antarc-tia

the big questions

2007-02-14T17:35:00.000-08:00

This place, this big dead place, is so alive. My appreciation for repetition is mimicked all around me. Subtle repetition, similarity again and again. I find satiating pleasure in the landscape. The white repeats itself over and over again- changing tones, minute by minutes, lit with different forces, reflecting and refracting glows, often fading into a featureless white expanse.

From my perch, the driver’s seat of a 44,000 lb Delta, VAST is the only appropriate word.

…………………

My everyday questions have expanded with the horizon. The biggest: “What does a sustainable life look like for me?” How can I be on a middle path, my veins pulsing with passions, and my body attentively stopped to notice the diesel fumes or to hear nothing, resting snow?

In the past this same question of sustainability meant: “Where should I buy my food? Where should I live? What type of job should I have? What kind of partner will share happiness with me? How can I decrease my environmental footprint?”

But now, this question of sustainability is holistically different. I want to develop a lifestyle that suits me personally. I want to build patterns that instigate spontaneity and surprise—that are built upon flexible poignant change.

…………………….

Today, in a low moment of weariness, I found myself thinking, “When I go back to the states I will have to tell people that I have done NOTHING with the past months, with this one long ongoing day of sunlight. Everyone goes to Antarctica!"

Hours later, I laughed at myself realizing that I AM TOASTY! I really have been isolated here. Of course everyone in Antarctica goes to Antarctica. No one I meet here doesn’t.

We are in this together.

My community of intellectual forklift operators, spiritual mechanics, hitchhiking utility technicians, and artistic cargo handlers—we are bound together here on this “harsh” continent; we choose to be without any other option.

……………………

“How can I open myself to life?” In Chicago, I was making artwork about attentiveness, but struggled to step away from my making to enjoy an unstructured, plan-free afternoon. Was I not living a contradiction? I seek to let my art practice be inter-dependent with my daily life. How can I balance my ambition with rest? My direction with wonderment? And most importantly, what experiences do I need to create (and open myself to) in order to teach my body the value of the middle path.

………………...

I ask life questions. I create things figure them out. Sometimes the making is an experience, a moment, a gesture. I guess I just like creating.

While I studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, I desired to mimic the artist Kimsooja. (www.Kimsooja.com) Upon a one on one meeting with her I decided I could not mimic her because my work, even my mimicry, needs to come from within myself. Last month, her work came through my body. Instead of becoming a needle weaving together a river of passing people, I became the silence of vastness. I was an embodied a photograph, living stillness.

I want to choose a state of being over achievement. Where does this locate my art in the world, within myself, in life?

still, cold blank video

2007-02-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

The ice shelf is an expanse of permanently frozen ocean; 40 meters of packed snow and ice floats on 120 meters of the ocean water. I rode a shuttle, which I regularly drive, out to ice shelf. The air was perfectly still that day. I chose a spot just off the snow road where a simple perfectly straight line divided the snow from the sky. When the van drove away, a silence unlike any silence found in inhabited places, hung in the cold afternoon air. I sat the camera down on the ground and stood unmoving next to it for 20 minutes, tape continually running. This cold sit is a physically trying experience, even on a moderate day in Antarctica.

Then with a few crunches I entered the framed landscape. The camera still rolling, I mindfully stopped. Dropped to my knees—again perfectly still, I rested there. For five minutes the camera records the silence.

Even to people here on the ice, they perceived the video to be a still photograph until I entered the frame.

………………

I miss, so much do I miss, the smells of “bio-matter”, and the rustle of wind dancing through leaves-the sounds trees, and cardinal’s song.

But no doubt, I will long for this vastness and silence once I deploy.

………………

The US Coast Guard Icebreaker has just broken a passageway, The Channel, through the ice shelf.

Last week I took a cruise down the channel.

A fuel tanker and a large vessel full of supplies will sail in next week. We prepare for ship offload, an event that our entire existence here depends on. Without a doubt the next few weeks will fly by.

(And it did. The Fuel Tanker, and the Nathanial B. Palmer research vessel both arrived while the Coast Guard Icebreaker circled in the bay for days!)

Soon our Air National Guard Chariot-a C17 bomber--will take me off the Ice.

Then, I will bask in natural darkness, with stars above.

iced

2007-02-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

At present, I sit quietly. I feel as though I am in a library; computers hum, dry recycled air blows against my face. Yet unlike a library at home, this space embodies a quiet I have not heard for months. Different from the absent silence out on the ice, this space is quiet socially. I am nearly alone. One man sits in the corner to my right, reading on a sofa in a carpeted kitchen cove. I assume he is a research assistant, also trying to get away.

I face a periodical-magazine display. The magazines are organized alphabetically. Beginning with Chemi de Erde: Geochemistry. Dozens line the shelves, propped at forty-five degree angles, tempting me. Their titles: BioProbes 45, EOS, Nature, Oceanus, Physics Today, Science. The last stack of magazines displays bold words:

Terra Antarctica.

It is 9:32 pm; 21:32.

………………

To my left, a long unbroken line of windows spans the room. The night sunlight, diffused by the vast thick clouds that nearly touch the surface of the bay, envelops my lap. The light remains so bright I consider wearing sunglasses. But, I always have a pair on; this one-hour without them is divine. A thin golden beam that edges the massive storm front above marks the white horizon. Hundreds of miles of frozen ocean span below, thick sea ice to the southwest, and a permanent snow shelf to the southeast. I mark the north.

