Travels in Antarctica: No rain in one million years

 By Frosty Wooldridge 

“It was –33 when we turned out at 8:00 AM.  We’re getting our gear together, and the dogs more or less into order after six days, was cold work, and we started in minus thirties and a head wind.  The dogs were mad, stark raving lunatics.  Dimitri’s team wrecked my sledge-meter.  All we could do was hang on to the sledge and let them go: there wasn’t a chance to go back, turn them or steer them.  Dimitri broke his driving stick: my team fought as they went: once I was dragged with my foot pinned under my driving stick, which was itself jammed into the grummet.”

                                             Cherry-Garrard, 1922

                                             THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

          Some people live interesting lives.  Every time the Antarctic Sun published, a stack of papers awaited everyone who entered the Galley for dinner.

          We humans have created mind-boggling inventions and ways to measure ‘things’ in the world. 

          I admit that Jack and I chomped at the bit each time we watched others take off in the helicopters or take a big cat snow tractor out to the ice or when we watched a C130 Hercules take off into the wild blue yonder on some scientific survey.

          One of my friends, Bob, a radio setup transmission specialist came back from one of his sojourns expressing incredible excitement.

           “That’s not all,” he said.  “I’ve got to show you some of my pictures from yesterday.  It was another greatest day of my life.”

          Bob told me about the helicopter landing at the foot of some glacier that presented him with a three hundred-foot headwall of ice.  The enormity of the glacier didn’t strike me until he showed me a digital picture of it on his computer. He looked like an ant at the base of a white mountain. 

          We read about his exploits in a piece done by the paper.  It dawned on me that each of us, no matter what our job in Antarctica, lived extraordinary adventures in many areas.  Those exploits came through our jobs or our time off.  Being in Antarctica, we couldn’t miss!  Nothing was routine about the ice continent.

          Another feature story in the paper explained how Wiley Field (the glacier ice runway airport) was refueled.  When the pack ice of the Sound became too unstable to support the big planes around late December, the entire airport had to be moved to Ross Ice Shelf several miles away.  Paul, known as a “fuelie,” guided 7.5 miles of six inch-in-diameter collapsible hose off twenty-five seven-foot high orange reels. About 30,000 feet of the hose ran from the nine million gallons in the 16 storage tanks out to the field.

          To get an idea of how extraordinary a task it was, it took four days and six full shifts to lay the 7.5 miles of line from the tanks to the airport storage facilities.  Their key concern was not to create a fuel spill.

          Paul had to walk down the fuel line and check the connecting couplers every 600 feet.  He straddled the connection; torque wrenched it and marked a date with an “OK” on it.  The hose held 47,000 gallons of fuel and was kept full so it wouldn’t blow away in a Herbie.

          To lay the hose, Paul needed to drive a flatbed Challenger vehicle and roll out the hose as he proceeded along the ice pack.   Once laid, the hose was meticulously inspected regularly. 

          Of the nine million gallons stored in the tanks on the hill above McMurdo, half was used for aviation and the other half was used for McMurdo and South Pole Stations.  From the different departments, it was allocated to the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker, Scott Base, field camps, and research vessels.

          Like the dog mushers from early 19^thcentury explorers who used to smell like their dogs, “fuelies” smelled like their work in the 21^stcentury.

          Another story featured the Nematodes as the ‘Lions of the Dry Valleys’.  Nematodes were little animals that live in the sand of the dry valleys in the interior of Antarctica.  Amazingly enough, Antarctica possesses regions with less precipitation than the Sahara Dessert.  Taylor Valley was one such place.  It hadn’t rained there in one million years.  Even though it was thrown into polar darkness six months a year with –80-degree F. temperatures, the nematodes proliferated.

          The dry valleys represented the most hostile ecosystems in the world, yet life found a way.  Some of the amazing things those tiny worms did went beyond imagination into marvelous.  In order to live at  minus 100-degree temperatures, they moved into ‘anhydrobiosis’ where they stopped respirating and freeze-dried themselves by losing 99% of their water.  Once they come in contact with water, like seeds that are a thousand years old, they would spring to life.

