Visiting McMurdo Station, Antarctica

The C-17 military cargo jet was just the last leg of a several day journey from Maryland to Antarctica. Getting off the plane we rode into town on "Ivan the Terra Bus", usually shortened to just "Ivan."

Like a bus back home, Ivan seats over 50 passengers. Unlike those buses, Ivan's wide, 5' diameter wheels enable it to go through the slushy and muddy roads frequently found around McMurdo Station during the local summer.

McMurdo Station is frequently referred to as "Mac Town" and town it truly is. The main US base in Antarctica, and the largest base on the continent, McMurdo Station houses over 1000 people in the summer, from October to February. In the dark of winter it is maintained by fewer than 200.

Settling in

Arriving from the Ice runway, we lugged our baggage to a quick "in-brief." After a summary of procedures, we received our dorm keys, maps of town, and a booklet describing the facilities.

Lugging our bags again we headed to our new home for the coming weeks. Accommodations at McMurdo Station are not as inviting as a Westin or even a Motel 6 back home. Showers, baths, and laundry facilities are shared by an entire floor.

As "grantees" planned to stay in town for many weeks to carry out grant-funded research, we rated 2-person rooms. Two to a room is luxurious in McMurdo Station. Transients leaving after a night or two often share larger rooms with 10 or more people. Here too everything is relative.

A unique environment

Antarctica. The name brings to mind endless stretches of ice and snow, with blizzards blowing over a trackless waste. This is not too far from reality much of the time. McMurdo Station in the summer however breaks that stereotype.

Much of the summer McMurdo Station is bare of snow and ice. The ground is mostly volcanic soil and rocks, which makes sense given the geological neighborhood. Although the temperature could drop to -30F, it can also be above freezing.

McMurdo Station sits near the end of a peninsula at one end of Ross Island. Less than 25 miles away is the southernmost active volcano in the world - 12,450' Mt. Erebus, with the dormant Mt. Terror another 35 miles away.