LETTERS
FROM ANTARCTICA
PAGE 4
Some of
you have undoubtedly seen parts of this letter already and maybe even
more than
once. The beginning of it has been around for a while now, since late
January I
think, and I am adding this preface of sorts in late February. But not
everyone
has seen all of it, there is new stuff at the bottom. You might want to
read
this one backwards.
I have
been here a month now for what ever significance that holds; it is time
to take
stock of my Self and all that that includes. While I was on the
Snowcraft/Survival school earlier this week I found my self tied into a
rope
with several others being led ever higher on to the Crystal Glacier. As
we
reached the leading edge of the ice-fall where deep crevasses form as
great
bergs break away on their inexorable journey to the sea my Self was
else where,
looking on from a distance, as it were, at how this day-hike was so
like the
past few months, or even years, of my life in general. We worked our
way up,
learning how to tell where the crevasses were, how to find the edges,
to jump
across or go around. Then, as we got to the point from which we would
rappel, I
pondered how alike this point was, where I would climb out over the
edge,
leaving behind my ice axe and my guide and instructor and hang by a
thin rope
attached to an anchor in the snow, to that point, long ago it seems
now, where
I left my friends and mentor behind to embark on this path into a
different
world. I did not want to be first nor did I wait until last; and when
it was over
I felt an ecstasy and enlightenment that I will not put in words. I
wanted to
go and do it again and again. Unlike the rappel down the ice face of
Crystal
Glacier, my time here will pass more slowly, yet it will be but a dot
in my
wanderings and I shall not know if I will return until I do.
What is
black and white and red all over?
The GUS
W. DARNELL offloaded more than six million gallons of fuel to the
tank
farm
here. Included were DFA (diesel fuel arctic), MOGAS (gasoline for motor
vehicles), JP4, and JP5. In the meantime preparations proceed for the
arrival
of the cargo ship GREEN WAVE last reported out in the Ross Sea
doing
four knots in heavy weather. Still sunny and warm here and the summer
help from
the inland stations are moving through at a steady pace on their way
North.
Several of my friends from New Hampshire have been among the tourists
staying
at the MacTown Hilton; it has been exciting to have dinner with these
people I
have not seen for a year or more.
The cargo
ship is in port off-loading thousands of boxes and crates and
containers and it
has been snowing for most of the past two days. This place looks like
Christmas
with all the new things being delivered from the ship. There are
several new
snow tractors and trucks and a 17 passenger hovercraft.
I guess
maybe I haven't talked much about the water system here in the other
letters.
There is a desalinisation plant here that pumps water from the ocean
and
provides 80,000 gallons a day. The water is distributed throughout the
community through heated, insulated pipes to the various buildings.
Yes, we
have hot showers and dish washers and flush toilets. Then all the
effluent
flows along through more heated pipes to a place a little ways down the
coast
and pours back into the ocean.
One of my
correspondents writes in a letter dated 26 Jan...
"What
else can I say that will last for five months? There's so much more I
want to
add to this box but really can't. Material things are weak substitutes
for
thoughts and feelings.
"Keep
in mind that to qualify as a true "adventure" the adventurer
(hobbits, et al) soon finds the novelty and excitement of the
"beginning" wears off. Then there are periods of danger, darkness,
tedium, boredom, etc. glued together with loneliness. The greater the
depths of
these is directly proportional to the greatness of the adventure and
ensuing
growth of the adventurer."
I am
waiting for sun set. Imagine, a sunset that one must wait days for,
that lasts
for weeks, with instant replays and then the dark... It is, and will
be, like
another world, where even the very days march to a different drummer. I
thought
I would be able to visualize the appearance of the sky but it is harder
than
that. I have not seen the night sky for such a long time. Orion will be
standing on his head!
I do very
much miss the news and contact with the friends I have left behind. I
am
fitting into this community slowly; as I let myself give up what I have
lost
and take on what is here to be acquired. I have volunteered to do a
classical
music programme on KICE a couple of times a week and I am thinking of a
reading
aloud type of programme.
Now, the
food is ok, at least there is plenty of it. Too much salt, sugar and
salt-peter
though and not enough freshies to survive as a veggie. I don't know how
Albie
managed, I can't seem to. And no GOOD beer either. No Moosebreath, no
Heineken... just Bud and Mich; you must go to the Kiwi base across the
pass to
get a DB. We have shuttles that make the trip every hour.
