Fire Drill

Fire Drill
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

There is no such thing as dialing "911" to get an ambulance or fire truck here. We are our own Trauma and Fire Teams. Before I ever left for the South Pole, I went to Fire School in Denver for a week and learned the basics of fire fighting. Other winter-overs went to Trauma school, where they learned the basics of being an EMT. Every person here is part of one of these teams--Trauma or Fire, and of course, we have to keep our skills in practice. With the extreme dryness, static electricity, and construction going on here, it's not exactly fire-hazard free, and a devastating fire could make life here very difficult.

To this end, we have mandated monthly fire drills. These aren't like in grade school where everyone lazily files out of the building and waits on the grass outside. Our drills are full-on mock situations designed by a small group of people and acted out in every detail. They are kept secret from the majority of the station, including even major players such as the doctor. The fire teams get in all their fire gear and SCBA (breathing tank and mask) to do things such as fighting the pretend fire, or pulling victims out of a dangerous situation. Some people's jobs are to get equipment to the scene, and some manage the situation overall, allocating resources and deciding the best course of action. The leader is called the "On Scene Commander" and can be a different fire team member every drill. The trauma team gets practice treating victims by backboarding them, taking vital signs, administering oxygen and/or CPR, and transporting them to medical. If the drill is staged outdoors, this is no easy task. Victims are made up to look like they've been injured according to the scenario, often with makeup, props, or a sign on their body that tells their symptoms. The fire, smoke, or chemical spill is always simulated by signs, tape marking, or pictures. The scene has props that give clues as to what happened and the fire teams must sort them out to help the trauma team figure out what happened to the victims, and thus, what the best treatment is.

The August fire drill showed no lack of creativity despite its timing late in the season. This drill was especially fun because I got to participate in it. The scenario was a new one--involving a chemical spill rather than a fire as the life-threatening situation. Ken and Jim were moving large batteries into the battery storage room when a wrench fell out of Ken's pocket, shorted the terminals of a battery and caused the battery to explode. Ken suffered acid burns and Jim was knocked out by a piece of shrapnal and also had burns. To make his injuries even more real, Jim had an Alkaseltzer so that he could fake "foaming at the mouth." But, the scenario didn't stop there. Sheri heard the explosion and became blinded when she entered the room which was full of airborne chemicals. Kevin heard her scream and realized he shouldn't enter, but was so traumatized that he assumed the role of "On Scene Commander" in a panicked state and began to issue senseless commands to all responders as they showed up. The idea here was to see if fire team members realized that Kevin was unable to be an effective On Scene Commander, and to see how quickly they would take over his post. But, the final kicker in the drill was my role as the "Hysterical Girlfriend." I was to start screaming and freaking out when they brought Ken out of the room completely covered in acid burns. So, I had to be restrained by a couple people. But, true to my assigned role, I didn't stop there. When Ken was finally transported to Medical, I ran into the ward and started screaming at the doctor that he wasn't doing enough for Ken, and I went into where Ken was being treated. The doctor had to assign a person to the duty of keeping me out of the office and only then did I finally give up. It was a hoot.

About an hour after the drill started, things had finally calmed down, the victims had recovered from their fake injuries, and we were holding our "debrief" in the galley. Everyone said I played an excellent hysteric. It was a natural role.



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Light at the End of the Tunnel

Light at the End of the Tunnel
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

This weekend, when I walked outside, the sky was offering one of the best shows I've ever seen. A giant green and purple swirling aurora was rippling across the sky. The moon was about half full and turning the sky into a deep dark blue instead of the usual black. It was extremely clear, and the stars were even rivaling the moon. But, by far the coolest thing was an unmistakable PINK GLOW on the horizon where the sun was lying below. It was definitely the first time I've seen anything that could be described as a glow on the horizon. After literally 6 months of pitch black, it was a huge relief to see that the sun hadn't abandoned us. I can't believe that I'll actually be seeing the sun in less than a month. It will be so awesome to see what everything looks like in the light. There are new snow drifts everywhere that have completely changed the landscape, although they've never actually been seen in the light.



