Trotting with turkeys and laughing in the snow

Wow! What a fun day it has been here at McMurdo. I woke up this morning with a few hundred others ready to run the Antarctic Turkey Trot only to find out it had been cancelled. There was a fresh coat of five inches on the ground and the sun was shining brightly from a blue sky. After talking with a few others at breakfast we realized that a little snow and some "unsafe" icy conditions weren't going to keep us from our morning jog. The thought of not working up an appetite for the big meal just wasn't right. My friend and I showed up at 10 to find that almost everyone signed up thought the cancellation was bunk also. We took off in the bright sun and headed out toward the sea ice runway. Everyone was hooping and hollaring, and it really got crazy when the kitchen staff came out in full work clothes to run a few miles on their breakfast break. I cannot rememeber another time when I was more glad something fun was cancelled. The conditions turned out to be just fine, and the fresh coat of snow on the mountains and on town were perfect. Some people sported huge whigs, some men wore tights with sequin dresses, and a few people ran in their 10 lb. arctic boots. I was laughing my head off and loving every minute of it. After finishing most of the race I decided to strip off the shirt for the last half mile, which proved to be a mistake when I was pelted with snowballs at the finish line. Time just stopped for about an hour this morning to laugh, gobble, pelt others with snowballs, cheer, and laugh my head off. If anyone is wondering, there is no shortage of fun in MacTown!

A Thanksgiving like no other

Hello all, and happy Thanksgiving! It is strange, to say the least, to be here away from you all. It is November 25th here, and confusing the heck out of me. No one is sure if yesterday was Thanksgiving being that it was the 24th, today is Thankgiving because that's when everyone else back home is celebrating, or tomorrow because we get the day off work and eat our big meal. Anyhow, it's weird, and I miss you guys. Being away from American culture you get an interesting perspective on things. Suddenly a holiday is not about watching football or parades, gorging myself with my Mom's amazing treats, or traveling 8 hours in a car trying to keep the pumpkin pie from tipping. It is suddenly only about being thankful for the amazing things that God has given me. While I am missing people and am lacking some "normal" festivities, I am grateful to be here on this adventure and to have people back home that I love deeply. I felt very loved by cards from you guys. Thanks. While I will be running the Antarctic Turkey Trot in the morning and eating New Zealand turkey in the galley tomorrow I will be missing you all. I thank the Lord for what my friends and family have meant to me. I am also thankful I have clothes... otherwise, I would be frozen... and neked!

