Does this mean we’re in space?

January 11, 2012 | kiell

Whoa…check out the physiological/barometric altitude (and the “temperature,” for that matter).

About those snow boulders from the last post… they were put there by Fleet Ops night shift (I think): they have to have been placed by loaders. Either that or aliens.

And when they get cleared, they get spread out downwind of station in the sector known as the End of the World. Snow gets bulldozed all season, piled up in all sorts of places, dumped into a big metal vessel called White Trash, and dumped where it won’t blow back. This is a never-ending process; Fleet Ops is here plowing all summer season long. I can hear them right now. Last week there were no less than four loud, geriatric tracked loaders clattering and rumbling and shivering outside my canvas wall as I tried to go to sleep one night. It’s hard here because the work has to be done, loud as it is, and there are people sleeping in shifts around the clock, both on station and in summer camp. But the boulders were just for fun!

Strange Ice

January 9, 2012January 9, 2012 | kiell

These weird stacked snow boulders appeared out by the RF satellite buildings over a grave shift one night.

They were big.

Almost big enough to hide a loader, but not quite.

I can still see you.

And the winner is…

January 8, 2012January 8, 2012 | kiell

For our 10,000-reader hit giveaway, the winner is (drumroll…)

Kurt from Connecticut! (sorry about the crappy pictures, and that I haven’t showered for five days–it’s a harsh continent!) Kurt, send us your address at kiellanddaniel@gmail.com, and we’ll get your box in the mail. It may take a while; we’ve passed the airmail deadline by just a hot minute so I think it will go by sea vessel.

Congratulations, Kurt, and THANK YOU so much to everyone who reads this blog, it’s fun to share this experience with you all.

In other news, Daniel is the South Pole Scrabble Champion! He won a very, very close game against Mikey of http://mikeygoingdown.tumblr.com/ (this is an awesome blog–check it out). And, improving my 4th place score in the South Pole Spelling Bee from last year, I made second place in an equally close Bee this year. Hooray!

Stay tuned for the Barn Dance… a friend and I are planning a live music-ing, line-dancing, polka-ing extravaganza this Friday night (keep in mind, this is a work night for us, but all the Saturdays were claimed by other events that we couldn’t compete with)! We will teach and call line dances, polkas and waltzes, and it’s going to be awesome.

get your folk on.

January 7, 2012January 7, 2012 | kiell

LIKE

SADIE HAWKINS

but without

the

AWKWARD,

PLUS YOU CAN DRINK BEER.

SOUTH POLE BARN DANCE

Friday January 13, 8-10 pm

How to Get a Job in Antarctica in 2012

December 30, 2011 | kiell

Alright, here we go.

Go to http://www.lockheedmartinjobs.com/index.aspx

Scroll down, and in the keyword field, type “NSF-ASC” and click on the Search button.

Jobs are being posted already, so get your resume ready and watch their site for new postings! We’ve heard that there may be a subcontractor called PAE for some or many of the positions–I’m not sure what kinds of jobs would be under that umbrella, but it sounds like mine might be.

Historically people who are on ice currently have had the ability to apply for jobs internally before postings were made available to everyone, but it seems like that might not be the case…so we’ll see how this goes. We are planning on applying for another season, though. I like this life.

Check out the discussion on the Antarctic Memories forum for a more in-depth analysis.

Here‘s another article about the transition.

Good luck!

And the New USAP Contractor is….

December 23, 2011 | kiell

The wait to find out who we’ll be applying for jobs with next year is over, and the winning bidder is……

Lockheed Martin! http://www.lockheedmartin.com/

More information to come soon. I will be posting information on how to apply for a job with the US Antarctic Program next season just as soon as I find out myself.

We should have more details soon on what the turnover will be like. In reality, the season is over in six or seven weeks, and that doesn’t leave very much time for the new contractor to come in and make changes before the last plane leaves. It will be really interesting to see what happens; this is after a three-year extension to the Raytheon ten-year contract, something that could have happened before we even applied for jobs with the program in 2009.

We’ll keep you updated.

