January 11, 2003

I’m off for some rest and relaxation

   It’s as busy as ever. The new station is progressing well. Scientists are fine-tuning and performing routine maintenance on their telescopes in preparation for winter.

   Christmas was pleasant. We had the South Pole tradition of Beef Wellington, as well as Alaskan king crab legs. The cooks did a splendid job and, as usual, the community chipped in to help with wine serving and clean-up. The decorations were beautiful and comfortably familiar. The spirit wasn’t quite like home, for some of us have families that we miss and, of course, it is always fun to watch the children spring about in excitement when they see what Santa has left them.

   On Christmas day, most of us ran in the “Race Around the World.” Two tracks were laid out, one for pedestrians, and the other for vehicles. The tracks were approximately a half mile in circumference. It was a two-mile race, and the goal was to complete the race using any form of transportation. There were snowmobiles pulling sleds, bulldozers pulling very large sleds, other tracked vehicles and even a bicycle. There were also joggers. I walked around taking pictures, then I mushed on a sled carrying a La-Z-Boy that was being pulled by a snowmobile.

   The week prior to Christmas all veterans signed a MIA/POW flag. On Christmas morning, it was hoisted high on a large crane beneath the American flag with a military salute. Then at midnight it was lowered with a military salute. I was in the U.S. Coast Guard for seven years, so I had the honor of participating.

   The flag is then taken and presented to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., in a coordinated ceremony. Afterwards, it’s collected and placed in a warehouse for storage.

   New Year’s Eve was celebrated with a group of people gathered around the Pole marker cheering, toasting and hugging as clock moved into 2004. On Jan. 1 at 7 p.m., a ceremony was held to reposition the South Pole marker to the current geographical South Pole. I was asked to help reposition the sign.

   Each summer, a U.S. Geographical Survey team resurveys the area and places a temporary marker where the actual South Pole will be on Jan. 1, 2004. It must be repositioned annually because here at the Pole the ice sheet moves a consistent 33 feet a year. There are two markers here at the Pole. The geographic South Pole marker, which identifies the actual South Pole, and the ceremonial South Pole marker, which is identified by a barber pole and multinational flags that surround it.

   With the end of the summer season around the corner, the winter-overs are preparing for R&R.

   All winter-overs get to leave the Pole for about a week during January and early February to play and relax at the U.S. Antarctic Program’s McMurdo station on the shores of the McMurdo Sound.

   McMurdo station is the largest station in Antarctica, about 800 miles from the South Pole, and is the entry and exit point for the majority of people flying in and out of Antarctica. It is the same area where Robert Falcon Scott launched his Discovery expedition in 1902, of which Ernst Shackleton was a member. The hut in which they made their quarters still remains.

   This is an interesting station because many familiar historical points of reference can be seen. There is White Island, Black Island, Observation Hill (complete with wooden cross), Hut Point, Castle Rock, the mountains of King Edward VII Land, Mount Discovery and the billowing Mount Erebus.

   The visit to McMurdo gives us chance to wind down and take a break. We get to visit friends, see landscape, feel warm weather, walk on dirt, maybe see some penguins and seals, fish with scientists and maybe tend diving lines. There are opportunities to visit and climb into glacial crevasses and, of course, take a shower every day. At the Pole, we are allowed only two two-minute showers a week.

   When you read this, I will be on leave for R&R and will return on Jan. 12. We go in groups and will travel on an LC-130 Ski plane. Once I return, the countdown to the end of the summer season will begin, which occurs in mid-February.

   Update: The helicopter from the Polar First Expedition crashed a few days after departing the South Pole in a snowstorm with whiteout conditions. The crew was rescued and taken to Punta Arenas, Chile, where they were hospitalized. Both pilots were injured.

   I hope your last year was as eventful and as exciting as mine. What adventures await us in the year 2004? Happy New Year to everyone back home in northern Michigan.

   Troy Wiles, a 38-year-old physician’s assistant from Frankfort, is part of a two-member medical team caring for about 600 researchers and staff at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for a year. He is writing a journal for the Record-Eagle describing life at the pole.