What it looks like here

I realize that words are limited when describing a place that no one really has any idea about. I got the final word that I will not be able to post pictures for you guys, so I guess my words will have to do. If that bores anyone and you swear to never check this site again, no worries, enjoy the time away from the computer screen. But for those of you who would like to read on I will attempt to describe what it looks like here. Like I have said in past entries, McMurdo ("Mac Town") is like a little town displaced in an island bordering the coldest and most remote continent in the world. As for Mac Town, it is not what comes to mind when you think of a ski town or a village in the Alps. Think of a military post established and quickly assembled by the navy in the 70's. Many buildings here are shacks that have been pepped up a little bit inside. The buildings are cozy and the views out the windows are unreal. There is a water plant, power plant, coffee house (shack), basketball barn, science lab, dining hall, dorms, offices, a greehouse, a bar, and many warehouses. People are busy throughout the day going to work in their various jobs that support the scientists. There are about 1,000 people here at most times from all walks of life. It is very comapct and simple. I could throw a baseball three times and traverse all of Mac Town. There are gravel/pebble roads and they are usually covered with snow, although not all areas around Mac Town proper are snowcovered. There is only one road (not counting sea ice tracks) that leads away from McMurdo. It goes to the Kiwi (New Zealand) base about a mile and a half away. Less than 2% of the continent is not snowcovered, and we are considered part of that 2%. The Navy should have seen that as a warning sign that no snow meant the wind had blown it all away in BAD storms... It's kinda like being cold when you're driving but instead of turning the heat on you roll down the windows and stick your head out. Yeah, not exactly well-planned military strategies in positioning this place. There are no trees and very little color other than deep white, deep blue, and the black volcanic rock below the sections of snow. The views from town rock my world every day! The Royal Society Range is across the frozen Bay beyond the sea ice runway that I have been working at. The peaks are over fifty miles away, but they appear about 10 miles away because there is nothing in the air to block visiblity. They rise over 14,000 feet above the sea ice and remind me of the Alps or the Canadian Rockies. From the sea ice Mt. Erebius is visible. It is the only active volcano on the continent and it is constantly venting steam in a huge cloud against the blue sky. Some days, of course, you can see nothing, and you can barely walk because the wind is blowing snow into your face and freezing you to the bone. On those days I see only the edges of my coat hood, the inside of my ski goggles, and my feet beneath me. We sit about a mile away from large glaciers and crevasses, but they are covered in snow making them unseen and very dangerous. Pressure ridges often form on the sea ice around the peninsula. These are up to 30 foot tall ridges that have formed from sea ice pressing together over the years. Occasionally seals will emerge from these ridges, and I am told that later in the year penguins too. I can spot no open water here as the mass of ice covers this all to a thickness of over 6 feet. Last but not least is Observation Hill. This the classic Mac Town hike. It is a huge hill (small mountain) shooting up on the South end of town directly between us and the Kiwi base. Sledding on dinner trays is popular at the base to reward summiting the steep trail. The view from the top is unbelievable! Being the highest point for about 4 miles, it looks over all of Ross Island and makes one want to simply start hiking as far as possible in any direction. One last thing you must remember about this place; it's light all the time. The sun rotates around the sky in a circle, but never goes down in the summer. I hope that gives you a little better idea what it looks like here. Please know that I cannot describe to you how wild, vast, empty, and just plain HUGE this land is. It is like nothing I could have ever imagined.

Science that blows my mind

As I drove the huge flatbed truck past the glaciers and crevasses I had no idea what I was carrying. I was told that I had a very important piece of cargo for the balloon projeft that is going on this summer. As I arrived at the secondary runway and science post past the Kiwi base I had no idea what to think. A door flung open to one of the temporary shacks on the ice and fifty scientists emerged in huge red coats wearing cameras around their necks and acting like they just got out for summer break. They came toward us wondering if all the materials had arrived safely. I told them I had taken care of their box and would help them unload it and bring them the contents. As we opened the 8 foot box minutes later I saw the most complex piece of scientific equptment I have ever laid eyes on. After having a short conversation, and dodging fifty cameras taking my picture opening the door, I realized what I was carrying. It was the brain for the biggest ozone and atmosphere project ever conducted! LDB, Long Duration Balloon, is a project that many scientists have worked on for years and only now has it come time to launch the balloon. This brain, a mass of cords, cables, computers, cameras, and crazy scientific devices, is worth millions of dollars and thousands of hours. It will be launched as soon as possible by a mosaic of international teams and will measure the ozone layer here and take pictures and readings of what it sees. This will give evidence of what it looks like, why it is thinning here, and what this means for the rest of the world in the future. After safely moving the piece and placing it exactly where they wanted it, they all applauded my two teamates and I while we realized we had nearly peed our pants trying not to drop this thing. On certain days the magnitude of these things just hits me. Today was one of those. I am living out the discovery channel every day and being a small part of some of the newest science in the world. Well, that was my day at the office.

It's warming up!

After being here about five weeks I am beginning to feel a hint of what they call summer here in the Antarctic. The other day at work I took off my coat and beanie for the first time fearing I would overheat and actually begin to sweat. For the first time I felt the wind on my face and didn't think, "IT'S BURNING MY SKIN OFF!" I hustled home after work to change out of my insulated coveralls and checked the weather. It warmed up to 10! With the windchill it was below 10, but it was an amazing thought...my body has begun to get used to this. I am looking forward to both the warming in the next few months and getting used to the cold even more. I continue to be amazed by this place, and the weather is a big part of that. Blue skies lead to stormy winds with no visibility. You never know what you're gonna get when you wake up here, probably another condition 1 storm tomorrow morning.