People's spirits have definitely lifted since that day. Just something about knowing that time is moving on and things will be changing soon makes the cold and isolation not feel as bad. I'm not packing my bags yet or anything, but I am definitely ready to take on these last two months!



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Monopoly

Monopoly
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

<> It's not often that you see an audience of grown men
around a monopoly board, watching intently as if it were the superbowl. That is, of course, unless you've been cooped up at the South Pole for 9 months.

An impromptu game of monopoly was started by four guys around mid-day in the galley. When they were about an hour into the game, me and a friend went there for lunch. We noticed the game as we were deciding where to sit and it seemed like it might be fun to watch them play. By the end of our meal, we were completely enthralled in the game, and we both said it was one of the most exciting lunches we've had in a long time. But that was just the beginning.

A few hours, a dozen hotels, and one bankrupt player later, the audience was no longer just a couple galley transients. The game was down to the final two players and rents in excess of $1000 were being exchanged on a regular basis, so naturally, with this level of intensity, the spectators all had beverages and appeared to be staying for a while.

Those of us watching the whole scene just laughed at the fact that the most exciting thing going on here at the moment was a board game that most of us hadn't played since childhood. At least it wasn't chutes and ladders. Maybe that will be next month when we're really bored and brain dead.

Cold!

Cold!
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

Considering the temperature rarely gets above zero here, it's not exactly a revelation to say that it's cold at the South Pole. However, the other day, even people who have been coming here year after year saw their coldest temperatures when it got down to -110 F! That was the coldest temperature here in over eight years. Some winters, it doesn't even get to -100 at all. I didn't go outside in -110 because it happened over night, but I did the 5-10 minute walk to work in -105 the next morning. Usually, when it's really cold, there's hardly any wind, so it actually felt a lot warmer than most days when it's warmer and windy. By the afternoon, it had warmed up to a balmy -95F, and I had to do the coldest delivery of helium so far this season. Without the lack of wind-chill to save you, buzzing around on a snowmobile in -95F is definitely cold, but I think that somehow I've adapted, because it isn't nearly as painful as it was in the beginning of the season when the temps were above -70.



Hard to believe that someone who saw +100 temps on a regular basis during North Carolina summers has now experienced -110.



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Away from the Office

Away from the Office
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

<> I normally work alone here. It's usually just me, my snowmobile, and a sky slammed with auroras to light the way. Lately, though, I've been working with the construction crew to have a couple people come out on the days when I do cryogen deliveries. The main reason for this is to give people who usually spend all day working inside the station (which is the vast majority of people here) a little change of scenery. They get a chance to go outside and do something different, and I get a couple extra hands for my heavy-lifting work. The other luxury I have is that there are people along to witness some of the extraordinary sky scenes under which I do my work. On this day when I had two friends along for the ride, one of them captured the things I am usually the only one to see. You can see the dark outline of my snowmobile, me standing behind it, and, barely, the sled I tow to carry the cryo containers. The red light is my snowmobile headlight, with the cover painted red, as most outdoor lights are, as to not affect people's night vision. Above are the auroras, at their mid-day peak. Part of the telescope building is on the right. Scenes like this make my job worth it.

300 Club

300 Club
Originally uploaded by teenmachine.

It's high noon and every eye in the galley is glued on the TV. From the looks of it, we could have been watching the first moon landing. But no, all those highly focused eyes were watching nothing but a small number on the screen. That number was updated about every 30 seconds on the only TV channel we have--our weather channel. It was like a bunch of kids watching a twinkie come out of its wrapper. The number was slowly getting smaller, starting around -97, and inching to -99.5. It looked like we really were going to break -100F for only the second time this season, and possibly for the first time sustained. This meant one thing to the 86 people watching the slowly dropping number: the 300 club.

