back to the ice

And just like that I am back.  What am I doing here?  It’s still August!  But within minutes, I can feel myself adapting to life in a different place – a place that’s more familiar than home these last few years..  To get here at this time, I had to leave home, I had to live swimming, I had to leave shorts and sandals and tennis.  I extended last season, and I’m came early this time.  As we approached for landing, the loadmaster informed us that it was -35 degrees.  This isn’t bad considering we were delayed for a week because it was colder than -40.  Really it feels like I never left, though I had four and half months of adventuring.  A handful of the people that I left in March are still here working their same jobs.  They’re in good spirits, and are also (mostly) happy to see some new folks in town.  It’s definitely an adjustment for them to have a 100 new people on station within two days when the winter population was less than 200.  

Coming here was what it might someday be like to get to space.  We get all suited up, there’s a lot of waiting, but relatively quickly, we’re ushered onto a military plane (a C-17) that could hold a helicopter or bulldozer inside it, and once airborne, less than 5 hours later, we’re in Antarctica.  How crazy to be in this metal bullet hurling through the sky above the coldest and stormiest ocean in the world.  I asked if I could climb the stairs into the cockpit and they said yes! So cool to talk with the pilots and see the world around us from up there.

And then we land, and it’s like stepping on to the surface of the moon.  Before landing, everyone gets all suited up in their big warm clothes – like gearing up for a spacewalk.  And then the door opens and one can feel the cold air hit our noses.  Here we are back where we started.  Six months this time.  Just like the typical mission to the space station.  

We are ushered right onto a big vehicle to transport all 50 of us, then are ushered into a building for the classic safety inbrief.  We are then given keys to our rooms.  I didn’t get what I wanted but it’ll do.  I was hoping for a room with a view.  Instead I look at another dorm 20 feet away.  

I’ve already got some equipment, as part of the search and rescue (SAR) team in case the weather gets bad tomorrow night.  To restate, the weather is going to get bad tomorrow night, so I now have some equipment to help out if someone gets stranded somewhere.  Good gloves, a mask with a clear lens, strong headlamp, GPS, and radio.  The SAR team is now made up of 6 of us, 4 of whom I trained when I was here in March, not so long ago.  

It’s time to unpack and because time is so short here with 9 hours of work a day, 6 days a week, efficiency is of the utmost importance if I want to get anything done in a day besides work.  Last season I often got up at 0530 to get in some exercise before the workday began, as I quickly found exercising after the workday was not that easy or productive.  So it’s time to work on the systems.  But that’s what engineers do!

It’s dark outside these days during the evening which still feels novel, even though I saw much darkness in March.  Today is a Saturday, which means, tomorrow I have off!  Always nice to not have to work on the first day on-station.  The summer world feels ages away.  I’m happy to be here and reunite with friends, though I still miss all those summer-time activities, friends and family from my other world.  

My new role is the Field Training Supervisor.  I have a team of 6 due in September.  We’ll be responsible for training anyone who leaves the station on outdoor and Antarctic survival skills.  It’s bound to be interesting and I have a lot to learn.  Miss you all already!