Antarctica: A Year on Ice Page #2

they just can't pay me enough.

God, this is an awful place.

In theory there should be

a flag right about there.

Ah yeah, there we go.

Gotta love GPSs.

It's the middle of summer

and if we check the time

it's ah...

just after 12 o'clock.

That's 12 o'clock

midnight though.

Merry Christmas!

Ah, Christmas dinner...

making food

for lots and lots of people.

It's a big day.

We're spreading holiday cheer.

I think for a lot

of younger folks that come down

it's a real good

experience for them.

It's probably not a career

for most people,

but for some...

it is.

I think I found it

and kind of fell in love

with it.

I have been coming to Antarctica

for about 13 years now.

And when I came down

the first time

I thought, "Ah yeah

this will be great to do once."

You know, just come

to Antarctica.

And then I can say,

"Wow, I went to Antarctica."

And then I signed on

for a contract

the following year

and then...

I don't know what happened.

I'm still here.

There's a saying among

the women of Antarctica

"The odds are good.

But the goods, are odd."

Christine and I met down here

and I proposed to her

in the winter of 2003.

6 weeks later

we had an impromptu wedding

down here on the ice.

The flowers were all hand made

with folded paper.

Christine's friend Lori

made up a dress

from donated fabric.

And the plumbers cut

us some rings

made of brass.

I borrowed the only

dinner jacket on base

from Eric, the station manager

who then acted as our celebrant.

On this night here

on Ross Island,

Christine Marie Gamble

and Anthony Brendan Powell

are celebrating their love

and commitment to each other.

And tonight they will join

as husband and wife

in heart, body and soul.

Hi, Dad!

Just fine. Go ahead.

I'm here.

Thank you.

I've wintered over here

nine times now

and Christine has

wintered eight times

Living on the ice

is just something

that's become so ingrained

in both of us.

The TV version of penguins

doesn't prepare you

for the reality

of seeing an actual

penguin colony.

There are thousands

of frozen penguin corpses

that litter the ground.

And in summer the sewer stench

from 100.000 penguins

can be pretty unbearable.

Ten... nine... eight...

Seven... Six...

Five... Four...

Three... Two... One...

Happy New Year, McMurdo!

I like this place

for a lot of reasons

Part of me feels

like living at McMurdo

is like living

in Never-never Land.

There's a lot of people

they have gone in a very

different path in their lives.

And sometimes one of the things

I like the best

is being able to live a life

with people who are

willing to take

a slightly different path

different path in life.

And so for the first time

in my life

I'm part of a majority because

a lot of us feel that way.

And I've never been part

of the majority before.

We're in this...

we're in a box.

And there's no escape

from each other.

You can't get away.

You're forced to interact

day in and day out.

And you get to know people

very, very quickly.

Whether those

relationships be good or bad

they're going to be very,

very intense.

That was awesome!

Okay, stand by

for contact again.

McMurdo Sound is as far south

as it is possible to bring

a ship in the world.

And the arrival

of the supply ship

marks the last gasp

of summer here.

Once the ship has been offloaded

it's immediately reloaded

with all the rubbish,

recycling, human waste,

and science-related cargo

from the last year.

Nothing is left behind.

At the end of February,

the sun starts to briefly

dip back below the horizon.

And those of us

who will be wintering over

begin to seek each other out.

But most people are

thinking about heading home.

Have you ever been tempted

to hang around for the winter?

No.

When the last plane leaves

that's it.

You're stuck here

for the next 6 months.

No way out.

I remember thinking

what the hell did I do?

I should be on that plane.

No!

God help us!

Once it's gone,

and the last sound of it

has disappeared,

it's like the whole town

just breathes a huge sigh.

Okay, here we are.

You look around at the people

and you say,

"Okay, you're my friends...

you're my family

for the next 6 months."

My first season

was in the winter

and I do recall watching

that last plane leaving

and thinking

boy I hope this is

what I want to do.

Attention all stations.

Stand by for a severe

weather condition announcement.

McMurdo weather has set

severe weather condition 2

for the following locations

McMurdo Station,

T-Site, Arrival Heights,

The Road to Scott Base,

Pegasus Field and road

to Pegasus Field.

All other locations

remain Condition 3.

If there's any questions

please contact McMurdo Weather

at extension 2523-2524.

Some people take

the winters here very well

and there's others

that come down

that just don't do well

with winter.

You know there's not enough

going on for them.

There's not enough

social life for them.

It's actually, I think

a pretty definite line

between winter people

and non-winter people.

I mean, it's usually

fairly obvious.

One of my main jobs

during the winter

is to maintain communications

with the outside world

This means regular trips

out across the ice shelf

to the satellite station

on Black Island.

During the summer,

it's only a 10-minute

helicopter flight away.

But during the winter

it means getting in a vehicle,

like a Pisten Bully

and driving there.

When conditions are good

it's about a six-hour drive.

But in recent years

the ice shelf has been having

a lot of trouble

with surface melt.

So sometimes

we've been literally

crawling in and out of holes

taller than the vehicles

trying to find a way

to get there.

Hmm, now what?

Get around that

Hey Bill, can you see any

way through?

Yeah, should be all right.

Black Island is

one of the windiest places

on the planet.

It's so windy that peak winds

have never been

accurately measured

because of the wind gauges

getting blown away.

Current wind speed

is 114 miles per hour

or 99 knots...

Make that 123 miles an hour.

Although the camera

is on the tripod,

you can see the picture

is actually quite shaky.

That's because

the whole building

is being shaken

by the 100-knot winds

we've got at the moment.

Just go for a walk out into

the main satellite dome here

and show you what it looks like.

As you can see,

it's a wee bit windy.

I'll just show you

what it's like

in the bunkhouse here

after the last storm.

All the snow you can see

in the corner of the room here

basically worked its way in

through the tiny gaps

in the window seals.

The wind speeds got up

to 222 miles an hour

so this filled up in just

a matter of a few hours.

And there's

a complete lounge suite

in the corner over there.

This is the fireplace

that's normally used for

keeping the room warm.

In the middle of March,

there's that magical

brief couple of weeks

when the sun is rising

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