By that point, everyone was planning where, how, and with whom they wanted to do the infamous run to the South Pole marker. I had decided to go with a group of gals, and we all met up near the sauna under the dome minutes after the temperature dipped. The sauna temperature sensors had already been sitting in cold water to trick it to get up to 200F. As soon as it hit the mark, us girls piled in with nothing but our towels and boots on. We could only stand it for about 10 minutes, and then, after agreeing it was time, ran out past the group of waiting guys, dropped our towels at the door, and found ourselves in the middle of the coldest temperatures humans have ever experienced, stark naked. There is quite a ramp leading out of the dome due to the thirty years of snow that has fallen since the dome's construction. Luckily, our trusted friend Tony was at the top of the ramp with a flashlight lighting the thin path that led up to the regular snow level. Although it was pitch black, I looked up at one point about half-way there and noticed stars and auroras in the sky. It was the perfect backdrop for the dumbest thing I've ever done.

We stuck together for the long walk across high sculptures of wind-formed snow (knowns as sustrugi), and more than one of us found ourselves saying out loud, "you know, this really isn't so bad." We trudged up to the South Pole Marker where our friend Tammy was ready with the camera, and actually stood for a long couple seconds as she took two photos. Then, after being careful to actually go around the pole marker, we excitedly turned dome-ward only to find something we had entirely forgotten about--wind. Now face to face with the blowing ice crystals, and our skin temperature plummetting, we realized quickly that the walk back was not going to be easy. We quickened our pace and sounds of discomfort--tinged with a bit of fear--could be heard from the group. I moved quickly, as I could feel the outermost layers of my skin literally freezing, and my body starting to feel very strange. I looked down at my legs while I was in the path of the flashlight and saw that every inch was bright red with cold, and every little hair was covered in frost.

Just as the end was in sight, about six feet from the stairs leading to the sauna, the door exploded open and naked men began to pour out, running down the stairs. "Crap!" I said out-loud, and ducked behind the corner of a building with the rest of the girls. Luckily, we were under the dome and safe from the wind, although the temperatures were still as low as outside. After about ten guys ran by, I couldn't take it any more, and covering up as best as I could, I ran past them up the stairs, and inside. Somehow I managed to cover myself in a flurry of towel handing-out, steamy air from our breath, and racing bodies--some running out the door, and some desprately trying to get in. We were back in the sauna in a split second, and I think my body was just as shocked as when I ran out. It took a while before we all felt normal again, and excitement over what we had done finally sunk in.

Luckily, none of the gals had any permanent damage, although, a few minutes later, one of the guys ran in with a completely white, frost-bit hand. It has been sore and swollen ever since, although the doctor says it will heal. Most of the other cases were just frost-nip that went away quickly. Over-all, it really wasn't as bad as I had feared, and my overwhelming feeling is relief that it's over. Of course, I'm glad to have taken part in a South Pole tradition as old as the station itself.

Crazy Weather...

At 1am, I woke up to my friend Tony's voice over the all-call system. Normally, this would mean it was a Saturday night and Tony was knackered, making jokes, but this was a week night, and you'd better have a real good reason for getting on the all-call at this hour on a week night. I woke up just enough to decipher what he was saying. Tony was announcing that we had finally hit -100F for the first time this season. It seemed too soon for this...I still feel like in some ways, winter is just starting. But sure enough, I looked on my computer and there was -100F. I didn't step outside to feel it, but I can't imagine it feels too much different than -92F, which is what it had been all day when I was outside. If this had happened during the day, people would have immediately been scrambling to the Upper Berthing Sauna, which would have already been cranked up to 200F (requiring putting the sauna's thermometer in a bucket of ice to over-ride it's high temperature limit) in a matter of minutes for the 300 club.

The 300 club is a "club" that someone made up a long time ago here. To get into the 300 club, you have to sit in the Sauna until it hits 200F, and then run outside into -100F, and run all the way around the South Pole Marker, with nothing but your boots on. I'm scared to death to do it, but of course, I will. There are all kinds of legends about the 300 club, with people getting frost-nip on unmentionable parts, and they say you cough for a week after doing it. People talk about the different strategies for it...whether or not to use your hands to cover things, whether to run or walk, how sweaty to get in the sauna before rushing outside... It's a pretty serious tradition here.

