VISITING ANTARCTICA: LIVING IN MCMURDO STATION

I had a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience in the Fall of 2019 : I was lucky enough to travel to Antarctica! Below are some of the details about my personal experience, along with some advice and some recommended sights and activities once you make it there as well.

How I Got There

I was fortunate enough to travel to Antarctica as part of a work trip. I work as a systems engineer and at the time I was supporting the development of a satellite ground station system. Part of our work includes upgrades and maintenance to satellite antennas. Our satellites monitor environmental data and are in a sun-synchronous polar orbit. Long story short, we have antennas way up north (in Svalbard, Norway) and way down south (McMurdo Station, Antarctica).

I knew traveling to those locations was a possibility, and I let my management know that the next time they were scheduling a trip to the ice to keep me in mind. Lucky for me, they did! I was selected to be part of a 4-person team to perform upgrades and tests on our new equipment. From there, we began our journey partnering with the US Antarctic Program (USAP) to get us to Antarctica.

Qualification

Traveling to Antarctica is inherently dangerous. The climate is not super-agreeable to humans…it is downright COLD! But more importantly, if a medical emergency does occur there are limited staff, equipment, and resources. As such, the USAP program ensures all participants pass a physical qualification (PQ) before deployment. Candidates must complete rigorous medical and dental exams as well as be current on all required vaccinations.

These exams are usually the longest part of the process, so my recommendation is to make appointments as soon as you can. It is not uncommon to require additional testing or in case there are any errors or missing information. As an example, the first scan of my dental x-ray I provided was not high-quality enough and I needed to re-submit.

Another important part of this trip is that all USAP travel to Antarctica will require flights through foreign countries. For McMurdo, that is typically Christchurch, NZ. Travel to other research stations may have travelers depart from Chile or Argentina. This of course requires a valid passport and visa for the country you’ll be traveling through.

Gear Up

If traveling through the USAP, the USAP Participant Guide has plenty of recommendations on what (and how) to pack. Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear will be issued when you make it to the program orientation in Christchurch. This includes the classic oversized red parka, lovingly nicknamed “Big Red” down there. It also includes essentials like boots, gloves, hats, and goggles.

How to Pack for Your Ice Flight

Weather in McMurdo - particularly wind and visibility - is hard to predict. As such, flights are often canceled shortly before takeoff. While there, I even met a few people whose first attempt had made it about ¾ of the way there before the plane needed to turn around and return to New Zealand as it would have been unable to land on the ice. They call that a “boomerang” flight. Due to how common that is, travelers are instructed to pack two bags: one checked bag, and one boomerang bag.

The boomerang bag should contain essentials for what you’d need in the event of a 24-hr delay. If that is the case, your checked bag will remain on the plane until the next attempt the following day. The good thing is you won’t need to worry about making space for all the ECW gear - you’re required to wear that on the plane. Even if it wasn’t required, you’d want to keep it on…it is not a first-class flight experience! It will be cold and loud. Definitely bring some noise-cancelling headphones, a book, or other form of entertainment. Depending on the aircraft, there may be small windows to allow you to get your first views of the frozen continent as you approach. My plane was a C-130 that was stripped down with about 20 participants on board and a ton of equipment and supplies.

Things I Am Glad I Brought

(Or Wish I Knew Ahead of Time)

Ethernet cable - wifi is basically non-existent and there are not many connection ports
Download music/movies for offline use - the bandwidth on the ice won’t allow you to stream from your favorite services like Netflix, Spotify, etc. Most of these apps now allow you to download content for a period of time, but confirm that duration before departing. All of the music and movies that I downloaded were digitally wiped off my devices after 30 days…a fact I did not realize until I was on the plane trying to watch the movies I had saved for the long flight back to New Zealand.
Towel - take a page out of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and bring your own towel. If you forget to bring one, there are towels for purchase at the Store.
Slippers - keeping your feet warm and comfy on a continent of ice is a bonus
Journal - this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip; bring a notebook to document thoughts, feelings, and memorable events throughout the trip for reflection later!
Earplugs - most of the hiding is dorm-style, meaning roommates. Earplugs are also borderline essential for the noisy flights on a military plane
Penguin costume - one of the few “luxury items” I brought, thinking it would be totally worth it for one picture. It was, but I came to find out there were several near/identical costumes already at McMurdo and available to rent from the Gear Rental. I could have saved a lot of precious space in my bag.

