Shuttle Jamie

I have decided to start making short profiles of some of the people I meet here. Folks that make up support crew in the town of McMurdo come from all walks of life but generally share a love of the outdoors. I will never do their stories real justice, but will try to give you an idea of who they are, what they do, and where they come from.

Shuttle Jamie (that's her call sign) drives shuttles around town. The need for shuttles here is great. No one has their own vehicle. Gear is hauled all around town. For example, for a group to get ready for the field, they need transport in from the runway after arrival (usually the Pegasus Ice Runway, where the C17 comes in), have their personal and ECW (Emergency Cold Weather) gear hauled to their dorms, then collect their camping gear from the Berg Field Center (BFC), food from the galley (kitchen), and finally get all this hauled to either the helopad or out to Willy Field, the C130 ice runway. There are various vehicles around available to help with all these tasks. Some are made for snow and ice, others for dirt and mud around town. A post from my previous visit had links to pictures of some of these vehicles.

I met Shuttle Jamie on my way to Scott Base in a Delta. I rode up front because the ride is short, and it is a pain to get people out of the boxes in the back of those things (see the pictures in that earlier post linked above). Remarkably, Jamie is from Cincinnati, and in fact lives less than a mile from my house there! It is truly a small world. This is her first year here. She likes it here enough that she considered wintering over but thought that her sister, who is expecting a baby, would not appreciate it. Will she come back? Probably, if she can swing it. She drives a full 8 hour day, sometimes more, and switches between the Delta regularly scheduled routes, shuttling on call, and Ivan the Terrabus (my favorite).