People in McMurdo

The talent collected at McMurdo amazes me. There is a cross section of people from all walks of life. All are attracted by the prospect of either living in Antarctica or doing science here. The Station has a mixture of scientists and support personnel. The support folk perform the heroic task of keeping things running here, and have jobs ranging from janitor, cook, galley slave, and hair stylist, to helicopter pilot, shuttle driver, hazardous waste supervisor, mechanic, and sewage plant operator, etc – everything a small town needs to be completely self sufficient. The support people here all have a story. Some can fix anything, including the 50 year old trucks and other equipment originally brought here by the Navy during the establishment of McMurdo. Others just want to be here. The standard story line is “PhD? No big deal. We have PhD’s working in the galley!” There are mountaineers that support the field camps that were guides on Denali. While some people consider the pinnacle of their climbing careers to peak a mountain like Denali, these people guided folks to the peaks regularly. You also get some of the best scientists in geology, biology, glaciology, astrophysics, and more down here all mixing together. There is an Air National Guard unit that operates the flights to and from here and the flights to many of the more distant field camps, including South Pole Station. They have fuel handlers, mechanics, doctors, pilots, navigators, psychologists…. quite a list. Everyone meets in the galley for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Real synergy!