters their natural actions. but i think just being here does that, and certainly stealing hard-earned fish from seals falls under that as well. self-defense isn't for science, though, i guess.

i also got a zipper pull with beads that turn colors in the UV light. i played with these in Northfield sometimes, but the colors never got so dark as they do here. there is little or zero ozone above us here, and you can get sunburned badly in less than an hour easily- especially with the snow.

i had a feeling i was going to run into someone from college here, and sure enough, i ran into Abby Hedden yesterday at lunch. She's on her way to Pole to work on the telescope they have there- fix it up, do some maintenance and stuff like that with her advisor. that was weird.

i'm sending two pictures today. i can't take credit for taking them (one is obviously not mine), but i will see this stuff soon- they're just so good not to pass along. i got them off the network drives where people post their pictures from wherever; halloween party (which was crazy! my favorite costume was wither the fortune booth from the movie BIG, the Oompa Loompas, or the guy dressed as Nicholas Cage from Raising Arizona when he's robbing the gas station of diapers with the stocking on his head), helicopter rides to glaciers, happy camper school, etc. the first one is a picture of McMurdo from out on the sea ice. you can hardly see the town nestled in there with Erebus looming over us at 13-14 thousand feet above see level (i think i had my numbers wrong in a previous email). Observation hill is about 755 ft above see level and is right to the right of the tiny town- the very pointy hill. Castle Rock you can see is that almost square looking chunk of rock on the right-hand side of the base of Erebus, above town. That's the big formation i hiked out to a couple weeks ago- 7 miles round trip and totally worth it. the other picture is a beautiful shot some guy got while out doing sea ice training. yeah, i hope i get to see something like this tomorrow.

there's also the Antarctic Sun weekly paper posted online as well. If you get a chance, there's lots of interesting stories and interviews and pictures there, too. It's the seasonly published paper from right here in McMurdo.

http://www.polar.org/antsun/
talk to you all later!
Phil

Seals and Plankton

2003-10-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hello again. I've attached a picture of Mount Erebus that I took a week or so ago from Observation Hill. I may go back up there today since it's so beautiful outside again. I want to take a longer hike away from town, but I have not checked out with the safety video yet, so I don't think i can go. soon, though. Erebus is the world's southern most active volcano, it's about 4000 ft elevation, and it spits lava (there's a live camera at Crary labs where you can watch the crater do its thing). you can see the smoke plume in my picture.

The pictures i really want to show you are still on my camera and coming later. Yesterday, while we were all stretching out at work, my supervisor got a call asking for someone to volunteer to help with fishing and plankton towing out on the ice. since i was the new guy, everyone let me leave for half the day to do this. Kevin, a diver for Crary, Annie, another raytheon employee, and i went out to a small hut that's over a 5ft wide hole in the ice and 468 meters above the sea floor (according to Kevin). when we got in there, 4 weddell seals were in the hole using it for a breathing space. they stayed there the whole time, doing their nose thing and breathing pretty much the entire time we were in there. they were HUGE animals and didn't even care we were there. sometimes they were gone fishing. and when they caught a fish, Kevin would grab the ice axe and wrestle it away from them. the fish they get are on the bottom and huge. we hauled in a 58 pound Antarctic Cod. The other day they got an 85 pounder. The plankton tow was really cool because we caught some phosphorescent plankton that glowed so bright bluegreen when agitated. they were beautiful. we took the plankton, filtered water with microscopic creatures in it, and the cod back to the lab, and i got to put the big fish in the live tank. that was an awesome day.

i'm off to eat brunch and do laundry and hopefully head out on a nice hike. take care, everyone, and talk to you later.

Phil

Still Workin' It

2003-10-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

things have been going so well. i'm having an awesome time and meeting some incredible people. I met this lady named Ann who works in waste management, and she was on the team with Ann Bancroft in the late 90's trying to ski across Antarctica. they "only" made it from McMurdo to the South Pole that time, but she has some incredible stories. And one of my coworkers' mom lives next to Steve Buschemi- he's a super nice guy, apparently. Laena (my coworker) has met him lots of times and hung out with him. I need to be introduced to this mom. I'm convinced that my other coworker, Bob, was the voice for the sea turtle in the movie Finding Nemo- and if he wasn't, then he was on the shortlist because he talks exactly like a surfer dude. What i can't figure out though, is that he grew up and lives in New York City. Go figure.

The loader picture shows what i drive on a daily basis. it's an CAT IT-28, capable of lifting 8000 pounds. i drive it over snow and dirt mounds, take stuff off the cargo lines (after i've dug them out of the snow drifts) and deliver them wherever they need to go around town. it's a LOT different than a forklift in a cement floor warehouse, and way more fun. the other picture is Mount Discovery at "sunset". I went to the Kiwi base on American night, hung out there until late, came back to McMurdo (there are taxis to take us through the mountain pass both ways) and there was this gorgeous view of Discovery across McMurdo Sound. keep in mind that it's about 11 or 11:30 at night, and the colors are from the clouds- the sun is still very much in the sky and not below the horizon. let me know if you want a larger picture than this one since i resized it for easier emailing. and let me know if it worked out okay.

I went for a hike up Observation Hill, got some good shots of Mount Erebus, the southern most active volcano. You can see smoke coming from its crater. There are also bits of petrified trees around in the different valleys around here. It's hard to believe that trees grew here 250 million years ago, but that's when the continent was in a different place on earth.

