June 19th – Day 169 on Ice

Weather: We got below -90F last week, but with high winds (gusting up to about 40mph) blowing in recently we’ve warmed up and reduced visibility greatly. Currently only around -60F, with windchill down near -100F.

I haven’t posted in a while, due in part to the internet being up early (currently up from 4:45 AM until about 10AM) , but mostly out of sheer laziness.

We have our mid-winter dinner on Saturday. Mid-winter is June 21st, which signifies 3 months since the sun went down, and 3 months until it comes up again on Sept. 21st! This is apparently a ‘big milestone’ according to our station manager, though it feels like it went by in a flash! And anyway, once you’re left here on Feb 15th, what else can you do but make it through? There’s nowhere to go! 🙂

It’s pretty surreal that we only have 3 months of sun-less sky left. Every time I walk out to the telescope on a clear day it feel surreal. Life here is a complete separation from the real world, especially during this special year ya’ll northerners have been having!

With mid-winter celebrations comes the annual viewing of ‘The Shining’, and this year the new sequel ‘Dr Sleep’. We also have a nice formal dinner, which I am more than excited for! Given how fantastic the sunset dinner was, I have high expectations for this meal… and I’m sure our Galley staff will not disappoint!

On a separate note, I’ve been running more and more, following a marathon training schedule that is probably useless now since it doesn’t seem like I will be able to travel in NZ after I get off ice. I hit 50 miles last week. Treadmill running still sucks, but it’s getting better.

We also got some updated news on this year’s redeployment (i.e. leaving the ice). It looks like there will be a very small summer crew (basically next year’s winter-overs + some extra maintenance crew). There will be no LC-130s (the cargo planes) but instead will be only 2 flight windows to get in/out of Pole, and these will be on DC-10s (also called Baslers). The windows are Nov4-28 and Jan27-Feb14, in each of which there will be 9 scheduled Basler flights. Baslers can hold 14 pax on the way to Pole but only 5 out of Pole because of the take-off altitude.

This makes things like Winter-over turnover, summer maintenance, cargo shipping , etc quite difficult and results in an unprecedented summer season for South Pole (and likely for the rest of the USAP as well). Things remain in flux, of course, as COVID progresses up north and will likely change (though I don’t know how) by Fall.

Anyway, enjoy the Summer Solstice up north! I will be enjoying mid-winter dinner and the shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere… just kidding it’s a 6 month night here every year!

Happy Mid-Winter!