A helicopter momentarily breaks through my mental rest, loudly humming into my hideaway.

I am still on the seventh continent, a shocking awaking, yet one that is my everyday. Monotony infused with un-forsaken awe.

maag; opaque quiet

2007-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

I showed my still video at MAAG: the McMurdo Alternative Art Gathering. I joined a team of dedicated folks, together we organized and curated the MAAG events early last month. The event was very different from my jewelry sales, my role as an artist was behind the scenes.
…………………….

As encompassing as the silence can be out on the sea ice or in the deep field, social silence here at McMurdo is non-existent. 1000 people live on station. 2 to 4 people share a room. I have three lovely roommates, who all work different shifts. The station runs 24 hours and day and each science support employee works 60 hours a week. In my room, there is not one hour of the day in which we can talk above a whisper: It is a 24-hour sleep space.

And gossip howls like the wind. Work and personal life is indistinguishable. All space is public, someone is always watching and thus everyone can know. Quiet is rare.

..........................

I also created an interactive space, titled:

opaque quiet.

In the mechanic equipment shop of the Science Support Center, our gallery, I constructed an 8’ L x 8’ W x 10’ H room with visqueen plastic. The space became a sanctuary of silence amidst the social sea of the MAAG opening. The entry had a rounded arch and was low so those who entered had to bow their heads. A small visqueen sign hung just above the entry. It read: “This is a silent space. If desired you are invited to communicate non-verbally”. A sign to the right read: “Please Remove your shoes”.

Inside two hanging globe lights hovered over two army cots. Each sat one inch from the floor. On a wood block at the far end of the room rested a stack of manila cards and ballpoint pens.

The silent sanctuary was a dedicated space observable to all but from within you were required not to react. Intimate words were shared without rumors whispering them into the night.

Upon exiting the sanctuary, a sign to the left sat above a wooden block and said: Please place your written conversations here.

…………………

To think, next year I want to come back.
To the silence, to the closter phobia, to the vastness,
To the ice.

penguins!!

2007-01-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Penguins make me sooo happy.

And today, I definitely wasn't the only happy one!

The weather here this austral summer has been really special. The channel, broken out by the icebreakers, has become a penguin highway. As the temperature increased and the air began to blow the quick ice in the bay out to the liquid ocean a group of over 100 ADELE PENGUINS arrived just off Hut Point near the ice pier!

Hundreds of people pilgrimaged out to Scott's Hut (Hut Point) to see all these cute squabbling fellows.

Oh, they are so animated and curious. Waddling about, investigating all of their admirers.

They came within 5 feet of me when I sat still. And squawked, picking up rocks and bringing them back to their colony. I sat at the point for hours and feel that I glowed with their carefree-ness for days.

I am one of the luckiest people alive.

icestock 2006

2007-01-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve day, McMurdo parties with the Annual Icestock, an all day outdoor music festival with a town wide chilli contest!

This year the event, of course, was a total hit! I went out to see Toothless Sean, a folksy rockstar. *grin*

We danced our hearts out, played games (including freesbe, and this old school hammer game, which of course I cannot name!).

And then, when the chill got to my bones I stopped by Sawbucks for a free coffee drink spiked with my choice of whiskey! I take after my grandpa because my do I like whiskey on a cold summer afternoon.

winter wonderland

2006-12-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

i recently became a trained leader for the mcmurdo station outing
club, and on christmas eve we took our first outing club trip! we
held the trip out at snow mound city, a site out on the sea ice shelf
located on 40 meters of snow, suspended above 80 meters of ocean.

in this first photo was taken from the top of the castle rock loop trail. this steep steep slop is called the "kiwi ski hill" and leads down to snow mound city. the little black spots out in the distance are two huts that mark our camping
spot. i took a piston bully (basically a mini tracked truck) with all
of our group gear and met the campers who came on foot. the weather
was absolutely beautiful, with afternoon temperatures in the mid 20's
and absolutely no wind.

snow mound city is also the training grounds for our "happy camper
school" so in many ways in resembles stumbling upon an ancient site
where primitive antarctians lived! ironically, most of the "primitive
sites" were built within the past month but with harsh winds the snow
block walls get blown away.

the four leaders, which included my
friends matt, erin, richard and i all spent the first hour taking
photos and playing in the snow. i have found the doing head stands in
the snow has to be one of my favorite snow activities.

after all the campers congregated, we checked in with mcmurdo's
firehouse via VMF radios to inform town that we were all accounted
for.

then, we made tea and settled in to our sleeping quarters. i
made a nest in a quinsy (basically a snow formed igloo) shaped like a
large turtle. with looming mt erebus in the background and petrified
snow letters that spelled out "hi mom" and "hi dad" (all of which are
illustrated in the second to last photo)..i thought this was the
perfect place to spend xmas eve and christmas morning!

no need to dream about a white wonderland... *grin* i was in one!

it was a fabulous and magical night. revealing the silence possible
in the world, *grin* and the vast expanse that we rarely experience.

