Antarctica - Winter 2014

[KBScobravert]

About damn time! Hell we have one foot out of the door and we just now get this technology running?

That is the least of the rediculous shit I am seeing. They are popping up massive multi million dollar project/buildings all over the place.....and we are leaving. Bagram will be a nice place, once we are gone.

Should see the ditch they built down Disney. Very nice 10' deep culvert to more water...probably the driest place on base while our villages FLOOD.

Or the wooden porch they built into a bunch of trees. That no on uses because of the bird shit all over it.

[Mike K]

I believe it. Just sad.

[Chili]

Yeah, there is a small store where you can buy beer or alcohol. Your limit is a case of beer (24 cans) or one bottle (fifth?) of alcohol per day. Also, there are 2 bars (one smoking and one non) and one coffee and wine place. I think they only keep one bar open for winter though. There is also a bowling alley.

Shit, plenty of booze AND bowling! Sounds like everything you would need!!! I'd come back an alcoholic or with a 200+ average. Reminds me of where I was stationed in Korea.

[Mike K]

Reminds me of where I was stationed in Korea.

I don't remember bowling in Korea, but I remember drinking.

[Sean88gt]

That's fucking awesome, I'd love to step foot on Antarctica just once.

Yep, same here. Not sure I want to stay there for 6 months, but it would be badass to go there.

How cold does it get in the winter? High speed internet?

The first flight back in needs to carry 2 whores for every man that suffered through the paid abstinence.

[Chili]

I don't remember bowling in Korea, but I remember drinking.

Our movie theater on Camp Greaves had a collapsed roof before I got there in 1994, and as far as I know was never fixed before handing the place off to the ROK Army. We had a bowling alley and I went there exactly 1 time in 12 months. Other than the officers club, which only allowed NCOs in once a month, there was no other evening entertainment.

I came back as broke as I was when I arrived there, with no better bowling skills. That should tell you where I would end up. lol

[Mike K]

Yep, same here. Not sure I want to stay there for 6 months, but it would be badass to go there.

How cold does it get in the winter? High speed internet?

Wikipedia claims an average of -20 throughout winter, but that sounds a little warm. So I guess I will find out when I get there. I don't know about high speed internet, but they do have internet down there.

abstinence.

Wait... who said anything about abstinence? There are plenty of girls that go down there. There are still more men than women, but it is a lot better than over here in Afghanistan.

[Sean88gt]

Wikipedia claims an average of -20 throughout winter, but that sounds a little warm. So I guess I will find out when I get there. I don't know about high speed internet, but they do have internet down there.



Wait... who said anything about abstinence? There are plenty of girls that go down there. There are still more men than women, but it is a lot better than over here in Afghanistan.

Jesus, talk about the road more traveled! It must look like a chilly Event Horizon come spring.

[Bputacoma]

This is what I get to look forward to all winter.

Is that McMurdo or Palmer Station?

[Mike K]

McMurdo

[Bputacoma]

Are you a contractor through PAE now? Since they've taken over the contract?

[Frank]

What kind of break downs in equipment might be seen there you wouldn't see in more temperate climates? I mean besides fuel gelling. I imagine everything is a bit more brittle and break more often?

[cobrajet69]

Outstanding thread!
Would have loved to do that, in earlier years.



David

[soap]

Bring me back a Penguin.

[Mike K]

Are you a contractor through PAE now? Since they've taken over the contract?

Yes, PAE has the contract now. I think this is their first winter, so it should be interesting.

What kind of break downs in equipment might be seen there you wouldn't see in more temperate climates? I mean besides fuel gelling. I imagine everything is a bit more brittle and break more often?

Fuel gelling isn't an issue except for new equipment coming off of the ship that was not prepped correctly. Frozen batteries is another concern, but we are very proactive with battery maintenance to ensure they are always in good condition and fully charged. You also have to keep the vehicles plugged in (to warm the block, engine oil, battery, and hydraulic fluid heaters) or it will not start. So we have a lot of issues with people forgetting to plug the vehicles in. We also have to use metal radiator fans, because the plastic ones become brittle in the cold and would come apart at full throttle and destroy radiators.

We had an interesting problem with some new Caterpillar equipment (I don't remember exactly what it was) that was sent down to the south pole. Even though it was brand new, they could not get it to start. Come to find out Caterpillar only programmed the Ambient Air Temp sensor to go down to -50F (or something like that) and the ambient temp was much lower than that. So the engine computer thought the sensor was bad and defaulted to 70F and it would not start. Raytheon contacted Caterpillar asking them to send somebody down to reprogram the computers so it would recognize a lower ambient temp. Caterpillar refused (from what I heard) and the equipment sat around for several seasons until the issue was resolved.

Consequently, this issue lead the National Science Foundation to try out a different heavy equipment manufacturer in an attempt to move away from relying on Caterpillar. A couple of the pictures I had showed the red Case Quadtrack, but we had so many problems with them constantly breaking that the NSF went back to CAT and bought the MT865B Challengers.


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Just for the sake of keeping the pictures flowing, we (the United States) have 3 main stations on Antarctica: McMurdo Station (south of New Zealand), Palmer Station (south of South America), and the South Pole. I have only been to McMurdo, but here are pictures of all three.