Wonderful Wasteland: a blog about Antarctica and running and shit

The Bottom, part 2

South Pole Station, in contrast to frozen alpine desert on which it was built, is a high-tech wonder of comfort and convenience, at least...

The Bottom, part 1

An unexpected quirk about working at McMurdo—situated as it is at the Southern tip of Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island, in the Ross...

The Mt. Newall Incident, part 2

I was working nights the season that the incident on Mt. Newall took place, so I can’t say how quickly word spread throughout the...

The Mt. Newall Incident, part 1

This story is not going to end well. Trust me, it’ll save a lot of confusion as we continue if you know that going in. It’s a sad...

Action and Reaction, part 2

In the landscape of the Antarctic Support Contract, there are a half-dozen small subcontractors that handle a handful of relatively niche...

Action and Reaction, part 1

The day of the all-hands meeting began with a gentle snowfall, light and heavy all at once—the sort of weather common to snow globes but...

Standard Procedure, part 2

The program needed a plumber, and while I don't know how desperate the situation was at the time, the USAP typically only hires New...

Standard Procedure, part 1

The drinking age in McMurdo is 21. Occasionally, someone younger than that will deploy here, but it happens infrequently enough that the...

Operator Error, part 2

There is a consistent managerial philosophy in McMurdo that any and all of the problems encountered while driving an ancient piece of...

Operator Error, part 1

When I think back on my time in Antarctica and how it has affected my perspective on the world, what surprises me is not the gradually...

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