heavy shop holiday party

2006-12-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

if there is one thing folks at mcmurdo know how to do, *grin* it's throw a party. the parties here are, without question, some of the best!

these lovely photos are from our holiday party held over at the VMF-vehicle maintanence facility; basically we partied down in our autoshop! leave it to ice folks to make a party in the most unexpected places!

our christmas choir sang for a few hours and then the party turned to swing dancing! even the most terrible dancers hit the floor-some quite literally.

each department was required to build chirstmas decorations. the most impressive was the leg lamp from "the christmas story". unfortunately, i forgot to take a photo.

however, i did get some shots with santa on the antarctic skidoo! i am accompanied by my roommates: elizabeth and krista, and santa is an electrician!

my department, ATO-antarctic terminal operations-all posed for a photo too! most of the shuttlies are missing, but these are many of the faces i see every day!

stellar axis

2006-12-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

on the solstice i participated in the first ever conceptual art performance piece to be funded by the NSF.

created by Lita Albequerque, an artist based out of LA, this work maps the constellations locatated above this particular location, nearly at the bottom of the earth.

lita worked with an astronomer and a GPS cordinating system to plot 99 fiberglass cobalt blue balls on the sea ice so that they mirror the brightest 99 stars in the southern hemisphere. lita was interested in visually representing the light emitted from these stars in on the longest and brightest day of the year.

then, i drove IVAN the Terra Bus, out to her sight with 58 people. together, coordinated with helocopter pilots and a cinematographer, we walked to create a moving spiral within these ploted stars.

here at mcmurdo, we commonly refered to lita's project as "the blue balls", which made me one of the blue ball handlers.

happy camper

2006-12-08T00:11:00.000-08:00

last night i spent my first evening sleeping on snow in snow.
i went to happy camper!

happy camper is an over night school that teaches the basic in skills needed to survive out during harsh polar storms.

we learned how to read the weather, put up scott tents, which are designed based on the traditional tents used by first antarctic explorers...

create strudy anchors for glacier/mountaineering tents,

and build a cozy little camp compound (a phrase. i ironically adapted from africa). i most enjoyed building the wind walls for our compound. using hand saws, we cut 4 feet down into the packed snow and pulled up perfectly square blocks.

then, with banana sleds, we transported the blocks to build a four foot wall that "blocked the harsh southernly winds that were starting to make it's way to our camp".

*grin* really, the night was calm and the storm slow--we just pretended for the sake of practice that we had harsh winds. my friend matt (one of the co-instructors) even went so far as to act like the wind, picking up things that we carelessly set down and stealing them for the night.

lastly, we learned how to build quinzy's: basically bonified snow forts. the experience was collaborative...and using the right techniques they become very strong!! and, to my surprize, they were warm. i slept all night without a peep.

the most noteworthy skill i learned in happy camper is to be physically proactive. to anticipate my bodily needs.

in order to prevent hypothermia, all people in the field have to consider their physical needs first and always think ahead. personally, i think most acedemic's are physically hypothermic. *laughter* but that is another story!

somehow all of this seems crucial to my art. that is beautiful and serene.

thanksgivings

2006-11-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

after sharing my dozens of antarctic landscapes, i thought it was time to show you the mcmurdo from the inside.

on thanksgiving day, which we celebrated on saturday, november 25, my co-workers and i all dressed up in our nicest clothes ate a huge thanksgiving feast in the galley. it's a phenominon not to see folks in carharts. i think we look pretty snazzy!

later that evening, my supervisor, kris (the front and center in the previous photo) threw me a wee little birthday party gathering. here are a bunch of us drinking mojito's (ghetto style).

our partying then spread over to the coffee house where we watched live folk music and drank wine. a spendid night for all in company!

be-celebration

2006-11-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

my birthday was one of my best days yet!!

(although i have an intuitive feeling that many more will come!)

our shuttles crew scheduled a trip out to CAPE EVANS, one of the three original antarctic explorer huts.

a group of 17 went, all whom i love dearly and were in jovial spirits. above is a group shot we took out at the hut in front of the barnes glacier.

below, a small group loaded into the delta for our three hour drive! look at our smiles, giddy as can be.

our giddyness got giddyer. we saw our first adele penguin waddling accross the barren expanse. we stopped to take photos, curiously it waddled our way to check us out. penguins are such peculiur fellows!

when we finally arrived at the hut, we stripped down from our warm coats to enjoy the sunshine.

viewing the interior of the hut was a truely a amazing experience.

cape evans is the largest (15'x 8') of the first antarctic explorer cabins. built in 1910, the nearly 100 year old hut is now a historic site restored to it's orignal state. i loved the kitchen table, a warm gathering space in this harsh and desolate environment.

to the right of the kitchen table, bottles of preserved food line the walls.
the heinz ketchup bottle being the most stunning! it's hard to believe that it's nearly 100 years old.

cape evans was built in tera nova bay during british explorer, robert falcon scott's, second expedition to antarctica. at one point 25 men slept here, including shackleton. this is shackleton's bed.

in addition to thier rations, the explores subsisted on blubber from seals, and often ate penguins. this dead peguin still remains, totally frozen (NOT stuffed).

one of my most poinant memories is the pungent smell of these rooms. the room below contains piles and piles of seal blubber, gooy, frozen and seeping.

