A very special midwinter dinner

Midwinter is a very special time in Antarctica and has been celebrated since the arrival of the early explorers. After dinner many speeches were made along with the reading of the following letters.

Greetings to all on this mid-winters day (from a winter-over 1987, 88, 90, 91):

 Harry asked me to write a few words to you. Congrats on making it to this point.  I’m sure some of you feel that time has slowed to a crawl and it will be forever till the sun comes up and the first planes at Winfly land with new mail and old folks and time to leave for some. For others it’s like everything’s a blur but the day you arrived on the ice. I know I felt that way my first winter in 87 with Harry and Jim.

 I felt I missed or didn’t pay attention to everything so I ended up doing three more winters. I truly envy you being able to be there and will always remember the winters at McMurdo as the best times of my life -- and to think you’ve all done it without a midwinter airdrop! Hope you too recall this as one of, if not the best, time of your lives whether you are a FNGY (new guy) or have several winters under your belt.

 Enjoy the peace, quiet, and endless cool weather and darkness the next two months before Winfly and the sunrises, the planes land, and you have to share everything with those coming in. Good luck - be nice to each other, even to Harry, and I hope you get that damn ice pier started!

Operation Deep Freeze, 1964-1969

Good Evening:

         

Back in my time, McMurdo looked like a ghost town. The only buildings were the laundry and the mess hall, half-completed.  We also had a bowling alley, workout room, a very small library.  I wonder what it looks like now. 

What did I get out of my experience on the ice you might ask?  As I travel around, in my mind’s eye I still see Mt. Erebus, Hut Point, Dry Valleys, and Observation Hill where PM3A, the Navy’s portable nuclear power plant stood; or Cape Crozier with the penguins. 

Things I remember most are the Kiwis who invited us to dinner, continuing Capt. Scott’s tradition of inviting some of his crew to dine with him. Don’t ever try to drink a Kiwi under the table! One of our Junior Officers found this out after stating “Texans always walk out”.  I have a picture of him stretched out on a couch at Scott Base with a sign stating “Texans always walk out?”  They also managed to capture our Second in Command and ransomed him for 10lbs. of coffee.  Then they invaded McMurdo on the 4^th of July in retaliation for something we did in 1776.

I have to say the time in Antarctica was the best duty and experience of my 20 years in the Navy.  The big question is would I go back again?  Give me 2 seconds to decide...  OH YES!  Thank you for letting me share some of my experiences “On the Ice” with you this memorable night.

Then and Now

McMurdo Mid-winter Dinner - 2012

Mid-winter day is a time of great significance here in the Antarctic.  Celestially, it is defined as the shortest ‘day’ of the year, and the beginnings of the Sun’s gradual return in August.  Early explorers would mark the day with feasts and commemorative toasts to loved ones back home.  For them, the day provided a much-needed morale boost after many months of isolation.  It marked a ‘pivot point’ whereby they could start anticipating a call to action in the gathering dawn.

Much has changed since the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, both on the ice, and back ‘in the world’.  There are no Poles to discover any longer (though there are other things).  Nations no longer wait breathlessly in anticipation of our safe return, carrying word of feats of endurance and discovery.  We can converse with our loved ones back home in almost real time, so our feeling of isolation is much reduced from the days of yore.  Certainly, we now enjoy many of the comforts of home by comparison, though at times we all lose sight of that.  It is easy, and reasonable in many ways, for us to feel our contributions pale in comparison to the legends of the past.  It is understandable that many of us no longer feel any connection to those that came before us, or even to the legacy of the continent of Antarctica.

While all of this may be true, it misses the point.  Having the privilege of working here in the winter is still one of the most unique opportunities in the world.  For that reason alone, we are all now members of an exclusive group of individuals that share a common bond.  This bond extends not only with each other, but across all the stations on the continent on this special day.  It transcends time as well, as evidenced by the letters I read to you previously.  Do you not think that if the early explorers were alive today, they would be just as interested in our sense of being here as theirs?  They are indeed with us tonight in spirit, and they also would appreciate a place at the table.  Please make room for them if you can.

And so, on this special evening, I propose a toast to all the Antarctic Heroes, past and present. 

Thank you.

 The White House also sent greetings:

The invitation.

The daily activity board at the galley.

Nicely decorated.

Each table was named a different constellation.

The menu.

Wine service.

Desserts.

Salad fixings.

McMurdo grown lettuce and tomatoes.

Freshies!

The main courses.

My wife would love this.

Steaks on the grill.

These were good.

A real plant.

Salad dressings.

Except for an occasional piece of chicken I eat vegetarian now. My selection was potato on the half shell, stuffed brussel sprout leaves, and vegetable and cheese roulade. All excellent.

 sys

My friend Matt. He and I worked on the same space shuttle Ku-Band radar and communications system and knew the same people but we had never talked even though I had worked with several other people at Johnson Space Center. At 66 Matt is "the old guy".

These were excellent.

The galley brought out some real ice cream! It went fast.

What to choose next?

My biker friend who rode cross country on a unicycle. She fashioned a cool new North Face dress from an old tent.

My midwinter portrait.

This one looks better though!

Photo credit to MC. The two bright pointer stars on the left lead to the four stars of the Southern Cross in the middle above center. When the sky is clear this view rotates in a tight circle 24 hours a day. I look at the first pointer star as my younger sister, the second as my mom and the Southern Cross as my dad. They are always there when I look to the heavens.

Now that we are half way through our winter I have come to realize how special it is to be here. I am not living in any country but on a beautiful continent. I feel very privileged to be living this life as only a few people in the world will ever spend a winter in Antarctica.