My Mother (now 94 YO) and Daddy (deceased)
The Karmun Clan and our gang at a young age.
Our gang,
Granddaughters Amelia & Abby.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Family Photos at The Pole
I don't remember if I mentioned that we at the South Pole are a day ahead of you so when you see the date stamp at the top of the blog, I'm actually a day ahead. For example, I'm writing this on early Nov.15th but when I publish it, it will probably say the 14th. The weather was bad in McMurdo yesterday so the LC-130 couldn't fly. It is scheduled again today so we'll see if I make it off of The Pole this time. Again it's early morning and I can't sleep, so I looked back thru my photos and thought that I would put some up that was taken of my family album a few days ago. I wish the photographer was a little bit closer but these will have to do because there won't be a retake.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Ceremonial South Pole
I've put a lot of photos of the Geographic South Pole in my blog but very few if the Ceremonial Pole which is for dignitaries and other visitors. The South Pole Station is on an ice sheet that slides about 33 feet a year towards the Mawson Sea. In about 250,000 years the SP Station will plop off into the Sea, give or take 10,000 years. The Ceremonial Pole moves with the Station whereas the Geographic South Pole does not. When I go out and stand by the Geographic Pole I know that is where Amundsen and Scott stood over a hundred years ago. So on January 1st. of every year they survey and move the Geographic South Pole back about 33 feet. So the Geographic Pole is moving away from the Station but in actuality the South Pole Station is moving away from the Geographic Pole. So early this morning when I couldn't sleep, I put on my cold weather gear and went out to take a few photos of the Ceremonial Pole. The wind was only 8 knots which is low for here. I'm scheduled to leave today but my plane is on weather hold at McMurdo. We will see if I get out today. It will be good to go home and get well.
The end is near!
My body has never been able to adjust to the elevation of the South Pole so they have decided to send me home. I'm scheduled to leave today. It's sad really but the positive side of it is that I've seen the South Pole which is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and I'm so thankful for that.
My cubicle. It's 1 AM and I'm 'Sleepless at the South Pole.'
The Comm Control and Gym side of the Station.
So long Polar Plateau!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Goofing around at The Pole.
OK, It's time to get serious about being here at The Pole.
It warmed up to -35 with a chill factor of -53 so it is time to putt around a little.
Would someone lift the flag out of the cup for me, please?
Pump 7 - I miss you guys!
My brother-in-law Harry Karmun's Chess Club banner.
Co-worker Meagan's rally banner. She is a Roller Derby Lady, can you tell with a name like that?
Well, I had to use the other side of the sign for something and I always wanted to do this.
HI MOM!!!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Veteran's Day Celebration at the Geographic South Pole
Although it was 35 below zero today with wind chill factor of -56 F, we had a Veteran's Day Celebration out at the Geographic South Pole. It started at 11:11 AM and was short and sweet but a very nice thing that they did for the Vets down here at The Pole. I had carried a flag down from Alaska that Capt. Larry Graham and Anita Maas (Alyeska Pipeline Security) had provided me and flew it at the Celebration.
It seems unrealistic but here I stand where Norwegian Roald Amundsen and four others stood almost 102 years ago when he was the first in the race to the South Pole.
It seems unrealistic but here I stand where Norwegian Roald Amundsen and four others stood almost 102 years ago when he was the first in the race to the South Pole.
The Ceremony begins at 11:11 AM. That's me with the frosted glasses.
The flag that is flapping in the breeze is from Alyeska Pipeline Security.
The whole gang.
South Pole marker with Rick Smith's patch
Alyeska Pipeline Co-worker Rick Smith's Casper Platoon Vietnam patch.
SP marker and my patches.
My patches.
TL - 644th AC&W, Richmond, FL
TR - 744th AC&W, Murphy Dome, AK
BL - 609th TCS, Cannon AFB, NM
BR - AK Air National Guard - 168th ARS
Saturday, November 9, 2013
South Pole Station
I have been here at The Pole for 6 days now and I was down pretty hard with altitude sickness for a few days. Today is Sunday, the 10th of November and I am off work. Nobody works today except the the cooks, the meteorologist, the power plant operator and a few select others. The satellite is within range of the South Pole a lot today so I plan on getting my blog caught up.
