Antarctica: A Year on Ice Page #5

I came down here.

I never, I mean,

I would say "Ah",

but I would never say

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh."

You ahhhh...

I just had a T3 moment.

I totally forgot

my line of thinking.

Sorry, what was

the original question?

If there's any way

to bottle or bring in

just the smell of summer...

the scent of flowers...

and of rain and of green grass

and of rivers.

The smell of crops and corn

and just the smell of dirt.

There's no smell of dirt here.

It's all volcanic.

Oh man.

I miss the rain

and trees and water and...

family and my knuckle-head

nephews.

You do miss out on quite a bit.

You do make some sacrifices

coming down here.

I probably

would never repeat winter.

The problem is...

you never know

who you'll end up with.

You almost feel

like you're stuck...

stuck in a really small town

and there's nothing

else out there...

until the sun starts coming out.

And then you realize

where you are again.

There's a great feeling

of anticipation

when twilight begins

to creep back into the sky

in August.

It's a bit like being

a child again

waiting for Christmas.

August is also the coldest

time of the year.

And nacreous clouds

will start to form a lot more.

Although this is part

of the process

that is destroying

the ozone layer,

when the sun finally

does hit them

it can look incredible.

like the entire sky in on fire.

Seeing the sun is always still

the most amazing experience.

I wait for it

I wait for it to come back.

And then there'll be that

moment where I see it.

And I never know when

that moment is going to be.

But when it happens,

I just have to stop

wherever I am.

Stop in my tracks

and I just look at it.

I just want it to fill

the inside of my head,

just let that sun

come right through my eyes.

It's the life-giving thing.

Okay, away you go.

In this cup is boiling water.

It's 40 below zero outside.

This is what happens

when you throw

boiling hot water

into 40 below zero air.

Here we go.

The Population on base

suddenly doubles at Winfly

and for those of us

who have wintered over

the arrival of a whole

new crowd of faces

can be a bit bewildering.

It's kind of crazy.

I think people either

are energized by it

or just the opposite.

They have energy drawn from them

and I would tend to be

one of those people

who have energy drawn from me.

I'm not a big fan

of when all the folks come in.

For six months you've seen

only the same people every day.

There hasn't been anyone new.

All of a sudden you've got all

these new people coming through.

Kind of this feeling

of glee and happiness

mixed with revulsion

like, "Aggghhh, stay away!"

And I've even seen

winter-overs kind of hide

behind corners

and kind of look out.

We've had a closed community

over the winter

and there's been no germs,

no one gets sick.

But new people come in...

new germs.

They all have all this energy

and they're orange.

I mean we always talk

about the orange people

because they're tanned.

You don't really realize

how pale we all are

from lack of sunshine.

Just walking through the galley,

I felt like I was moving

at this little pace

and everyone else

was rushing around...

around me.

I was surprised at how

territorial we all were.

I remember getting back

from the flight line

and coming straight to dinner.

And I got my tray and my plate

and I looked up

and I saw a line.

And I was so livid

that I had to wait in line.

These new people they

weren't with the program yet.

They didn't know

what they were doing

the whole routine was messed up.

And I was so livid.

I felt like I could have

stabbed somebody with a fork.

And I didn't understand it.

I'm like,

"Why am I so angry?"

I couldn't eat in the galley.

I went up to my room.

And...

I'm sitting in my room

for about 5 minutes

contemplating about

why I was so angry.

And then I get knocks on my door

and it's the rest

of the Firehouse.

"Can we eat in here with you?"

Yeah.

So we sat down

and for half an hour

we ate our meals watching TV.

Didn't say a word to each other

and it was beautiful.

The first few days,

or maybe the first week,

is kind of a culture shock.

You know, the dynamics change.

The noise level rises.

But after that

the new people that come here

they have so much energy

and I find that it brings me up.

And I actually get more excited

about getting stuff done

and moving around.

It kind of wakes me up.

Keri, how does it feel to have

a fresh apple after 6 months?

Orange, apple?

Why don't you take

that behind doors?

I'm sure I'll get one very soon.

Be gentle with the banana.

I would love to be able

to show the people

who I love the most

what it looks like down here...

what the sky looks like

down here in winter.

Because they're never

going to see it.

It's funny.

Right before winter started

we'd tell these stories

about how you'd get T3

and you get pale

and you're just

emotional sometimes.

And these people

who have never wintered

are looking at us

like we're freaks.

Like why would you ever

put yourself through

something like that?

And then, at the end,

we'd look at each other and say,

"Winter's the best.

It's the greatest."

I try and explain

the experience,

the Antarctic experience,

to people back home,

and they love hearing about it.

The stories and what it's like.

But, you know that...

they just...

they will never get it.

They'll never fully comprehend

what it's like down here.

So if you were to spend

another year down here

what would you do differently?

Not bring as much stuff.

I've met some of the best people

in the world here.

And I think a lot of that is

because of the fact

that those of us that come here

always have a kind

of a spirit of adventure.

And that's something

that kind of binds us together.

These might be...

the golden years of Antarctica.

Right now,

what is being done is science.

Right now there's

a treaty that says

you get to be here to cooperate,

look for peace,

and look for knowledge

for mankind.

And I just can't think

of another place

where that's really going on

so I feel really privileged

to be a citizen

of Antarctica right now.

I really really do.

And some day,

somebody is going to find a way

to get oil commercially.

And some day,

the treaty is going to end

And some day, you know...

I don't know that we'll always

be able to play as nice

as we can right now.

You come down here

out of a sense of adventure.

But then it gets

its hooks in you.

and you realize

how magic and fragile it all is.

And if we're not careful,

if we're not conscientious,

It could all get ruined.

Imagine you live in a house.

And this is just one room

in your house...

a cold room where nobody lives.

But it's still

a room in your house

and as such you have

to care about this room.

And you have to know

about what's going on there.

There is a good expression

in the English language:

Peace of mind.

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