          Because there was no water in the dry valleys, the nematodes had to get it from glacial melt.  In the Taylor Valley, the Canada and Suess Glaciers provided summer melt into Lake Hoare.  Once touched by sufficient moisture, the worms commenced their life cycle.  It was nature’s way to nurture life in every corner of the world.

          One nasty secret about Mac Town was the pumping of raw sewage into the ocean.  Before Greenpeace embarrassed the US government into 99 percent recycling practices in Antarctica, the standard procedure was to burn trash or set it on the icepack and watch it go out to the ocean to fall into the depths.  It was amazing how humans have so little regard for other creatures on the planet.

          As I can attest, we now recycle everything except our human waste.  About 600,000 gallons (I found out later) of raw sewage pumped into McMurdo Sound every 24 hours during the summer season.  Less than half that during the winter season where there are only 250 people at the station.

          Unfortunate for the sea life near the pumping site, all the wastewater from toilets, sinks, and dishwashing tubs in the Galley loaded with soaps and chemicals drained into the pristine ocean environment.  It ran through all the pipes on its way to the mastication devices where it was dispersed into a sludge-like liquid.  From there, it was pumped into Winter Quarters Bay of the Sound.

          Near the pumping dispersal site the debris flushed out is called a ”corn pile” or more affectionately “Charmin Mountain.”  It probably wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t add all our chemicals to the sewage.  I found it distasteful.  It’s ironic in the USA, but we don’t mind spending 80 million dollars a year for tobacco price supports that cause the deaths of 400,000 citizens per year.  That in turn costs us billions in lung cancer care of those dying patients—yet, we won’t spend a million dollars to build a sewage treatment plant to clean our wastewater before we pump it back into someone else’s ecosystem.  Go figure.

          Much like the failure of the Gamma Ray balloon experiment, Cape Roberts ended in a wild rush to save lives.  Scientists had set up a drilling station on the pack ice, which normally was 10-feet thick and solid as a concrete wall. But, during my season on the ice, a number of Herbies roared through the area along with a warm spell.  The combination of ferocious winds, high seas and wildly swinging tides caused swells under the pack ice.

          For the most part, the Cape Roberts Project, about 75 miles from McMurdo Station had set goals of determining ancient climactic conditions that might produce changes in the future climate of the world.

          Those were just a few of the 175 plus experiments worked on each year in Antarctica by the National Science Foundation.  Some, I thought were a complete waste of time and money, while others were of vital interest.  But I always returned to the template that we humans create things to do for ourselves.  We give ourselves purpose when there is none.  We find ‘chores’ when we could be playing tennis.  Many times, retired persons go back to work because they are bored.

          There were many other ‘things’ I would have liked to have done in Antarctica, but, like everyone else, I worked within my parameters most of the time and like Kathryn Hepburn, broke a few rules to create some amazing adventures in my own little world.

          As it was, I had an Erebus Crystal in my hand and a story that I lived with Charley that brought me more adventure than most could even dream about.

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Handbookfor Touring Bicyclists–Bicycling touring is growing in popularity each year. Men and women around the world are taking to the highways and the “open air” is their kitchen.  On the pages of this book, you’ll discover how to buy, carry, prepare, and store food while on tour. Discover the ‘ins and outs’ with a “Bakers Dozen” of touring tips that are essential for successful bicycle adventuring. Whether you’re going on a weekend ride, a week-long tour, or two years around the world, this handbook will help you learn the artistry of bicycling and cooking.

Strike Three! Take Your Base–The Brookfield Reader, Sterling, VA; 2001. ISBN 1-930093-01-2. To order this hardcover book, send $19.95 to Frosty Wooldridge, POB 207, Louisville, CO 80027. This poignant story is important reading for every teen that has ever experienced the loss of a parent from either death or divorce.  This is the story of a boy losing his father and growing through his sense of pain and loss. It is the story of baseball – a game that was shared by both the boy and his father – and how baseball is much like life.