I found out the next day that -100 was actually a record low for that day.

As if hitting -100F weren't enough excitement weather-wise, the next day, a much stranger thing happened. It warmed up to a balmy -38F...a 60 degree change in about 12 hours. We hadn't seen temps that high in months, and I hadn't expected to see anything that high for the rest of my time here. I actually wouldn't have even believed it, but I knew it was warm when I went outside and didn't feel my face freezing when it wasn't covered. People were getting way over-heated walking around in their parkas, too. It REALLY did feel warm. I can't believe that -40F felt warm to me. The winds were also unusually calm for those temperatures. Usually, when temperatures rise, the winds go up as well, so we never get a break with the wind-chill. Everyone said that they thought this would finally be the big storm of the season. But, other than an hour we spent with winds at 25+ knots, the weather just slowly, and anticlimactically got steadily colder, returning to normal. It turns out, that this day, 24 hours after hitting the record low of -100F, we came within a couple degrees of the record high.

South Pole Gas Station and Other Winter Fun

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I think this might be the only place in the world where Americans can buy gas for less than 2 bucks a gallon. When I need some gas for my snowmobile, I just pull up here and crank out the gas free of charge. Of course, it requires a little more arm muscle to get my 5 gallons. It's about 40 cranks to fill up my snowmobile, and the handle doesn't exactly turn easily in -90F. But, I'll take this gas station over any one that's trying to sell me their version of the Big Gulp with an advertisement on the handle of every gas nozzle.

Almost everything around station that's outside is covered with a layer of crystal snow by now, and a lot of things are completely drifted in. Seeing something like this back home in winter might mean it hasn't been touched in months, but here, this kind of snowy covering forms on everything almost immediately, and it just has to be brushed or shoveled off every time it needs to be used. That's just part of the job.

Working outside in the dark and cold has taken some getting used to, but I've nearly perfected my methods for dealing with it. Hand and feet warmers, multiple layers of fleece covering my face, a head lamp, and my hood that extends out to stop the wind have become my regular work attire, and I hardly think twice when I put them all on just for my morning "commute." I no longer dread the times when I have to do a delivery outside, and I'm even glad to be one of the few people who has to go outside every day for my job. It's very disorienting to stay inside the station for an entire day, although many many people do it on a regular basis.

It's so cold today that the elevator and hoist that are normally our redundant systems for getting the week's supply of food up into the galley are both out of commission. That means that we chain-gang the boxes of food up the 3 flights of stairs by hand in -90F. Everybody comes out to help out with this process as part of our "house mouse," which is what we call our weekly chores that everyone has to do to keep the station clean and running. We are our own janitors and dishwashers in the winter, which I'm happy for because it makes the station seem more like our home.

the southern lights

yesterday the skies exploded at the south pole. Ken had just stopped by where I work, and we were both stepping outside--me to shovel out my door, and him to finish his maintenance rounds on station. we didn't have to look up to notice. the auroras were everywhere. for about ten minutes, the two of us might have been the only ones watching, in an understood moment that was both solemn and exhilarating. purples and greens skidded and unraveled across the sky, horizon to horizon. it was a showcase of undulating patches of wispy lightness, thin lines of bright ribbons, radiating rolling beams like an aurora sunshine, and unfolding ferns growing and retreating across the sky. completely mesmerized, we stood in the bitter cold, heads facing upwards, spinning around and around to see it all.

it was a while before we heard the announcement over the speakers. then, within minutes, we started seeing the brief white lights spilling from doors opening and then closing all over the station. people emerged with immediate exclamations, looking skyward. soon figures got closer and every one of us stood staring up in utter amazement--some laughing, some silent. work ceased on station.

i did not know there was anything in this world so spectacular and magical, yet so real. it was like a vision not quite realized when you close your eyes, but painted on top of an immense starry backdrop...a dream world exquisitely come to life...the language of a greater power, or of an inner self. i guess things like this are why it's possible to be so happy somewhere so remote and barren--singular showcases of nature's secrets.

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