Camping and Christmas!

Happy Holidays Friends!
I apologize that it has been a while since my last post. I have switched shifts and now work 4am to 2pm, which also happens to be when most of the internet coverage is so I find that I spend very little time on the internet these days! This is going to be a long post, but hopefully you will enjoy it!

Probably the most exciting thing that happened since my last post is that I was able to go camping for a night a short ways away from the south pole! This was such an amazing experience, and perhaps one of my favorite so far of my time down here at the pole. There was a group of 12 of us, plus on instructor. We 1st met on a Friday evening to go over logistics and times, and then had a short lecture about how to avoid frostbite and what sort of clothing to wear and when we would leave the next night etc. So the following night we all piled into piston bullies, picked up some gear and then headed for the campsite! When we left it was pretty windy out, and you could not really distinguish between where the ice ended and the sky began, so from the campsite we could no longer see the station (which was a pretty cool feeling). Once we unloaded everything the piston bullies turned around and went back to the station! This is when the fun began! Basically the 12 of us (me being the only girl!) had signed ourselves up for a night of shoveling. The first thing we did was set up the “Scott Tent”, which was basically an A-frame tent with 4 poles. It goes up pretty quickly, and then you stake it down by piling snow up the sides about a foot, and burying steaks in the ground as well. These tents (used by Scott during his expedition…) are pretty warm and good at blocking the wind. Next we took all the sleeping bags and made a huge pile with them, and then we proceeded to cover them with snow…lots and lots of snow. This was the start of our “Quincy”, which is basically a snow cave. Once we had about 2 feet of snow piled on the bags we smacked it down to make sure it would form a nice hard layer, and we let it sit for about 2 hours while we set up some other mountain tents. We also built a snow wall with blocks of the ice to help protect the tents from the wind. After letting the Quincy sit for a while we went back to it, made a hole so that someone could go in and start pulling out the bags, and then a tunnel was also started that would later form the entrance. You can excavate as much snow as you want from the inside of your Quincy, and sometimes then can get quite large. The instructor also showed the group how to dig a trench, which was another option for sleeping in. Meanwhile, while all this digging and tent setting up is going on we are also working on boiling water so that we have hot drink to help stay warm. Its important that you make sure you keep drinking and eating to take in calories so that your body stays warm and you don’t get frostbite! By the time all the digging and tunneling and everything was done it was about 3am, and time for bed! Myself and a friend opted to sleep in the Scott Tent, so we grabbed our sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and fleece liners and went to get ready for bed. Now, getting ready to sleep when its so cold out is quite a process. We each had 2 sleeping pads to keep us off the cold ground, and then we also each had 2 huge heavy duty sleeping bags and a fleece liner…I think it took me a good 30min just to get ready for bed! I also wanted to make sure that the clothes I wanted to put on in the morning stayed warm, and that my boots and hats and gloves were under the sleeping bag as well so that they were not -40F when I go to put them on in the morning. So finally I was ready for bed, and it was actually quite warm in the Scott tent, and I did manage to get a few hours of sleep. Not the best sleep ever, but pretty good. Some of the group opted to stay up later and work on building an igloo (they did finish the igloo, but did not go to bed) Morning came, we all work up, got water boiling and then took everything down, packed it away and waited for the piston bullies to come back and get us! I slept for most of Sunday afternoon, and still did not feel rested. Winter camping is hard work, fun, but hard!

Celebrating the holidays has been interesting here at the South Pole. The galley was decorated with Christmas trees, garland, and lights, and does look quite festive. We had a big feast here on Christmas eve…it was a lot like Thanksgiving where there were 3 seatings for people, and lots and lots of great food. We even had Maine Lobster! After the meals people mostly just hung out and enjoyed each others company. Christmas day there was brunch, and most people had the day off so it was just more relaxing and enjoying the holiday. I did have to work both Christmas eve and Christmas day which was a little tough, but we did have lots of great volunteers in the kitchen so it made my job pretty easy. It did not ever really feel like Christmas to me this year, I am not sure if its because I am away from my family and missing them, or perhaps is the lack of hype about the holiday and being away from the commercialism, but I don’t think I really minded that it was such a low key few days! I am anxiously awaiting a package from my sisters, as I was told it’s a pretty amazing package so I hope it arrives soon! I did receive some goodies from my parents and it was nice to have something from home.

On Christmas day here there is also the “Race Around the World”. This is a 2.3 mile race that goes around the south pole marker and part of the station. Many take the race seriously as the winner gets to go run in a race at McMurdo, but many dress up and do the race in funny ways. There is heavy machinery, piston bullies decked out to look like Santa’s sled, people in crazy costumes, all sorts of stuff. Some others and I made a chariot and pulled it as though we were a dog sled team. Pulling a sled with a person in it is hard work! It was a pretty fun event, and a cool way to spend Christmas morning here at the South Pole.

If you managed to read all the way to the end of this post I am impressed. I will try to be better about updating more often, and i will try to get some pictures up soon…I have been told by my family that I need to update more! And I have now been told by my friend Ben that his parents want me to update the blog as well! While I was working today my friend Ben came up to me and told me his parents had found my blog and are now reading it, so Hello Ben’s Parents!

Merry Christmas from the south pole everyone!