Greenpeace
is down here. Have you seen any of that on the news? They are raising
hell as
only they can do and the gossip around here is that if you talk to any
of them
it will cost you your job. Although I have not seen any official word
to that
effect I do know of sympathizers who have left when their contract was
up
rather than stay till their job was done if you get my meaning there.
I have
just returned from a whale watching hike to Hut Point. No whales. I
took my
kite for a walk and it flew a little ways but it is so hard with
mittens on and
a runny nose and tripping over penguins.
Speaking
of penguins... You really must get one of these. Look in a Book Store
at the
Mall for: MOM QUEST - OPUS GOES HOME, Bloom County Calendar for
1988 by
Berke Breathed. Its got some really great Penguin pictures.
Today is
Thursday. The Greenpeace ship came into the harbour today. A couple of
days ago
we knew it was in the area. I had heard all sorts of chatter on the
radio and
all the winter-over people were called to a meeting where the BIG boss
told us
how we must not let these people into any of our buildings nor let them
buy
anything at the ships store nor eat in the galley nor visit our rooms.
Nor
could we send any messages for them. I went to visit their ship to see
if they
all had horns or rode about on brooms but they are real people trying
to do a
job and I don't really understand why NSF is so scared of them. It all
reminds
me of the Salem Witch Hunts and the way the U.S. Government treated the
American Indians in the 1800's.
Well, its
not all that bad folks, actually the official policy is that we are not
to give
aid to any private group that may in any way assist them towards their
goal. We
can and will use every means available to effect a rescue should that
be
necessary but no help for any tourist groups or other private parties.
Its too
bad all this could not have been so fully explained ahead of time but
it has
taken several weeks and lots of high level meetings to hammer out the
rules.
In the
meantime it has been several weeks since I last wrote in here. The
resupply
ship has been and gone on its second trip and the Icebreaker Polar
Star
has left to escort it out to the ocean and will not be back till next
year.
Maybe before this letter is sent I will have lots of numbers to tell
you of all
the goodies it left behind. Right now it is sufficient to say that we
have ICE
CREAM! B&Js it ain't for sure but I haven't had ice cream since
back at
LAX. So long ago and far away...
Last week
I made a day trip to Black Island, actually made two day trips a week
apart.
The last one was in the Coast Guard chopper. I have received lots of
mail in
the past few days; some of it I have scribbled out hasty answers, each
time
thinking if I hurry I might just make the last plane only to have the
last
plane delayed. Yesterday one turned back to CHCH with smoke in the
cockpit and
another turned around two and a half hours after leaving here with a
bad
engine.
All the
skuas have left, there is no one to pick in the garbage now, and the
sun has
begun to set. It dips below the horizon between Mount Discovery and
Black
Island for a few hours around midnight and the sky lights up with all
sorts of
colour.
A package
arrived from Rosemary Turner of music tapes and from the Schnellmann's
of
chocolate and from Dennis of a voice tape and his report card. Thank
you all. I
very much love the different kinds of schokolade you send Christoph and
Susi; I
often ration it so it will last the year even when shared with best
friends so
there will be none for the penguins or rhesus. Besides it is against
the terms
of the Antarctic Treaty to feed the animals.
The last
of the incoming mail is here now until AIR-DROP and the deadline for
that is
early May. AIR-DROP will be the first good weather at the full moon in
June.
Sounds poetic, eh? We need the moonlight to find the parachutes. Any
cookies
should be well wrapped or they will be crumbed on arrival. No liquids.
Except
for what I will ask of Greg.
To comment
on Linda's question regarding the article in Appalachia: All things
considered,
the size of the continent being one of them, there is really not that
much
impact. Of course, as with anything measured in degrees, it is a moot
point.
Further, the effluent from McMurdo is measured in BLUs, that is Blue
Whale
Units. It would take a lot of McMurdos to catch up with the whale
population in
the neighborhood. Then there are the last ditch catch-alls: it could be
worse... it could be EXXON... Of course that doesn't satisfy the likes
of
Greenpeace and well it mightn't. We need Greenpeace here, its too bad
they have
to be such antagonists; it’s too bad it takes NSF so long to do
anything about
the things that are recognized as real problems; its too bad their
priorities
are so screwed up. But! If the OZONE HOLE were over the middle
latitudes instead
of the polar areas there would be a lot of people dying from its
effects. That
it was found here first will give us time to study and find a fix if we
can
work together...