How to get a hold of me...

Alan Briggs,RPSC McMurdo Station PSC 469 Box 700 APO AP 96599-1035 AlanBriggsis@gmail.com Or call my cell...just kidding

The Pole Traverse

As my radio chimed in I was loading cargo. It was one of those moments that makes you stop and realize that something big is going on. "On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we start our engines for the journey. Departure, immediate. Estimated time of return, late January or February. We wish you all the best, and thank you for your support." I stopped for a minute thinking of the journey these men were about to take on. An expedition has been assembled- men, vehicles, food, maps, supplies, and warm clothes- to take on one of the greatest challenges of the last hundred years; the traverse to the south pole. While not done on foot or with huskies pulling their sleds, they will creep along dodging crevasses, ice falls, and snow pits for 800 miles in SnowCats until they reach the coldest and most southern place in the world. It gets me excited to be a small part of adventures like these. My team and I have dealt with logistics for getting their gear off planes and into their pile along with other field camps and scientific experiments. Just the other day I was driving around a large box from the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) that was worth over a million $. How about that for pressure not to drop it. I simply cannot believe all the world record events that leave from this place. Just today I downloaded a plane that the Italians flew in from South Africa on the sea ice runway. I hope things like that never feel normal. I will write an entry or two in the next few weeks dealing with the science experiments going on here. There is simply no place like this- so strange, exciting, unfamiliar, frozen, and simple.

I'm a lucky man!

So I thought it might be good to give a little update as to how I spend my time here on the ice. Lately I have gotten some exciting news that I got into the Field Safety Training Program and the Mass Medical Response team. In addition to getting an exciting and non-repetitive job down here (especially for my first year on the ice), I get to take a few courses that give me free training in things that I love. I am heading off very soon for a GPS course, I have already taken a sea ice course, I get to go on a two day camping trip later in the season, I will take an altitude course later on, and I might get random chances to go out into the field. The mass medical team is only put into action in case of a disaster, but we meet to train, go over logistics, and do drills with live "injured" actors. I definitely have some of the least experience of anyone on the team, but at least I've got a beard. I will bandage wounds, give people oxygen, apply splints, and keep monitoring vital signs. So overall, I am a lucky guy to get to do both of these bonus courses that train me to do cool stuff. Sometimes all you've gotta do is ask!

Dinner with the next door neighbor

Here in icetown we have only one other house in the neighborhood- the kiwis (these are people from New Zealand if you didn't know). Scott Base is located just over the pass with a small mountain seperating us from our jolly neighbors. I have gotten to know a few of them lately, and I really enjoy getting to shoot the breeze with them and learn new phrases from them. I am also realizing that I speak American, not English. Anyway, a Kiwi buddy named Scott invited me over for dinner the other night and I immediately accepted. This is considered a huge honor, because Kiwis only ask close friends over for dinner. This base is very small a well-kept, kind of a dorm and a commune all in one. We shot the breeze for hours talking about Scott's last thirteen months on the ice and the things he has experienced here. After eating a great home-cooked Chinese meal and getting a tour of the place I came to a realization...we long for neighbors, people we can take our shoes off with, kick back, relax, and slow down. It was truly one of my best nights here and certainly very relaxing. It's the little things I miss here. Somehow I never realized the privilage it is to have neighbors or friends over for dinner until I got down here. On a side note, I believe the Kiwis have taken over sole possession of first place for my favorite people group. I have no idea why people from a certain country are named after a special bird, but I guess that makes sense to them. In conclusion, you're all invited to our place for dinner when I return!