while i walked around inside i heard giggling and screams from the snow outside. play ensued!! besides tacking each other, and snow shovel rides, we also made snow angels and human pyramids!

i particularly enjoyed doing cartwheels with my 10 lb bunny boots out in front of the barnes glacier!

and of course, on the way home, our vehicle got SOOO stuck--almost 15 times!. the warm weather melted the snow, making driving in our 44,ooo lb delta nearly impossible. with shovels, and large wooden boards we dug out the delta again and again.

marty and andrea, remedied our spirts (which were actually still jovial), and late night--midnight--weariness. our emergency survial bags were pulled open to create a moveable water boiling station that could follow the delta as proceeded from stuck to more stuck. once the water boiled, we all enjoyed hot coco made with melted ocean ice!

after hours of digging we got home just before 2am, still sunny and shinning outside with thanksgiving day to look forward to.

sea ice school

2006-11-20T00:26:00.000-08:00

here at mcmurdo, FSTOP--the field safety training program-- offers a number of courses teaching antarctic survival skills. across station, fingi's (aka: fucking new guys or first seasoners) cherish these trips; they are an opportunity to really see the "antarctic" that every one home in the states imagine!

earlier this month, i was lucky enough to go out to sea ice school on a warm gorgeous day.

after a half day of in classroom, our group ventured 2 hours across the sea ice to the hutten cliff field camp, where our on site training took place. on the way we stopped for a needed pee break. here is a photo of my co-worker, marty (a fellow minnesotan), and i standing in front of the looming mt. erebus.

our training site was located just at the base of the mount erebus glacier tongue. sea ice cracks are here pretty easily identified from the surface but in order to truly see how deep they are we cleared them of snow. (don't be deceived by the photo below, we actually used shovels--marty was just prodding to make sure solid ice lie below the snow.)

cracks in the sea ice literally look like stair steps when they are dug out. once we reach the bottom stair we then use motorized drills to determine the ice thickness. the detachable drill bits each measure 1 meter; we link them together so that in total they measure over 10 meters! knowing the depth of the ice helps us determine which vehicles can be driven across the cracks. although the sea ice is five meters thick in this location, the crack was too wide for even the lightest vehicle to cross.

our instructors also taught us a variety of ways to anchor tents in the ice; ideally even the fiercest storms will not be able to pull well anchored tents.

at the day's end we pulled our haggland (the orange vehicle in this photo) up to hutten cliff camp where the scientists gave us an overview of their wedel seal research.

our timing was magical. this particular location is special because the seals here have no prey creating a perfect birthing spot. nearly forty female seals and their day old pups dotted the camps perimeter...and we got soo close.

a fabulous day in the field!!

emperors on the runway

2006-11-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a rare and cherished event occured here on station. Six emperor penguins meandered accross the sea ice, straight into Ice (Runway) Town, and then out onto McMurdo's Ice Runway.

Unfortunately, I was back at our office in McMurdo. By the time I arrived out at "the strip" they looked like little waddling specks on the horizon.

However, some of my fellow co-workers and the firefighters who had to shoo them off the runway ramp got beautiful photographs that were posted on our common computer drive. I thought they were so beatiful I had to share.

Penguins have been appearing on station quite a lot this season. I have hopes that I'll get to see one (or a few) some day soon!

silversmithing

2006-11-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

Recreational activities on station are in abundance! And by abundance, I literally mean excessive abundance. There is no possible way to participate in all of the activities, and to make choices more difficult they are all FREE.

Activities include: Salsa lessons, Swing dance classes, Yoga, Tai Chi, Guts and Butts (aerobics), Indian Dance, Introduction to Creative Writing, Dodge ball, Volleyball, Basketball, Kum Do (Sword Fighting), Tap Dance, Dart Tournaments, Bowling, Pottery instruction, Craft Room (Sewing instruction), Stitch and Bitch, Weekly Science Lectures, movie showings, film festivals, Outdoor Recreation Trips (cross country skiing and hiking treks), Climbing Gym hours, just to name a few.

I participate in many of these activities, but my main weekly dedication (in addition to the gym and outdoor treks) is silversmithing class.

The class is offered once (or twice) a week for 5 consecutive weeks, and is taught by a skilled and patient teacher named Harry Fishel. Most of the jewelry work I do at home is cold forming; this class has provided access to torches and dremel tools. I am attempting to make handmade paper rings, and more elaborate necklace and bracelet designs.

I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Coincidentally, I met a fellow Hempstead High School graduate in my class! Jeff, the skilled photographer who took all of these photos, is also from DUBUQUE, Iowa.

vastness

2006-11-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

The Sunday following Halloween is normally a sore day for folks on station, but despite the previous evening's debauchery I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and go for a full on Antarctic hike with two of my roommates, Krista and Elizabeth, and our friend Jude!

Although the afternoon was beautifully sunny, the temperature still was just barely above zero degrees, and the wind was harsh. We each layered on what felt like everything we owned (3 pairs of socks, 4 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and full wind protecting gear for our face and hands) and set off across a desert of ice and volcanic stone heading on a 7-mile hike to Castle Rock.

For the first time, I really felt the harsh isolation associated with this wondrous place!