So where do I start? Let's talk about altitude sickness. I had a good shot of it. The flight from McMurdo doesn't allow one to acclimate en route. Usually when people get to the South Pole they take it easy for 2 days but altitude sickness can occur up to 5 days after you arrive. I was sick for the 5 days. The signs of altitude sickness are shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness and difficulty sleeping and I had all of that. The day after I arrived, Mike and I were trying to program the Wheelock VoiceLink and I fell asleep a couple of times. The next morning I went to see Dr. Bradshaw and he checked my SpO2 and it was down to 79-81. I spend the next 2 and 1/2 days in my 6' X 8' room with O2 tube run to my nose and taking Diamox. That small room got smaller by the hour. Anyways, I'm feeling a lot better and I went outside yesterday for the first time since I got here and it felt great. I only use O2 at nights with my CPAP now and my SpO2 is hanging around 89. I still have shortness of breath and trouble sleeping but last night my body said 'enough is enough' and I slept for 10 hours. I'm hoping that I can sleep tonight. Mountain climbers have the same problem. They go up to a certain altitude, rest and then go up higher, acclimate, etc. Well, enough about altitude sickness.
The original South Pole Station was built in 1956-57 and is now completely buried. The second station was, located under a geodesic dome, was completed in 1975, which was dismantled and shipped off the continent in 2009-10. The new Elevated Station was dedicated in January of 2008. The winter (a little over 8 months) population is around 45 and the summer (a little under 4 months) population is around 150, although we are at 114 right now. We live in the Elevated Station but there is overflow for the summer out back in something called Hyertats, similar to Quonset Huts. It is like a space station, you don't usually go out unless your job requires it then you suit up just an astronaut. They even call parts of the station - Pods! But there are those who go outside to just to get out. My friend Ian has a fat tired bike that he takes out when the weather isn't too bad. Of course, the smokers have to go outside. There isn't any designated smoking area - just outside.
The average monthly temperatures range between -18 F in the summer to -76 F in the winter. The record high was + 9 F, recorded in Dec. 2011 and -117 F which was recorded in June, 1982. The average snow fall is 20 cm per year and the wind averages 11 knots. The snow doesn't melt here. The Polar Plateau keeps getting higher year after year.
There aren't any ATM nor credit card usage and no check cashing here at The Pole. You have to come with cash. There is a store that is open for one hour every other night. Due to water conservation, we are allowed 2 two minute showers a week and one load of laundry. We all do housekeeping. They call it House Mousing. There is a sign on the back of my door saying that the occupant of this room cleans the restroom on this floor on Mondays. Well, the only restroom on my floor is the Women's Restroom. I called on Andrea, the Station Support Supervisor, and told her that there must be some mistake. She said "No, that is the restroom that you clean and besides the Women's Bathroom is always cleaner then the Men's." So on Mondays about 4 PM, I go down to the Women's restroom, open the door a little, call out and if it is clear, block open the door and start cleaning. They have complete instructions posted on the wall.
We have Internet and phones here. I have a phone in my room. It's a Denver, Co phone number. But the Internet and the phone service is dependent on three satellites being in range. They are listed on the South Pole Website - http://www.southpole.usap.gov/ The three satellites (GOES, SPTR & SKYNET) are on a bar graph and have green bars when they are within range. We are really roughing it, don't you think?
I'm now caught up on my blog!
So where do I start? Let's talk about altitude sickness. I had a good shot of it. The flight from McMurdo doesn't allow one to acclimate en route. Usually when people get to the South Pole they take it easy for 2 days but altitude sickness can occur up to 5 days after you arrive. I was sick for the 5 days. The signs of altitude sickness are shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness and difficulty sleeping and I had all of that. The day after I arrived, Mike and I were trying to program the Wheelock VoiceLink and I fell asleep a couple of times. The next morning I went to see Dr. Bradshaw and he checked my SpO2 and it was down to 79-81. I spend the next 2 and 1/2 days in my 6' X 8' room with O2 tube run to my nose and taking Diamox. That small room got smaller by the hour. Anyways, I'm feeling a lot better and I went outside yesterday for the first time since I got here and it felt great. I only use O2 at nights with my CPAP now and my SpO2 is hanging around 89. I still have shortness of breath and trouble sleeping but last night my body said 'enough is enough' and I slept for 10 hours. I'm hoping that I can sleep tonight. Mountain climbers have the same problem. They go up to a certain altitude, rest and then go up higher, acclimate, etc. Well, enough about altitude sickness.