Yesterday i went to go to open bowling (i signed up for a league as well- monday nights), but it was locked, so i wandered around the building and wandered into the ceramics room. a few nice people were in there and showed me how to work clay on the pottery wheel and i made a nice bowl/cup/mug thing. i've never done that before and i think i'm going to do lots more. i have to back tomorrow night to carve the base of my mug, glaze it, and fire it. i started knitting a hat, too. i'm doing knit two, perle two, for 3 inches in brown, then we'll see where to go from there with my burnt orange and chartruese.

I'm getting pumped up to go hiking on the Castle Rock Loop. it's BEAUTIFUL out there i hear. Fifty below wind chill, but sunny and clear! my new room is so awesome, i love it. my roommate loves it more though. he was so pissed all the time in our old room, never even unpacked. but now, we was vacuuming, rearranging furniture, then he'd just sit on the couch and smile and soak it all in. he reminds me of some movie star- not bigtime like Tom Cruise or Pauly Shore, but more like that guy you always see playing supporting roles in almost every movie, and i think he was in Fargo. and i got the name and email of the lady in charge of physics experiments at Crary Labs. i asked the Crary Lab tour guide about possibilities in volunteering there, she asked me my background, i said physics major, and she smiled and said i should talk to Laura and she'd probably love to have me helping out on one or some of the 14 different projects she has going on here and at remote sites around McMurdo. so there may be chances of me getting to fly around in a helicopter and stuff! maybe, we'll see. last night, i went to Gallager's Bar, the non-smoking bar here, and they had karaoke. i was going to sing, but Strokin' wasn't in their system.

I still haven't seen any penguins. there was a HUGE iceberg (B15) that broke off the Ross Ice Shelf a few/couple years ago- it was all in the news- then it floated in the direction of McMurdo on Ross Island, banged into the Ross Ice Shelf and broke off a smaller ice berg (C-something) which wedged itself between Ross Island and the permanent ice in McMurdo Sound. Then B15 came along and wedged in between C-something and the Ross Ice Shelf. This has created a very large break water here and now the ice that usually breaks up and floats out to sea every summer has stayed here for 3 years and keeps getting thicker. for this reason, the penguin colonies have not been coming here since. apparently, in the past, they'd be right out there in the sound and some would even wander into town. last year, the fuel tanker couldn't get through the ice and people had to run 7 miles of hose out to and back from the ship. i can't believe that there's more than 14 miles of fuel hose here. hopefully, i'll get to go out and see more wildlife.

Phil

Finally Here

2003-10-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

10/11/2003: Email 2: Finally Here

Hello everybody,

i finally made it down here. i got to stay about half a week in New Zealand with $150 everyday given to me for living expenses. i still have over $100 left (all in Kiwi dollars), so that will be nice later when i go back at the end of the season. i rented a car with some people, learned to drive on the other side of the road, and we were off through the countryside and little towns around Christchurch. AMAZINGLY beautiful. there were other flights that got turned around after 4 hours in flight (for a total of almost 9 hours), so i was lucky to be on the one that went and landed and didn't have to boomerang...

...i'm finally doing more stuff outside with an IT-28 CAT loader. it's huge and awesome to drive. it's rough terrain and rough weather sometimes, but it's so much fun! so far. i get to use a radio when i'm out, too, in case the weather does some funky stuff. i'm also learning how to knit a hat, but not while i'm out in the loader- that's a safety no-no. but this is a total blast down here, and i'm having an awesome time- it was rough at first because i didn't know where anything was, and i felt useless at work because i hadn't been trained in on anything yet, but things are getting better- like this morning i was out all morning in the loader, wind whipping snow in my face, but things are getting done. i still have more training in on paperwork stuff, and that all will take at least until the end of the month.

i have to take an outdoor class before i'll be able to walk around the trails and stuff. I can see Scott's hut, it's right across the bay, so that's an easy walk, and then Ob Hill will be a fun one, too. I will start bringing my camera to work because i see the most amazing views during the workday, like planes taking off over the ice sheet, or the mountains across the sound being lit differently as the sun goes around. the sun dips below the horizon in the south every night now, but barely, and it's dusky at night, so in a week or so, it will be 24 hour streaming sunlight. it's wierd even now to be at the bar or the coffee house or wherever at night after work, getting tired, then going outside to go home and the sun is still up. more on all that later,

cheers,

Phil

Leaving

2003-09-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

10/7/2003: Arriving

Katie's Commentary:

Phil just sent a short email home to say that yes, he has finally arrived in Antarctica, safe and sound, and yes, it's darn cold there!

9/25/2003 Email 1: Leaving

Hey friends,

...Attached is a picture Kate and I took trying to make a decent photo with while playing with our new camera. Kate doesn't have a twitchy eye or anything, it's her impression of Brad Pitt from "12 Monkeys". I was trying to getting a good self-timed picture, but as the camera was counting down, it toppled off the dainty support i had made for it trying to get the right angle, so i just picked it up and it took this picture, which ended up being the best of all of them. huh. Luna isn't taking growth hormones or anything, i put her picture in there later...

...i leave in less than a week, but won't make it to Antarctica until a week and a half or more, depending on weather, then i have to get acquainted with a computer and so on. so i may not have another picture to send for a while. the first thing i'm looking to photograph when i get there is a penguin.

take care all, and i'll talk to you later.

Phil