Because the weather here changes so rapidly and hidden crevasses dot the seemingly flat landscape, we are required strictly follow flagged paths, and checkout a hand held radio from the fire department. Two little red huts are strategically located along this route as havens away from the wind. At the first red bubble, Apple, we stopped to eat and had a pee break. The wind sure is harsh on one's barren bottom!

In addition to the cold, wearing bunny boots or FDX boots makes walking feel as though you are lifting 15 lb weights with every step. Looking out toward Castle Rock (the jutting black mountain in the photo above) with white stretching on forever it seemed as if we walked for hours yet hardly made any ground. The vastness is profound. Silence stretches out in all directions and the wind drowns out our words.

When we finally stopped at the base of the rock, Krista's stunning humor had us rolling around on the snow. Here is one of our hot modeling photos. Doesn't Krista look like a sexy catch in all that ECW gear!

After our laughs, we ventured up a steep slope to the base of the rock. The wind whipped around the peak, making photo taking an extreme adventure; the view of the frozen ocean spreading out in all directions was phenomenal.

Although you can't see an inch of my face, here I am standing on the peak!

We also managed to keep the camera from blowing over for long enough to take a timed group photo!

And then we headed on our long hike home.

halloween debauchery

2006-10-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

Halloween.

i have been told that halloween here on the ice is the biggest party of the year, and i do not find that hard to believe.

the event is held at the "big gym" on the far end of station. our late night walk there turned into an icy version of the wizard of oz. above is a shot of my friends marty and kevin dressed as a fork and an elf. from a distance they looked the perfect tin man and scarecrow.

all in all i found the experience similar to macalester's qu dances in college...but this event differs in that most of the costumes are either shipped down just for the party or are constructed from free items left in our skua (a free goods exchange here on station) and things found in the trash. the entire event is an extreme exercise in creativity.

my friend geniveve dressed as a lounge lizard and used fake wound paint from the fire department to transform her skin green. she won scariest costume (her eyes glowed in the dark!) micheal dressed as our friend marty's floor, and andrea was betty flinestone.

overall best costume went to two sisters (who look practically identical in this photo) dressed as Siamese twins!

these are some more of my co-workers! kris, my supervisor is the the pirate farthest to the left. next to her stands andrea again, jay, and scott (the m and m's!)

unfortunately i forgot to take a photo of my costume and the only shot my roommate krista and i could come up with was this silly photo of she and i--both attempting to look awkward. i think we succeeded. krista was pippy longstocking, and i dressed up as a color blind version of the comic book character, poison ivy. i was told that i failed to look evil!

throughout the night we popped our head out the back door to get some air. here is the bayside view from where we stood on the helo pad! it was a fabulous night.

sealing

2006-10-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my co-worker, Shuttle Bill, and I took a Delta out to do a vehicle maintenance check. On the way, we decided to be tourists!

Because none of us are native here, we all seem to carry our cameras with us everywhere, especially us shuttlies. In this instance it paid off.

What a cutie, aye! (S)He even poked her head up for us!

And this last photo is one of the crack out at the "transition", which is the point where the sea ice meets the land ice. Fissures form when the tide goes out and comes back in. Today the crack looks pretty small, but a few days ago this baby was hurtin' if you drove over it too fast!

ice town

2006-10-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

Being a shuttle driver here in Antarctica is far different than I envisioned shuttle driving from the states. This difference includes more than the Delta's and IVAN.

Technically speaking I am a Vehicle Operator for the ATO, the Antarctic Terminal Operations. Our main duty is to transport passengers and crew to and from airplanes (C17's, Herc's-C130's, the Basler-C30, little Twin Otters, and helicopters). I spend heaps of time driving to and from the runway.

Currently, the ICE RUNWAY is McMurdo's active airplane runway. Constructed on just over 6 meters of ice (!!), it is only 1.5 miles from station and viewable from the edge of McMurdo. Due to it's quick melting rate in the summer, we'll switch out to Williams Field Runway (which I have mentioned in earlier postings, aka: Willy Field) in December and then at the end of the summer and on through next Winfly we fly off a runway called Pegasus. Below is a photo I took of the ICE RUNWAY from the edge of the McMurdo bay late one cloudy evening around 2AM.

While working I spend hours and hours sitting in ICE TOWN, a little village of fish huts located out next to the runway ramp. Every 30 minutes, at the top and bottom of the hour, we run a shuttle to and from Ice Town; the air national guard, airplane mechanics, air traffic control tower workers, dining room attendants, and cargo personnel all use our shuttles...which means that I get to meet heaps and heaps of people (especially pilots), and have lots of down time (20 minutes every run) while I wait for my next departure.

The following photos are all taken from the shuttle stop just out side the galley. Just like back in Iowa, I spend as much time looking at the sky as I do looking at the landscape.

I also have a perfect view of the pluming, Mt. Erebus (the white mountain to the left!)

And on my way back into town, I always take note to admire the red flag road markers flapping in the wind. On still days they rest, silent and on blustery days like this one the flap wildly in the wind reminding me to turn!

the kiwi's: scott base

2006-10-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

The Kiwis: Scott Base

This evening after work a group of my coworkers and I took our own shuttle (a definite perk of my job) on a little trip over to New Zealand's station: SCOTT BASE.