The original South Pole Station was built in 1956-57 and is now completely buried. The second station was, located under a geodesic dome, was completed in 1975, which was dismantled and shipped off the continent in 2009-10. The new Elevated Station was dedicated in January of 2008. The winter (a little over 8 months) population is around 45 and the summer (a little under 4 months) population is around 150, although we are at 114 right now. We live in the Elevated Station but there is overflow for the summer out back in something called Hyertats, similar to Quonset Huts. It is like a space station, you don't usually go out unless your job requires it then you suit up just an astronaut. They even call parts of the station - Pods! But there are those who go outside to just to get out. My friend Ian has a fat tired bike that he takes out when the weather isn't too bad. Of course, the smokers have to go outside. There isn't any designated smoking area - just outside.
The average monthly temperatures range between -18 F in the summer to -76 F in the winter. The record high was + 9 F, recorded in Dec. 2011 and -117 F which was recorded in June, 1982. The average snow fall is 20 cm per year and the wind averages 11 knots. The snow doesn't melt here. The Polar Plateau keeps getting higher year after year.
There aren't any ATM nor credit card usage and no check cashing here at The Pole. You have to come with cash. There is a store that is open for one hour every other night. Due to water conservation, we are allowed 2 two minute showers a week and one load of laundry. We all do housekeeping. They call it House Mousing. There is a sign on the back of my door saying that the occupant of this room cleans the restroom on this floor on Mondays. Well, the only restroom on my floor is the Women's Restroom. I called on Andrea, the Station Support Supervisor, and told her that there must be some mistake. She said "No, that is the restroom that you clean and besides the Women's Bathroom is always cleaner then the Men's." So on Mondays about 4 PM, I go down to the Women's restroom, open the door a little, call out and if it is clear, block open the door and start cleaning. They have complete instructions posted on the wall.
We have Internet and phones here. I have a phone in my room. It's a Denver, Co phone number. But the Internet and the phone service is dependent on three satellites being in range. They are listed on the South Pole Website - http://www.southpole.usap.gov/ The three satellites (GOES, SPTR & SKYNET) are on a bar graph and have green bars when they are within range. We are really roughing it, don't you think?
I'm now caught up on my blog!
A great photo of the South Pole Station taken from the Internet showing both poles.
South Pole Station has two poles. This is the geographic south pole and .....
.....this is the ceremonial pole.
We have a greenhouse.
Typical hallway.
That's a whole lot of powered milk.
Mike Epperson, SME, who works for Lockheed Martin, who has the Antarctic Support Contract for NSF. Mike hired me long distance while he was at the Palmer Station, one of the three US research stations down here in Antarctica.
Skiway side of the station.
The station is built on pilings which sits on about two miles of ice.
Pole side of the station.
We recycle here. Everything that comes in has to be flown out. We have quite a successful recovery rate at 62%.
They have some cool science down here. This is the IceCube project - more about this later.
Telescopes.
My 6' X 8' room. You have to dance to get around the chair to get to the desk. It gets awfully small when you have to spend 2 and 1/2 days on O2 in there.
My granddaughter Amelia's artwork hanging on my wall.
Amundsen made it to the South Pole first and returned to the coast to tell the world. Scott did not.
Nov. 4th - Flight to the South Pole
Monday, Nov. 4th, was a beautiful day in McMurdo. It was hard to contain my excitement because my goal was 830 miles away. Ivan the Terra Bus hauled us out to the sea ice runway one more time. As we loaded into the LC-130 you could look over and see the steam coming from the vent from Mount Erebus. Soon we were taxiing and took off.
The C-130 is an interesting airplane. It was built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) in the 1950's and has been in continuous use and production for over 50 years. The U.S. Air Force had attempted to replace the C-130 in the 1970's thru the Advanced Medium STOL Transport project which resulted in the C-17. The C-17 is the aircraft that flew me from Christchurch down to McMurdo. My son-in-law, Chris, flew C-130s during the Iraq War. OK, OK, back to the flight to the South Pole.
