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March 29, 2000 |
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Like all visitors to the South Pole, Chuck
McParland's first scheduled stop upon arriving in Christchurch after more
than five days en route was a visit to the CDC. "I told the cabbie I
was kind of surprised that New Zealand needed its own Center for Disease
Control. Turns out CDC stands for 'Clothing Distribution Center.'"
The National Science Foundation makes sure everyone who goes to the pole dresses warmly by issuing thick long johns, heavy down parka, snow pants, goggles, boots, liners, socks, cap, and up to a dozen pairs of gloves. McParland left the place with two stuffed duffle bags, one full of clothes he had to wear on the flight. The trip from Christchurch involves two legs, the first a noisy eight-hour flight to McMurdo Sound in an Air Force Reserve C-130 cargo jet chock full of equipment and supplies, followed the next day by a three-hour trip to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. On the shorter second leg, even though the round trip requires less than half the C-130's fuel capacity, its tanks are filled to the brim. After the ski-equipped jet slithers to a stop, the excess fuel is off-loaded at the station, where the kerosene-like JP-8 is used to run everything from the kitchen stove to space heaters to AMANDA's hot-water drills. The only thing that doesn't need imported energy is the deep freeze -- crates of frozen food are simply left outside the heated areas under the dome.
Bob Stokstad discovered that an ancillary use for the heated drilling water is in the open-air holding tanks used as hot tubs by South Pole denizens who like to freeze from the chin up while poaching from the neck down. Since most work and private time is spent inside temporary Quonset-hut-shaped padded tents known as Jamesways or in other cramped spaces, outdoor diversions are prized. Stokstad reports that one popular event is the Race Around the World. "It's three times around the pole. To win a T-shirt all you have to do is finish -- on foot, skis, bicycles, sleds, whatever." The race and the millennium New Year's Party that allowed participants to celebrate 24 midnights in a row were welcome breaks in a schedule that otherwise involved long hours of work under extreme conditions. Remoteness is a fact of life, says Chuck McParland, when even Internet access, via satellite, is limited to a few hours a day. "You're really at the end of a long, thin string. Any connection to the outside world requires a big effort."
A GROUP PHOTO OF THE WOMEN ON THE OCCASION OF NEW YEAR'S EVE AT THE AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATIONAdditional information: |
