Byrd Surface Camp, 80° South
So just how do you prepare yourself for camping out in the middle of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?
With about 25 and a half million cubic kilometers of ice separating you from the rest of the world, it can be hard to know what to pack for an extended stay at 80° South.
Alone, by Richard E. Byrd, 1938
The Namesake
In his memoir, Alone, namesake Admiral Richard E. Byrd tells the dark tale of 1934 when he wintered-over in solitude at "Advance Base," 123 miles from the Little America station, barely surviving a brush with Carbon Monoxide poisoning and ultimately radioing in for rescue.
June 1st was a Friday. A black Friday for me. The nightmare left me, and about 9 o’clock in the morning, I awakened with a violent start, as if I had been thrown down a well in my sleep. I found myself staring wildly into the darkness of the shack, not knowing where I was. The weakness that filled my body when I turned in the sleeping-bag and tried to throw the flashlight on my wrist watch was an eloquent reminder. I was Richard E. Byrd, United States Navy, (Ret.), temporarily sojourning at Latitude 80° 08' South, and not worth a damn to myself or anybody else. My mouth was dry and tasted foul. God, I was thirsty. But I had hardly strength to move. I clung to the sleeping-bag, which was the only source of comfort and warmth left to me, and mournfully debated the little that might be done... Thus this never-ending day began. To describe it all would be tedious. Nothing really happened, and yet, no day in my life was more momentous. I lived a thousand years, and all of them were agonizing. I won a little and lost a lot. At the day’s end- if it can be said to have had an end- all I could say was that I was still alive.
- Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Alone
His book paints a fairly modest, yet heroic version of himself as seeker of all truth— altruistic explorer of the great unknown. But why did he insist on going alone? Why was he so compelled to live in isolation and put the lives of so many at risk when something went wrong? I can't help but feel that his motives were perhaps a bit more linked to his ego than any real sense of duty. It's one thing to search for the greater good while holding your ground in the overwhelming jumbled chaos of humanity; quite another to seek it in the solitude of a 5 month long frozen night in a 9 by 13 shack sitting on the middle of an ice sheet.
Which is something perhaps all of us who venture to Antarctica can relate to.
In a world that is increasingly connected through miles and miles of fiber-optic cable and an ever-growing invisible wireless web, there's a feeling like you somehow managed to escape some long arm reaching out to catch you when you land in a place that can't load a Facebook page.
Lifestyle
Aerial of Byrd Surface Camp, 2009.
In Your Stay at Byrd Station, a 10-page publication sent out to participants during the 1970-71 field season, one excerpt reads:
"Snow melter shoveling is one of the exciting experiences you get at only small inland stations, so consider yourself one of a select group."
In the aerial photo on the left, you can see a small smudge in the flat expanse of snow in the lower left-hand corner. This snow-mine provides water for the entire camp.
Megan filming at Byrd Surface Camp, 2011.
Photo by Jeremy Miner.
Officially commissioned by the military in 1957, this camp has seen quite a bit of snow melter shoveling. Originally established as an underground camp, a tunnel system connected the station's five main buildings. Quite a bit of grunt work went into keeping these tunnels functioning, including welding empty oil drums to serve as vertical columns for the framework. The weight of the snow threatened collapse. In 1972, the station was redesigned and moved to the surface and used as a summer-only field camp.
Byrd Surface Camp now serves major missions out of West Antarctica, including the POLENET Program. During the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 field seasons, we produced a series of video podcasts that capture the energy and efforts of the field season along with what life is like at camp. The video below is #7 in this series of video podcasts.
Jamesway at Byrd Surface Camp, removed in 2009.
Antarctic ventilation.
By the time I arrived at Byrd Camp in 2009, all evidence of the 20th century establishments had been erased, except for one Korean War-era jamesway tent that was in the process of being deconstructed and flown out.
(Read more at The Antarctic Sun.)
Which is I think one of the reasons this place is so unique. Every season is a fresh start. The camp is re-built, tent by tent on a fresh season of snow. There's a sense of pride and ownership; a profound accomplishment and camaraderie that is developed within the initiation of each deep field season.
But you won't find a Lonely Planet guide to Byrd Camp. Which is why we created byrdcamp.com— a place to learn about what to expect and how to pack. We hope that future Byrd Camp residents find it useful and even if you're not headed there sometime soon, it's still fun to browse around.
If you'd like to view more videos, check out http://polenet.org for the full collection of video podcasts.
Live and Learn
Working inside POLENET science tent at Byrd Camp, 2011.
...a couple tips that are worth mentioning:
- You will be a hero if you bring extra toiletries. Q-Tips and baby wipes may take you far in a poker game kitty.
- Women may consider bringing alternative wind pants, as the USAP-issued Carhartt overalls, while quite comfy, require quite a lot of outerwear removal when visiting the outhouse. And it's chilly!
- Take a hot water bottle to bed with you.
- Bring lots of socks and underwear but only a few select pieces of clothes that you're willing to wear out.
- Bring a wool hat or something else to cover your eyes so you can sleep in the 24-hour daylight.
Byrd Camp DVD casing, 2011.
Byrd Camp DVD casing, 2011.
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