Scott Base is the kiwi's only base here in Antarctica; located a couple of miles from Mcmurdo, only about 70 people live here. For logistical reasons the 1,000 American's can only visit the base if they are invited or to check out the kiwi store (which has beautiful postcards, and good chocolate!!)

As shuttle drivers, we drive past Scott Base nearly every day on our way out to the William's Field runway. In order to get there you have to climb over the SCOTT BASE HILL. This is considered one of the most dangerous places for vehicles, particularly due to snow. Thus, we are required to always make a full stop at the Scott Base sign in order to check incoming traffic: bulldozers, caterpillars carrying fish huts, IVAN.

Today at our stop we pulled the van ahead a bit to take touristy photos. The sky was beautiful! My Scott Base photo was taken peering down the hill to the right (where Michael is looking in the above photo).

This image is a shot of the down slope of Scott Base Hill. It doesn't look all that steep but straight ahead of that curve is a 100-foot slopping cliff. Off in the distance, just right of the hill, you can see the ice shelf pressure ridges. These ridges are developed when the tides under the frozen sea shelf push the ice into the Antarctic shore causing huge rolls and eventually breaks in the sea ice. We often spot seals here.

Once at the bottom of the hill, we get a clear view of the smoking volcano, Mt. Erebus. Mt. Erebus is visible from almost everywhere on station and stands (I believe) 14,000 feet.

This last shot is a view across the bay. Beautiful aye?

ivan

2006-10-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

this week at work, i got trained to drive IVAN the TERRA BUS!

*grin* this bus is HUGE, but i must admit ivan is one of my favorite vehicles to drive. ivan intimidating, a real challenge, but you all know how i love challenges.

ivan is one of 7 terra buses in the world, the other six are in greenland. in total he weighs 67,000 lbs and the wheels stand nearly 5' 6'' off the ground. he is an all terrain vehicle built specifically for artic/antarctic climates, slow travel. he has 6 gears, and a gas tank that hold 80 gallons of diesel. we use about 1/3 a tank of gas every time we drive over the scott base hill out to willy field. a gas guzler if i have ever seen one. *grin*

around here we joke that folks back in the states are going to start ordering delta's and terra buses to transport their kids to school because hummers are no longer big enough!

i hear that we can hook up our ipod to the inside stereo system. *grin* which is a super good thing because this beast moves slow!!

my sunshine

2006-10-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

this posting is dedicated to my grandpa, louie kramer.

born on july 24, 1907, and married to my grandma coletta for 67 years before she passed away.

last friday (october 17th) my grandpa suddenly got very sick. when i left him just two weeks ago, i thought he would live forever. at 99, he still had spice, a memory that could run circles around many of his grandkids (and even his 50 great grandkids), and vigor for life! On his 99th birthday (last July) he descriptively talked about his wild younger days, and despite his continual warning that he could die at any minute (which he has been saying since he turned 80), he also joked that he would probably live until 105. We always sang with my grandpa. He loved to sing; he yodeled, and recalled german songs from his childhood. tara and I sang him bluegrass, old folk tunes, and traditional ghanan songs.

i loved my grandpa dearly.

my grandpa just passed a way two days ago, an especially difficult experience from so far away. along with distance, making phone calls from here is really tough; we only have 40 phone lines for 1000 people. in addition, i have found it nearly impossible to find even minutes to be alone-a difficult state to deal with death. it has been an incredible struggle for me.

but, with that said, i have had some heros on my side. my friends here (and at home) have really gone out of their way to be supportive, offering me comforting words, opening the privacy of their rooms when their roommates are at work, bringing me dinner so i don't have to go to the galley and eat with hundreds of people, and covering my shifts at work so i can call home.

oh and my family, my family has also been amazing! my dad managed to call me here, in person, just moments after grandpa died (a miracle), and kept me informed so i felt i was there. my brother, tim, who is also in antarctica (palmer station) identified with my circumstances; he suggested places to find privacy, and brought great perspective both to our now, and to grandpa’s life. my sister, tara, represented both tim and i while we are away-singing to grandpa on his deathbed and at his funeral. if only we could have been with her. and my mom, she was there, supportive as always.

all in all, i am feeling much better now. i listened to music, sang for my gramps in our little greenhouse here, and sent some photos home for the funeral. i feel lucky to have had an amazing grandpa that really choose to live all the way up until the last hour, and he always had such good humor. what a standard i have to live up too.

the night before night before grandpa died, around 10:30pm, i took this photo from just above the ross ice shelf bay. it was about 10:30 at night. normally, the sun here just circles in the sky always appearing as mid-day, but that night the clouds created the closest experience to a sunset that i have yet seen. i was at the coffee house and decided to walk (in the freakish cold) a half a block to the nearest open shot of the sea ice...it just happened to be the chapel (farthest south in the world) cozied admist warm light and large glistening snow drifts.

the bright night life.

