Week 1: Training and More Training

I survived my first week on the ice! Well, it wasn’t really a full week, as we got here on Wednesday afternoon. At least while at McMurdo, we work 9 hour days/6 days a week, with Sunday being most people’s day off. Hence, while I felt that Sunday would be the best day to recap the week with a post. When we head out to the field, our work schedule will vary from day to day, but it will be 7 days a week.

Temperatures are chilly! But this northern girl will adjust fairly quickly. As of now, temperatures sit around 0-8F with wind chill as low as -30F, but we’ve had nearly clear skies all this week since we landed, so I’m interested to see how it is once a storm is expected to move in later this evening. I’m still figuring out my layering system and I know it will continue to evolve as I have more days outside than in, what the wind is doing, and if it’s snowing. This week, I’ve been fairly comfortable in a wool base layer (top and bottom), a fleece mid layer on top, hiking type pants on the bottom, two pairs of socks (wool toe sock liner and midweight wool Darn Toughs), and my OR shoes or Sorrel boots I found in Skua (Skua is a scavenger bird, so on station the Skua location is basically a free for all take one/leave one area), beanie, gloves, sunglasses with side shields, and my puffer coat. If it’s windy, I’ll add a facemask as well. If I’m layered well, I don’t need my full issued ECW gear, but I’m sure that will change once we are working outside.

First thing Thursday morning we had a new arrival brief and overview training that covered lodging, safety, medicial, fire safety, environmental considerations, waste, and light vechile training. From there, met up with our team and went to our workcenters while we are in McMurdo.

I’m incredibly excited to be over in the Crary Science and Engineer Center. There is a lot of amazing science that has been done and will continue to be worked on for this season. The view overlooks the Ross Sea and while it is currently frozen over, it will be opened up via our USCGC by the time we return from our field camp in February. Currently, on the frozen sea, we can see Wendell Seals and even a few Adelie Penguins. Across the way are several islands, Mt. Discovery, and the Royal Society Range.

Friday and Saturday we continued with more trainings on: field safety, Emergency Operation Center Overview, and outdoor safety. We additionally got our overview of how this year’s field camp is tentatively scheduled to open, our priorities for the season, and what science groups will be joining us. As of now, we will have about 17 personnel with both our traverse and field teams and then up to about 27 when the science groups come out. Significantly smaller than previous years when this camp has supported up to 80 personnel at a time, but with the science budget cut, we make do with less. Finally, we got issued out our sleep gear for our tents! We will have a shake down trip prior to heading out to the field, to ensure all is well.

Outside of my work time, there is always something to do! Dare I say more to do here than in my small town back home. While there is a recreational department, the folks and the community as a whole creates it’s own activities. If someone has a hobby and would like to share it with others, they post it up on the bulletin board. There is anything from bar trivia, game night, to “stitch and bitch, marital arts, running club, rugby, pool league, terrible move marathons, etc. There’s literally something for everyone.

There are a lot of various recreation spaces to decompress outside the work hours. Each of the dorms have lounges where there’s TV’s, phone, couches, etc. We have a weight gym, cardio gym, and a multi purpose gym where you can play sports or climb the rock wall. Some of the newer dormitories have saunas in them. There is a pretty well stocked cozy library, a coffee shop, and two BYOB bars that have pool tables, darts, etc. Additionally, with it being light 24/7, if the weather is nice, there are several hiking trails along the island that I hope to explore soon. There’s always food in the galley. There’s set meal times, but there’s always leftovers, cookies, ice cream, pop corn, and beverages. I do need to work on eating more myself, with the extreme cold and the physicality of the job, need calories to fuel. So it’s not from a lack a food!

I always had it in my mind that I didn’t want to go to McMurdo if I was going to go to Antarctica. I always read that it had a reputation of basically being like a college party town and that it wasn’t the “real” Antarctica since it’s just on Ross Island 😉 But I have been very surprised of all of the amazing people, science, and projects that are going on down here. I’m still incredibly excited to head on out to the field in one of the more remote places in Antarctica, but in the meantime I’m enjoying my time at McMurdo significantly more than I expected.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I look forward to the week ahead as we get one step closer to the field and I’ll be back next Sunday (my time!) for another recap.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or stuff specifically you would like to know about, please shoot me an email or leave a comment below.