To Artie:
Check with Dick Cook, he has all the long letters prior to this one
that should
answer about 873,261 of your questions. Dominoe's does not deliver to
my room,
only as far as the mess hall. Sunburn is a very real problem; what's
worse
though is sunburn on top of frost bite. Yes that is my bus, I hope you
can sit
still long enough to visit when I get back to it. At least another ten
months.
This
letter will come to you via some sort of electronic mail as there are
no planes
flying out of here till August at least. The letter goes from here by
satellite
to Santa Paula California then into a bulletin board someplace where
Jeff
Gilman will find it and mail it to you. Don't loose his address. If you
want to
reply, keep it short sort of, write plainly or type and send it to him.
He will
get all the letters together and send them to me about once a month.
Today is
Sunday 28 Feb. Wow! Another whole month is gone. And so is the last
plane. The
mess hall was very quiet tonight at dinner. Tomorrow I will get started
on my
winter schedule of things to do. The days are getting colder faster now
that
the sun is down part of each day. I wonder if I should look forward to
Penguindian summer here... Probly already happened and I slept through
it.
Thanks for
your card Sue and your reminder. I got a package out a couple of weeks
ago but
I'm sure it went by slow boat. Good to read you are all doing well.
Tell Bryan
to put the skis away in a safe place for the summer or to take them to
the bus.
He will outgrow that set during the summer so they might fit Dennis
next
winter.
To Peter:
Just practice Peter. I am looking at it as a little vacation, a short
break. I
would like to go back again but, who knows. My cycle is for sale.
Traded in on
a new one which I will get when I return. Summer is gone here; winter
coming.
If you have any connexion with OMNET send me your ID and I will reply
direct.
And for
that matter, any of the rest of you who have connexions with OMNET
likewise.
Send your ID back through Jeff or get it to me otherwise but keep the
letters
less than 20k.
Charlie,
good to talk to you tonight. Dave is the chief op of the station here,
I am
glad he was on duty. Sounded like a pretty good path. Is this
typewriter of
yours connected to your computer? Since when did you need a special key
for BS?
There are lots of other spirits here Charlie but I’ve lost my cork
screw. Got
to get over to the Scott Base store and buy another. Thanks for your
letter and
regards to Edie.
Dick and
Martha Sanborn... Thank you for your letter but not some of the news it
contained. What do you mean no more pets. You must have a cat around to
keep
the mice out of the cookie jar. I am on the ham radio Sunday evenings
your time
but Monday morning Zulu time, from about 0100 on 13.970 USB to about
0300 when
I move up to about 14.300 USB. Dick, get your radio tuned up and join
the
pile-up.
I will be
moving most of my work stuff to the telephone office upstairs over the
firehouse in the coming weeks. The Jamesway that is my official office
is too
cold to spend any time in. There is forty feet of baseboard electric
heat in it
and it cannot keep up with the wind that blows through.
Speaking
of wind... Today is the twoth of March and we are in Condition Two
weather.
That means some combination of wind and cold that puts the Windchill
Index down
below "Exposed Flesh Freezes In A Matter Of Seconds”. Right now the
temperature is about plenty-too-cold-below-zero and the wind is raising
a dust
throughout the town, blowing over barrels and stop signs (they don't
work very
well anyhow), and scattering cardboard from the dumpsters. The Wind
Chill is
-85.7 and anyone traveling out of town must use a radio equipped
vehicle. The
weather since I have been here has been Condition Three, which is
normal,
except for a few times when Willy Field went to Two. I can't wait for
Condition
One; that's when you have to stay where you are, no going out except in
teams
of at least two.
I finally
got an opportunity to watch a sunrise. The sun has been dipping below
the
horizon for a few weeks now but I’ve been so busy sleeping that I
hadn't
noticed. Now she is down more of the time and the sky is actually
getting
mostly dark around midnight. Sunrise happens at 0400 these days and
only
because I have some satellite work then am I getting up so early. My
hours are
all screwed up right now but as the winter goes on the satellite and
the sun
will both be up later and later.
Anyhow,
the sun rises very slowly here and one must go to COS-RAY for the best
view.
Good thing that is where the satellite work is.
I have
trained my little computer to wake me in the morning by turning on my
reading
light and playing notes up and down the scale. Much better than the
harsh
clanging bell of an alarm clock.
Today is
Thursday, 10 March. Warm and sunny. Very nice compared to the past few
days.
Saw two skua around campus. I don't know if they have come back from
another
place or if they have been here hiding all the time. Lots of odds and
ends of
work but nothing new or exciting to report.