2006-10-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

here is an introduction to the wild mcmurdo night life.

on friday we went to our big department ato (antarctic terminal operations) party. from left to right: moi, andrea, micheal, and massie...our dangerous shuttle quartet.

after the ato shin dig we went to a huge 70's party at our bar, gallagers.

genieve and i!!

some wine has been drunk which is evident. *laughter* although, i am really not as drunk i look. we couldn't get the photographer to figure out how to use my camera!

the crew.

shuttlie

2006-10-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

so, life here has begun full force.

all and all, i am slowly beginning to feel settled, but to my suprise everyday is full and very busy (relatively low stress but busy!). i work a lot. and by a lot, i mean A LOT. my schedule thus far has been monday through saturday 7:30 to 17:30 (we run on military time here); in total i work 60 hours a week. if you add on a 30 minute breakfast in the galley (dining hall) before work and about an 1 1/2 after work, that gets my day finished around 7...i then email for an hour, chat with folks in the hall, maybe go to the gym (my new FAVORITE WARM activity), the store, or the coffee house...and then to bed. it's taking some adjustment, especially having just come from being self employed, on my own schedule, for the past few months. and this week i started my 6:30am shift...which is rough. i don't like going to bed, but without it 5:30 am is EARLY --even when it's always sunlight! the two photos above are shots taken at 10pm from the door just outside the shuttles office.

with all of that said, i totally love my job-now that training is coming to an end i am finding the environment pretty chill, and the scenery continually stays beautiful.

today i took a solo drive in one of our big red deltas out to willy field to drop of happy campers. williams field, our summer airplane runway, is built on the frozen ocean about 14 miles from station. our ice/happy camper school and two science projects are based off willy road. ice school, which i'll be doing in a month or so, is a overnight camping excursion to learn the basics of surviving antarctic storms. the two science projects, the Antarctic Geological Drilling Project called ANDRILL, and the Long Duration Balloon (LDB) Project are phenominal. scientists collect data on the origins of the universe, information on the growing ozone hole, data early geological formations of the world, and photographic images of cosmic activity.

these huge delta's just feel like monsters. the tires literally stands 5'4'' tall (just two inches shorter than me.) and climbing up onto them in all my gear is a bear!! especially when doing our daily engine checks.

the drive down willy road this time of the year illuminates antarctica's vastness. today the sky was this stunning dusty grey blue color that made the snow sink into my chest. it was so pleasant.

this is an image of willy road from a few days ago. the day to day changes are subtle but stunning!
i've started shooting video footage as well, i can see a new video project manifesting!!!!

white

2006-10-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

not only was today my first sighting of antarctica, but i also took my first step on the 7th continent!

i am here! yep, none of us on the plane thought it would happen, but after circling mcmurdo a few times. descending, ascending, descending, ascending...we finally took a sharp plunge and hit the ground running.

this place is crazy! within my first few minutes here i went thorough about one thousand emotions...and one was that i really didn't think i was all that nuts until i stepped off the plane. and then, wham. a smile as big as the vast stretches of white spread across my face. it was across my lips, and in my eyes. oh it is utterly beautiful, here. mcmurdo had just gotten fresh snow fall, and a wind storm had made the sky white, but the sun still shown bright. oh, i hadn't expected such striking awe! rather thought i would see soot and grim. i am sure that will come in time but for now, i just awe when i look out the door to my building and see ob hill and mount erebus. the beauty is stunning. and the light. oh, how bright the air and sky, the world is when there is nothing to absorb the rays. i am struck with shock and awe. and 24 hours of bright rays. wow!

but with equal shock, i have just entered back into undergrad dorm life. whew. this i am not really ready for! but regardless, here i am...with three roommates, eating dorm food, and living in the epitome of a first year college dorm room with no windows (which i suppose is good because it is light out 24 hours a day). the furniture is all covered in fo' veneer that is chipped off on the edges. i'm on a top bunk that squeaks when i move. when i walked in the room at first i was overcome with a depression that felt like i had just walked into an all guy's college house, which was soon to be called home. but, of course, now, i have already cozied the place up. (i can't believe two people lived in that room for a week!) i now have christmas lights circling my head....and a book shelf to put my things on. oH, and i have lots of green things. fake plants, and a green hand dyed wall hanging. i love them. tim knew exactly what to tell me to bring (i wonder why). i now am growing to love my room...and i think that my new roommates will appreciate this decorating power too.

boomerang

2006-10-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

hi oh. hi.

i bet you all thought i would be writing you from the dear ol' chilly land of white.... and so did i. *grin* but rather, another tale has been added to my adventure. but how i love these evolving events!

so as planned, all of us here awoke at 0dark30 (actually 4:30am which isn't all that bad) and brought ourselves out to the international antarctic center where the excitement begins. we began to layer on our 35 lbs of ecw (extremely cold weather) gear. (people here LOVE acronyms!). getting onto the cargo plane is required to have enough clothes on their person so that they are prepared if we were to crash or have an emergency landing.

we then checked ourselves into us air force security...and i literally mean ourselves. we first loaded our check luggage onto a scale and once they authorized it, then we-our person with all of our gear and our carry on orange luggage bag had to step on the scale. I carried 64lb more than my body weight, which is over half my body weight!!

just imagine pulling up to a huge grey u.s. air force plane (like the ones in the news flying to iraq), wearing moon boots, big red parkas, and carrying over half your body weight. the doors were lowered and one by one we got on. a pallet of seats were spread into the center of the cargo space and strapped down. seats lined the walls on both sides and large pallets of cargo were strapped into the back of the plane. above us was the metal body of the plane covered in thousands and thousands of wires. all the explosive equipment was labeled. each of us were handed one set of earplugs to help block the loud roar of the engine.