An Extreme Encounter: Antarctica—“This booktransports readers into the bowels of million year old glaciers, katabatic winds, to the tops of smoking volcanoes, scuba diving under the ice, wacky people, death, outlaw activities and rare moments where he meets penguins, whales, seals and Skua birds. Hang on to your seat belts–you’re in for a wild ride where the bolt goes into the bottom of the world.” Sandy Colhoun, editor-in- chief, The Antarctic Sun

Bicycling Around the World: Tire Tracks for your Imagination–This book mesmerizes readers with animal stories that bring a smile to your face. It will pain your mind and heart seeing the Third World. It chills you with a once-in-a-lifetime ride in Antarctica where you’ll meet a family of Emperor penguins. Along the way, you’ll find out that you have to go without a mirror, sometimes, in order to see yourself. The greatest aspect of this book comes from–expectation! Not since ‘Miles from Nowhere’ has a writer captured the Zen and Art of Bicycle Adventure as well as Wooldridge. Not only that, you enjoy a final section-’Everything you need to know about long distance touring’. He shows you ‘How to live the dream’. You’ll have the right bike, equipment, money and tools to ride into your own long distance touring adventures. If you like bicycling, you’ll go wild reading this book. If you don’t like bicycling, you’ll still go wild reading this book.

Motorcycle Adventure to Alaska: Into the Wind—“Seldom does a book capture the fantasy and reality of an epic journey the magnitude of a ‘Motorcycle Adventure to Alaska’. Trevor and Dan resemble another duo rich in America’s history of youthful explorers who get into all kinds of trouble – Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They plied the Mississippi River, but Dan and his brother push their machines into a wild and savage land—Alaska. My boys loved it.” John Mathews, father of two boys and a daughter.

Bicycling the Continental Divide: Slice of Heaven, Taste of Hell—“This bicycle dream ride carries a bit of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The author mixes hope with adventure, pain with courage and bicycling with mountains. John Brown, a friend left behind to battle cancer, provides guts and heart for his two friends who ride into the teeth of nature’s fury. Along the way, you’ll laugh, cry and gain new appreciations while pondering the meaning of life.”

Losing Your Best Friend: Vacancies of the Heart—“This is one heck of a powerful book!  It’s a must read for anyone that has lost a friend or parent.  It will give you answers that you may not have thought about.  It will touch your heart and you will learn from their experiences.  It also shows you what you can do if you suffer conflict with your friend’s wife or girlfriend.”   Jonathan Runy

Rafting the Rolling Thunder—“Fasten your ‘raft-belts’ folks!  You’re in for the white water rafting ride of your life.  Wooldridge keeps readers on the edge of their seats on a wild excursion through the Grand Canyon.  Along the way, he offers you an ‘outlaw’ run by intrepid legend “Highwater Harry”, a man who makes a bet with the devil and nearly loses his life.  The raft bucks beneath you as Harry crashes through Class V rapids.  And the Grand Canyon Dish Fairies, well, they take you on separate rides of laughter and miles of smiles!  Enjoy this untamed excursion on a river through time.”  Jason Rogers

Misty’s Long Ride: Across America on Horseback—Misty’s Long Ride, by Smooth Georgia Mist (Howard Wooldridge – Frosty Wooldridge’s brother), AuthorHouse, 2005. ISBN 1-4208-5766-5 (sc).  “As good as Howard was, sometimes there was nothing he could do about our situation in the burning inferno of Utah. In that agonizing desert, a man’s mouth became so dry, he couldn’t spit. I felt the heat cook my hooves at ground level where it felt like walking alone in the middle of a farrier’s furnace. Above us, vultures soared in the skies searching for road-kill. Yet, Howard pulled down the brim of his hat and pushed forward. I followed this cowboy because he was a Long Rider and I was his horse….” For anyone who loves horses and high adventure – Howard’s horse Misty tells one of the great adventure tales in the 21^stcentury by galloping coast to coast across America. You’ll enjoy horse sense, horse humor, unique characters and ride the wild wind.

All books available at: 1 888 280 7715, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com