The cold earth sleeps below, above the cold sky shines

Scott Base with the Ross Ice Shelf behind.  The bright white line is a pressure ridge on the ice extending from White Island to Ross Island Current conditions:  Temp -18ºF (-47ºF with wind chill), light snow.  Population: 298 Today, I got my Antarctica driver's license.  The process was simple, though driving is not.  First, I had to sit through a lecture while we were in New Zealand.  Then, today, Shawn took me out for a driving test.   Because it's so cold, windy and icy here, all vehicles are plugged into heaters with at least one chock under the wheels.  After you start the engine and before you move, you go through an extensive check list including: checking all tires and fluids, setting the hand radio, telling the fire department your destination and time you will be back, ensuring all passengers are in seatbelts, etc.   The speed limit is 15 MPH but only 5 MPH in McMurdo Station itself.  If you want ...

Current conditions:  Con 3, Temp -8F (-29F with wind chill), overcast.  Population: 298 When we first agreed to go to Antarctica a few years ago, we presumed the term would run from mid-October to the beginning of February, i.e., the summer season.  We were both taken by surprise when, early in 2019, we learned that we were expected to be here for two seasons: Winfly (mid-August through mid-October) and summer.  The difference of two months may seem trivial over a lifetime, but when you have full-time jobs, grants and classes, elderly parents, a new grandchild as well as three others growing so quickly, and two kids going back to college, those months weigh heavily.  With the help of many people at home and at work, we managed the early departure, though, and now I feel fortunate to have arrived as early as we did.  I just wish we could have gotten here on the scheduled arrival date in August rather suffering the Christchurch delays until September...

Oscar Wisting at the South Pole and at Base Camp Current conditions:  Con 3, Temp -17ºF (wind chill out of range), partly cloudy.  Population: 277 In 1911, on their final push towards the South Pole ( see video here ), one of the five members of the Amundsen team, the Norwegian, Oscar Wisting,  developed a toothache.  Ironically, he was the team member with dental training, and since, he wrote later, "it was a little far to the nearest dentist, I asked [Amundsen] if he would take care of the beast. He instantly declared himself willing, and our forceps were got out. On account of the cold, it first had to be warmed over the Primus. Then I knelt in my sleeping bag, and he sat over me in his, and pulled as hard as he could. After a tremendous fuss the operation -- eventually -- succeeded, and with that all my troubles were over." We, too, are a little far from the nearest dentist but are not so fortunate with our dental results.  After the "successful" bo...