i was going to antarctica.
or so i thought.

about three hours into our 6 hour flight, the captain got on the loudspeaker. this was the first word we heard from our military flight attendant. "we are currently two hours from mcmurdo station. the winds there have been blowing strong all morning. we had hopes that they would clear, but we haven't found a pocket. so, we are turning the plane around. our estimated time of arrive in christchurch is 3 hours and 20 minutes. that is 3:30." the plane roar continued, then took a drastic shift.

we got BOOMERANGed!

so, here i am now, sitting in christchurch with another $200 dollars in my pocket (minus the turkish kabobs, and fantabulous dessert from a restaurant called 'strawberry fair'). we hear the runways out on the ice are pretty bad, so we are watching for continued plane delays....and more money in our pockets. nothing like working in extreme climates-not that i have done it yet! *grin* but i am being paid as though i am!

i'll keep all of you posted. and you can think of me tomorrow because i may be pulling into all that ecw gear again!

with love,
tia

a lucious green chill

2006-10-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

this morning (after a total of 18 hours on a plane and 9 hours waiting in airports) we arrived here in christchurch, nz.--the most beautiful place in the world. geez, it really is like a magically fairy wonderland here! from the sky, i could watch the snow capped mountains melt into rolling green pastures, and gently fade on to white sand beaches; ocean drift off into the distance.

all in all, the experience feels magical and i am reminded of how comfortable i am engaged in travel. life is so new; the sky stretches on forever, daffodils are blooming next to the dandelions and palm trees. the sun looms in the northern sky. i lived only 3 hours of october 7th; another phenomenon that blows my mind.

it is now sunday here. the streets were quiet, cozy, and calm. kiwi's know how to take days off. life feels so slow that i have found myself standing next to my friend genieve, staring at the ducks on the pond in awe. this place, these moments are so dramatically different from the life i thought i would have a year ago. the hustle and bustle of chicago, that invigorates me sooo, seems like a stressful fast paced moment in the speck of the universe of what can be. yet a dear speck. how large the universe is. and we have so many possibilities. that is the wildest part!

i walked through the botanical gardens today. the air chilled me as fall does back home...only here the chill signifies the end of the winter rather than the beginning. the bright autumn leaves that mesmerized me last weekend in minneapolis are now transformed into yellow and pink blossoms. poppies line the streets, and some trees have not yet budded. the air smells earthy here. even the birds are relaxed. and the earth moves on into summer. summer is on my way. mine will just a mighty cold one.

this afternoon we also took a gondola up to the ridge that overlooks christchurch in one direction and little artsy town called littleton in the other. here is a view of littleton.

tomorrow, i'll be issued my cold weather gear at the cdc (clothing distribution center). i hear the weather in mcmurdo has cleared and our flight is to fly as scheduled. i am up for it! *grin* and as ready as you can be to fly to a desolate place that is -15 degrees with 24 hours of sunlight! and i am continuously told that i have a great job! so, with all the lovely, awesome, talented, creative, handy, and adventuresome, people i have met, an interesting job, and a completely wildly new life...i think i am bound to have a good time. and my commitment to learning how to live a more balanced life gets stronger by the day. i am excited to see where my new commitment takes me.

here is a wee snapshot of just a few of the fabulous folks i'll be working with everyday. together we are 5, of the 20 people on the shuttles crew. from left to right: dave massie (massie), andrea, me, marty, and micheal.

my love to all of you.
ta ta until soo soon.

my chicago deployment

2006-10-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

after a series of surprising plane cancellations my mom ended up driving me from dubuque to chicago to catch my first antarctica deployment flight to denver.

here are the two photos she took just before my whisking dash through the chicago airport: jumping through two hour lines in 15 minutes, getting my bags searched by security (twice) and running down the terminal to just barely make onto the plane.

but these photos don't tell that story, rather they just illustrate the glow of travel!

on my icy way

2006-10-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

so, i am finally on my way!

whew. the lengthened goodbyes have passed (which was oh so hard),
and now i have begun my journey to the ice!

so, my new snail mail mcmurdo address is as follows:

tia ann kramer
mcmurdo station, RPSC
PSC 469 Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035.

shipping costs the SAME as it does to ship within the continental
united states, but be sure to send anything via AIR MAIL.
letters, or flat rate mail takes 3 weeks to 1 month and packages to
take up to 2 months. if you are up for it, i would LOVE to get mail of any kind (and do to my job, i may actually have time to respond!!) you can send most anything at all, well, except for Styrofoam peanuts (they are outlawed in antarctica-nothing biodegrades there, especially those little willies!) and perishables. but besides that, if
you are up for dropping something in the mail i would love to receive
it! and i hear that tea, tasty food treats, and knitting yarn are
hot commodities. *grin*

i also attached some photos. the first is of mcmurdo
station, which is located just off the ross ice shelf (look on the
new zealand side of antarctica). the second is an image mcmurdo
from a satellite. the station is on the little rock out cropping to the right and if you blow the image up to desktop size you should also see a T just below the rock outcropping that is the airplane ice runway.

i'll be driving these big doozies called delta's (along with a variety of other trucks) from the runway to the station on the wee little road that attaches the two. the delta is featured below.

crazy-o.