MAAG

Here are a few photos of the McMurdo Alternative Art Gallery

                                                             apocalyptic ginger bread

                                                                   copper pipe tree

                                                       Kiwis on the hamster wheel

                                                               Photos from field camps

                                                                  My scotch cabinet
                                   Bamboo plywood with bits of oak, walnut, and mahogany

The holiday season in Antarctica

  You would think that the holidays would be less stressful on a remote research base on a small island off a frozen continent where there are no shopping centers, cellphones, traffic, bills to pay, meals to cook, or annoying Christmas muzak pumped through every available speaker. This is not the case. We had a seven day work week in order to have a two day weekend, which leaves you pretty burned out. I have also been practicing with my bands every night to get ready for Icestock, a New Years day festival held annually at McMurdo. Also, I've been spending what's left of my free time in the woodshop building a project for MAAG, the McMurdo alternative art gallery, held every Christmas eve at the carp shop. On top of that, there have been a number of holiday parties at different work centers.
  Throughout all of this mayhem, I did find some time to get out around Ross Island and have some fun. I went on a tour of the pressure ridges where the Ross ice shelf meets the sea ice. Signup sheets for this and other tours randomly appear on the window of the rec office and fill up almost immediately. Luckily, my roommate works in the rec office and lets me know when these sheets go up.   A fascinating display of ice formations, the pressure ridges are also home to a group of seals, many of which were sleeping on the path.
  The week before, I skied out to Castle Rock, a large rock formation that has fantastic views of Antarctica. The same day, there was a research balloon launch. These giant balloons are used for all kinds of scientific studies which I do not come close to understanding. Gamma rays and stuff like that.
  Tonight I'm eating Christmas dinner with a bunch of carpenters in a rack tent behind the carp shop. It should be a fun time. Happy Holidays!

Scott's hut

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a tour of Scott's discovery hut. Located down the hill from McMurdo, it was used as a staging point for polar exploration and for scientific research in the early 1900's. I have a picture of the exterior a few posts ago. It is actually an Australian sheep herding hut that was built from a kit by Scott and his men. What they did not realize was that it had absolutely no insulation value and proved so impossible to heat that they had to sleep on board their ship. The inside has many interesting artifacts including mummified seal meat and lots of boxes of provisions. It is fascinating that cold climate has kept most everything intact. Here are a few photos.

Antarctic carpentry

  You don't find a lot of hardwoods in Antarctica. Actually, you don't find any plant matter at all. The only indigenous life forms you do see are the occasional penguin, seal, and the evil skua birds. Almost all the lumber here comes from America, with a small amount from New Zealand. There are lots of SPF 2x4's and A/C plywood. I have seen some amazingly creative stuff built out of construction grade lumber. The carp shop has every tool you might need to build just about anything. There are about 40 people who work on the carp crew, this includes carpenter helpers, carpenters, painters, and foremen. Many work in the shop building all kinds of stuff related to McMurdo, as well as field camps. This may include crates, lab tables, cubbies, and even outhouses. Many other people go to local field camps and do maintenance and other carpentry related jobs, some also go for weeks at a time to deep field camps where they set up structures for research. I am currently on a crew doing a "refresh" on building 155. My job involves patching lots of drywall in dorm rooms, texturing walls, painting, and replacing ceiling tiles and carpet. Next week I will be crawling under the building in a tyvek suit armed with a hammer drill and a jack hammer to break up a two foot thick glacier of grey water that has been building up under the kitchen for a number of years. My boss is intent on finding some rare beer cans that are rumered to be under there. Apparently back in the day, the Navy had its own "Operation Deep Freeze" beer brewed for McMurdo.
  Each Christmas day the carp shop holds an event known as MAAG, the McMurdo alternative art gallery. The carpenters, along with anyone else on base, are encouraged to make an art project for this event. Some of the projects from years past are pretty amazing. People have done lots of performance art, as well as installations, and other large sculptures, such as human sized hamster wheels. Lots of creative minds down here.
  Here are some pictures of the carp shop.

Thanksgiving in Antarctica

  Thanksgiving is observed on Saturdays here, which means we get a two day weekend. This is important because there are only three two day weekends throughout the summer season. There was a lot happening around the base this weekend, including but not limited to and 80's hair metal cover band, as well as a number of other musical acts, a 5K race known as the turkey trot, Antarctica's answer to the Burning Man festival, you guessed it, Freezing Man, as well as much associated alcoholic behavior. I showed up to the race at 9:45 Saturday morning wondering why I was doing this after a night of hair metal and Tacate beer, to find that I was one of only a few people not wearing a costume. It is a strange feeling to be running up the hill to Scott base getting passed by someone dressed as a penguin.
  Thanksgiving dinner was served at 3, 5, and 7 PM and was amazing. The staff in the galley went all out with the food, and even gave us tablecloths which had sheets for writing what you were thankful for. Some of the prior diners wrote things such as: A freezer full of venison, sunsets, not being stranded and forced to eat sled dogs, and booze. The galley staff received a standing ovation at the end of dinner.   Friday before Thanksgiving I was able to phone my family during my morning break, and since Antarctica is 17 hours ahead of Madison, I caught them right at dinner. It does amaze me sometimes that I am able to make calls from this place. Even though it is a scientific research station, It is still using the same telephone system installed in the early 80's. Every room here has a landline phone that actually rings. If you are someone who needs to be reached often, you have a pager. My first roommate here was an IT guy for the ASC, he told me that they used to be able to find parts for the phone system on ebay, but now that is no longer possible and they have to look in places like Mexico City. Yes, the National Science Foundation has to go to third world countries to keep it's infrastructure running. Some of the VHF radios they use here are over 30 years old. This is indeed a land of extremes.
   I will post some pictures soon, but since the internet has limited bandwidth, and runs at dial up speed, it takes about 3 to 5 minutes to upload a photo, and I need to get to band practice.

The worst movie I've ever seen... ever.

McMurdo station has a coffee house in an old Jamesway. A Jamesway  is a sort of quonset hut but smaller. They were common durring WWII and a few are still standing here, leftovers from when the station was run by the Navy. The coffee house provides free coffee drinks, board games, internet, and a second room full of couches where open mic, as well as movie nights are held. You are also allowed to bring your own alcoholic beverages. Earlier this week I saw a flier for a Sunday screening of the Star Wars Holiday Special, complete with commercials from 1978. This movie was aired once and was never released onto video. Someone somewhere taped this horrible conceptual nightmare one evening in 1978 and it eventually found its way from Betamax to google videos. An all out endurance test, I can honestly say that the only movie ever made that can come close to competing with it as far as an epic failure and something that could be used as a torture devise would be Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. I was one of three people who made it to the end. I now know that I am more than capable of surviving in the harshest environment on the planet. I won't spoil it for anyone who might enjoy pain enough to attempt to watch it, but I will say this: The first 30 min is all in wookie, no subtitles, and at the end you get to see Carrie Fischer sing. Don't say I didn't warn you. Here are some more photos from around McMurdo.