Life in McMurdo

McMurdo Town

Dorms - the living quarters are pretty bare-bones, dormitory-style rooms. You’ll most likely be paired with a roommate, and the rooms are small. Each person will have a twin-sized bed, small cabinet, and a desk with drawers. The dorm buildings also have communal bathrooms with showers, a laundry room, and a common lounge room in each building.
Building 155 aka “the big blue building” - this is the center point of McMurdo. It contains several essential spaces including the cafeteria, the store, the gear rental office, several administrative offices and a computer lab.
Bars - there are two drinking establishments in McMurdo: Gallagher’s Pub and Southern Exposure. They offer a limited selection of alcoholic drinks and occasionally have events like open mic night and trivia - keep an eye out for notices posted in the lobby of Building 155.
Coffee house - the McMurdo Coffee House offers a more laid-back ambiance; this is the place to relax, play board games or even watch movies as a group.
Gym - there is both a weight room (with a decent selection of machines and free weights) as well as a fitness room with several treadmills, stationary bikes and ellipticals. There are also fitness classes led by volunteers.

Crary Lab

Antenna sites (T-site, Fines) - if you get a chance to make it to these sites, take it! Aside from getting to see the radomes up close and personal, these sites offer some of McMurdo’s best views of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Getting around - most of your transport will just be on foot. However, there is a dedicated shuttle system that offers regular service to various sites in the town. This also includes transport to the nearby New Zealand Scott Base. Some privileged groups have access to their own vehicles, including trucks, snowmobiles, and even helicopters. As a high-priority project, we had a van dedicated to our team. My first week or so was essentially being an Antarctic Uber driver for our team, shuttling technicians between antennas and facilities around the town. I was required to pass a driver’s test. Aside from safe driving on ice & snow, certain precautions must be met. This includes things like keeping the vehicle plugged in while not in use (to prevent the engine from freezing) and parking facing into the wind (to prevent the wind from ripping the doors off the hinges when opened).
Post office - there is also a post office in town.

Environment

Day & “Night”

Depending on what time of year you travel to Antarctica, the concept of day and night can vary wildly. In winter (May - August), people in McMurdo go months without seeing the sun. In summer (~November - February) the sun never sets. Having arrived in early October, I was able to see the final “sunset” of that year. 24 hours of daylight is a very unique experience. I found myself energized to stay up later than I probably should have, going to the gym at 11pm or hiking some of the Ross Island trails at midnight on occasion.

Weather

The weather is extremely unpredictable (aside from being cold. That part is pretty predictable). For the time I was there, the temperature varied from a low of about 30 degrees below zero F to highs of about 25 degrees above zero F. Weather forecasts do exist, but the amount of wind, snow, and visibility is difficult to predict. A lot of my time was spent at the antenna sites up on the hills where the wind was stronger. We had numerous days of delays due to high wind speeds. We had one “Condition 2” day due to high winds and poor visibility. Condition 1 days are the most severe and are more common in the winter months.

Animals

Weddell Seal, Antarctica — A Weddell Seal near McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Being such a hostile place, there isn’t a huge variety of wildlife in Antarctica. The following animals are possible sights at McMurdo:

Penguins - everyone’s favorite! Penguins can often be found after icebreakers come in early summer, following the ship’s path through the ice.
Weddell seals - these big blubbers quickly became one of my favorite animals. They are easy to spot, as large dark masses out on the white ice. They also make some of the most interesting noises which sound like laser weapon sound effect underwater. I was fortunate enough to see a few newborn seal pups with their classic Disney puppy-dog eyes. My favorite spot for viewing was at Hut Point. There was almost always a group of seals laying out on the ice just below the cliffs near the shore.
Skua - Antarctica’s scavenger bird, this one might be more rare of a sight depending on the time of year.
Crary lab - the Crary lab is open to everyone on the ice and has some incredibly interesting artifacts and specimens. They offer guided tours as well, with insight into some of the ongoing research. My tour ended with a cold-water “petting zoo”, where we were encouraged to hold various underwater creatures including pycnogonids, aka giant Antarctic sea spiders.

Hiking In Antarctica

Yes, you can hike in Antarctica! In fact, McMurdo has its own trail system. There are several marked trails around Ross Island that provide stunning views and an even more intense sense of isolation at the edge of the world. Click here to read more about Hiking in Antarctica: Ross Island Trail System.

Oh, also here's me skiing in Antarctica dressed as a penguin on Halloween. I hope this article helps give some insight as to what it's like to visit this remote part of our world.