Wx

December 22, 2011December 22, 2011 | kiell

Yesterday it was windy, uncharacteristically windy for South Pole. I woke up to the jamesway ceiling billowing and hiccupping in a way that made the bed seem warmer, darker, impossible to leave. Even with the wooden windowshade drawn shut, I knew what it would be like outside. Grey and misty, whipcracks of snow bristling up like the hair on a spooked dog’s back, a goggles-not-sunglasses kind of day when you want every single part of your skin covered.

In the afternoon, the snow crystals were floating overhead in sheets, the sun ringed with two sundogs, rainbow arcs circling the sun, a false sunrise glowing on the horizon directly below the sun. My camera didn’t have a wide enough angle to catch it, a sign that maybe I should be just looking and appreciating the view instead of trying to capture the image. And today the clouds are being pulled back slowly and with resistance, revealing a strip of insanely blue sky.

South Pole Centennial Photo Extravaganza!

December 16, 2011December 16, 2011 | kiell

As promised, here is a glut of photos from the Centennial and the days preceding it.

Tourists camping on hardened sastrugi and skiing for transportation and recreation:

Polar Solar:

The ceremony sound guy:

Video in –25F:

The ceremony itself:

The unveiling of the ice bust of Amundsen:

The press:

The fashion:

And the celebration:

We went inside to get ready for the cocktail hour in the gym and the special dinner in the conference room.

Sydney Clewe, Dining Assistant by day and Graphic Designer/Artist by night, painted this amazing canvas mural especially for the dinner (as always, click to enlarge):

The night went perfectly and the dinner was divine (I tested everything, especially the julekake, which brought me back to childhood Christmases).

Kitchen staff, waitstaff and runners:

Antarctic waitress brigade:

Wine Service and Sound

December 15, 2011December 15, 2011 | kiell

To mark the centenary of man’s arrival at the South Pole, our station held a small ceremony and a fancy dinner for the Norwegian Prime Minister and his party, and Daniel and I were lucky enough to help with making it happen. Daniel ran sound, his coldest and most Southern live sound gig, and he spent many hours preparing for it by researching intensively in the way he does and creating schematics to build cabinets to hold the speakers, to prevent them from freezing up and malfunctioning while still sounding clear and rich and natural.

Standing gathered around the ceremonial pole, with the shrill, hollow protest of footsteps on snow amplified through the sound system, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg spoke. After planting Norway’s flag at the Pole, he honored Roald Amundsen and his achievement; Robert Falcon Scott who gave the ultimate sacrifice for discovery; Norway as a brand new country in 1911 (having gained independence in 1905); and the men and women who came to celebrate and honor this important year on skis and sledges, tired and celebrating with frostbite on their faces and ice in their hair. The head of the Norsk Polarinstitutt, having himself skiied in 45 days to follow Amundsen’s ski tracks, wrote a letter to Amundsen on the route from inside his sleeping bag, and he read it to us. An ice bust of Amundsen, molded by a Norwegian artist and poured here, was unveiled.

When we clapped, it was a muffled patter of mittens hitting mittens, a noise like rain in a place that has never seen it. Statesmen and adventurers alike jumped and hugged, lit cigars and drank akavit, tears in their eyes from cold and from overwhelming emotions.

We came in to prepare for the next part of the evening, a dinner for which the head executive chef has been preparing since last year, partially out of excitement and partially due to a very long, slow supply chain. I volunteered (begged) to be a part of the serving staff over a month ago, my waitressing past finally coming in handy here at the Pole. We set the table while the reception happened downstairs in the gym and the band (which Daniel was also a part of) played the national anthem of Norway. When the PM and his group came in for dinner, the champagne was already poured and waiting to be toasted with, servers waiting in the wings and the kitchen staff buzzing in preparation in a nearby conference room. We poured wine, took orders, and brought out an amazing and visually stunning meal (the Prime Minister takes his bison steak medium rare, fyi). The night went perfectly, with no sound malfunctions, no spilled wine or burned coffee, no cracked ice busts, no probems at all. It was exhilarating and relieving and felt so significant, with my Norwegian flag in my server apron pocket the whole night. I felt more Norwegian than I ever have before.

I’m working on photos tonight–more up in 12 hours when the satellite comes back up.