Now the LC-130 is a far cry from the luxurious flight on the Boeing 777 from Sydney to Christchurch flight. You sit in web seats along the sides with luggage strapped down between you. It is very noisy and you have to wear ear plugs and you are unable to talk to the person next to you. The plane has small round windows near the back. When you go back there to look out you have to carefully step over every one's legs which I did because I wanted to see if I could locate Mt. Kirkpatrick.
There are many mountains in the Transantarctic Mountain Range but Mt. Kirkpatrick is interesting to me because paleontologists have unearthed dinosaur bones from the Early Jurassic era for the last 20 years there. It just goes to show you that Antarctica was a much warmer place many, many years ago. Not being able to locate Mt. Kirkpatrick, I went back to my seat and read.
It didn't seem long before it was announced on the intercom that we were 20 minutes out from The Pole and to prepare for landing which we did because a lot of us had taken our jackets off and stuck them in the webbing to make our seats softer. We landed and pulled over to the apron. As the airplane was still moving, the back door went down, the cargo was pushed out and the back door was closed to save the heat inside the aircraft.
I looked down at my watch as any explorer would have done. It was 12:25 PM on the 4th of November, 2013. The outside temperature was -44 degrees F with a wind chill factor of -73 degrees F. The South Pole sits at an elevation of 9,301' but barometer reading is low right now so it has the effects of being at over 11,200'.
Yes, I'm at the South Pole, living my dream. I'm at the coldest, driest, windiest, cleanest and most remote place on the face of the earth. Since I left Fairbanks last Monday, I have traveled 14,568 miles. I guess I can check this off my bucket list now.
The C-130 is an interesting airplane. It was built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) in the 1950's and has been in continuous use and production for over 50 years. The U.S. Air Force had attempted to replace the C-130 in the 1970's thru the Advanced Medium STOL Transport project which resulted in the C-17. The C-17 is the aircraft that flew me from Christchurch down to McMurdo. My son-in-law, Chris, flew C-130s during the Iraq War. OK, OK, back to the flight to the South Pole.
Now the LC-130 is a far cry from the luxurious flight on the Boeing 777 from Sydney to Christchurch flight. You sit in web seats along the sides with luggage strapped down between you. It is very noisy and you have to wear ear plugs and you are unable to talk to the person next to you. The plane has small round windows near the back. When you go back there to look out you have to carefully step over every one's legs which I did because I wanted to see if I could locate Mt. Kirkpatrick.
There are many mountains in the Transantarctic Mountain Range but Mt. Kirkpatrick is interesting to me because paleontologists have unearthed dinosaur bones from the Early Jurassic era for the last 20 years there. It just goes to show you that Antarctica was a much warmer place many, many years ago. Not being able to locate Mt. Kirkpatrick, I went back to my seat and read.
It didn't seem long before it was announced on the intercom that we were 20 minutes out from The Pole and to prepare for landing which we did because a lot of us had taken our jackets off and stuck them in the webbing to make our seats softer. We landed and pulled over to the apron. As the airplane was still moving, the back door went down, the cargo was pushed out and the back door was closed to save the heat inside the aircraft.
I looked down at my watch as any explorer would have done. It was 12:25 PM on the 4th of November, 2013. The outside temperature was -44 degrees F with a wind chill factor of -73 degrees F. The South Pole sits at an elevation of 9,301' but barometer reading is low right now so it has the effects of being at over 11,200'.
Yes, I'm at the South Pole, living my dream. I'm at the coldest, driest, windiest, cleanest and most remote place on the face of the earth. Since I left Fairbanks last Monday, I have traveled 14,568 miles. I guess I can check this off my bucket list now.
Boarding the LC-130 in McMurdo.
This is how we ride in an LC-130. A far cry from the Sydney to Christchurch flight.
Flying over the Transantarctic Mountains.
Opening the back door to shove the cargo out on the apron and then to get the door closed quickly because "Baby, it's cold outside!"
Walking up to the SP Station.
Me and the LC-130 at the South Pole skiway.
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