Ruth:
Thanks for your QSL card, I have it on the wall to help remind me to
find some from
this place to send back. One of these days. Thanks for the issue of NH
PROFILES
it is a big hit here and helps illustrate my story.
I just got
back from a trip out on the ice shelf. Here is a list of what I had to
take off
in order to get down to my skin for a shower: two mitten shells, two
mitten
liners, hat, special ozone proof sunglasses, big heavy red parka with
hood, two
big heavy blue mukluks, two booties, heavy red and black lumber-jack
wool
shirt, black many-pockets wind shell pants, wool inner pants, two grey
tube-sox, white wool long underwear, dark-dark blue sweater, blue fish
net
shirt, and lastly, one camouflage bandana.
We are
past the equinox now so the days are more dark than light. Someone told
me that
we lose about twenty-five minutes of sunlight each day. A little past
the
middle of April the sun will set and not rise again till August but it
will
still be until mid May before twilight is gone and the sky is totally
dark
enough to see the aurora.
The first
Black Island Traverse finally happened on the third try. It was a two
day
affair with a party of seven in two vehicles. We went out around the
back side
setting trail-marker flags along the way and stayed overnight at the
INMARSAT
site on a little 700 foot mountain at the north end of the island. The
next day
we came back around the front side to the channel between Black and
White and
then back to MCM.
Now that I
know the way I will be able to lead another trip out there around the
end of
March to the first of April. I think the boss is sending me out there
then
because he thinks I might have an April Fools joke up my sleeve. "Who
me!?"
Some more
snow the past few days but now much wind and a little warmer. Saw a
skua around
on Wednesday the 23rd. Stupid bird.
The menu
in the mess is getting to be monotonous and the private dinner parties
are
beginning to spring up all over. I made my famous peanut butter soup
for a
dinner at the BFC last week and it went over very well. One of the best
soups
I've done. Alistair from Scott Base has invited me to cook over there
some time
soon. Also they don't know what we call brown bread is. You know, the
kind that
comes in a can that you have with hummers and hot dogs? Alistair said
that
brown bread is anything that is not white bread. I got a can and showed
him
what BROWN bread is but we didn't open it yet. Maybe I will serve it
with my
peanut butter soup next time.
Another
thing of note from this week past: Bear-With-Me met In-The-Pink, a bear
from
Scott Base. They have traded letters and Bear-With-Me gave his new
friend a
nice wool scarf. I think we may have a Teddy Bears' Picnic before too
long.
Sunday...
lots of people sulking about; the CABLE is down, not that the TV is
worth
watching, no great loss in my opinion; but guess who's job it is to fix
it. I'm
just waiting for the first person to complain about it...
Just got a
call that I was late for waffle brunch. And I am supposed to bring the
maple
syrup. All the waffs are getting cold waiting for moi.
Last night
was the 46th anniversary of the inception of the SEABEES. Special
dinner and
dance. At times like this there are tablecloths and fancy deserts.
Roscoe's
surprise this time was Baked Alaska.
The
novelty of being here is lessened a bit for me. Still there are some
things to
get excited about but now the petty squabbles with my neighbors take up
more of
the mealtime discussion. In spite of the efforts of some to mix the
population
of the community the people themselves tend to keep to their interest
groups.
The joggers are especially a sight! Try to picture someone jogging in a
snowsuit, mukluks, and facemask... I have not got to do my radio show
yet. The
audience survey indicates that only three people here like classical
music.
Everyone else voted for either rockin 'n rollin', cryin'n dyin' or
oldies 'n
goodies; that leaves only about five minutes a day for classical and
that
doesn't even add up to enough time for a once a week programme.
Needless to say
the three people who voted for classical tend to not listen to the
radio
station.
Doug: I
have finished with KAFFIR BOY, thank you. It is now making the rounds
of the
intellectuals. If you haven't already read HANTA YO you should. It is
the same
sort of story. You can borrow it from my sister Donna in Billerica.
Well, this
is the end of Page 4, I am running out RAM.
I love you
all very much and I miss you too; but I am having fun and making lots
of money
and meeting new people so it’s almost ok.... On to page five.
Stay Gold,
Al
—30—
This
letter is COPYRIGHT by Alfred J. Oxton, 1988-2009, McMurdo Station,
Ross
Island, Antarctica.
No portion
may be reproduced by any means without my express written permission.
