Last week of Nights and Christmas and New Years coming up next!

McMurdo from OB Hill!

So for this weeks update I have decided that I should give a better idea of what there is around McMurdo.  I am not sure why I didn’t do this my first year or my second season.

A “Mining Town” is the best way to describe McMurdo station.  This station originally started in 1956, and the oldest building that still exists here was built in 1959 and houses our coffee house.  The newest structure is a fuel tank that was just built last year.  So from 1959 to the present various buildings have been constructed and torn down as the station as evolved.  The station is not very pretty looking and we see photos of new stations that have been built and you realize this. 2 years ago a group put together by the NSF came down here and put together some recommendations that this station needs to be updated from the standpoint of cost as well as efficiency.  We currently have over 100 buildings on station that provide housing, work centers, storage warehouses, bars, a coffee house, a helicopter hanger, a gymnasium, a cardio vascular room, station management, facilities maintenance, science cargo, field cargo, field support, heavy equipment maintenance, medical, galley, a chapel, power plant, water treatment plant, waste water treatment, waste disposal both hazardous and general trash, a science/research laboratory and the buildings I work out of for Cargo.  We used to have a nuclear power plant but that has since been taken out from fears of radiation leaking from the plant.  There is a new master plan in the works that will take the 100+ buildings and condense the station footprint down to fewer than 20.  Why do this, simple most of the buildings are undersized and out of date and cost more to maintain than to build a new one even down here.  Working in cargo we have to deliver cargo to over 10 different locations depending on what it is.  The new plan will have a centralized warehouse for the science groups, a warehouse for station supplies and a warehouse for galley supplies.  The hope is that they warehouse for science groups will be tied into a new facility that cargo will get so that as the science groups supplies come in it will not have to be handled numerous times before it is even sent out into the field.  This would make our life in cargo a lot easier and we would be better suited in our current small team size where as with the way things are now, the small department that we are there is a bit of a struggle to make sure that we get all the work that we need to done.  This new plan is going to take some time to develop and construct so it might be a while before it is all finished.  I may have to find a way to come back down later in life and see if the changes are made and how this place looks in 40 years. 

So a little more about the station and where I live and where I work, my dorm is in what is called upper case housing.  The rooms in upper case are all suite style rooms that share a shower and toilet with an adjoining room.  Each room has their own sink.  My room this year overlooks the bay, which I am looking forward to when the vessels get here.  So far for the three years I have been here I have gotten lucky with my roommate situation and have had no issues.  I have heard of stories from others and their roommate situations and have been extremely thankful for how lucky I have been.  In my room there are 2 beds, 2 storage lockers, an armoire, a desk and a refrigerator.  We can check out a TV for our room if we want to, but this year I got lucky and was asked to take care of a TV for a person that works winters down here.  So we have a bigger TV in our room than others do.  The rooms are smaller in Upper Case than where I lived my first year but I am happy with where I am living.  The main building on station is called 155 and it houses the galley, store, barber shop, craft room, Human resources, Finance, our rec department, radio station and dorm rooms.  The building was painted blue a few years back and we joke how we should work with IKEA and get some new furniture that would make living here a little nicer in return for us painting a yellow stripe around the building and putting IKEA on it.  The building I work out of is 140 or MCC, this building houses our offices for cargo, shuttles and supply along with a heated bay area for storage and work.  All the buildings have an actual number assigned to them and are often referred to by the number like an address, others have gotten names assigned to them based on what goes on there so like a business.  When you are new to living down here it takes a while to learn and know what someone is talking about but you eventually learn and it becomes just like living at home. 

I hope you enjoy this weeks update and photos.

Tim

This is Building 140 or MCC where I work out of.  The garage door on the right is our cargo bay.

140 walking up from 155

The Gerbil gym, I have been spending more time here this year working out

The outside of Southern Exposure, this is one of the 2 bars.  The bins outside are for trash.

Building 155 that houses the galley, store, craft room, dorms, barber shop and our ATMs.

This is the outside of the coffee house, the oldest building on station.

The chapel.  I went to a wedding here last season.

This is Hut 10, we can rent it out and have a private party if we would like to.  

Building 209, I live on the 3rd floor in the very middle of the building.  

This is my view from my window in 209 from back in October.  It doesn't look a pretty now but it will snow when there is open water.

A view of Mt. Erebus, Mt. Terror and Scott Base from OB Hill.

Enjoying the view from OB hill