Letters from the Ice: Greetings from Antarctica

The following series “Letters from the Ice” will contain excerpts and photos from my time on the coldest continent on Earth, Antarctica. This cold cauldron of ice and wind shaped and molded my international travel and work experiences with a distinctive first imprint. It was the first time, I communicated some experiences with others outside my own family let alone traveled internationally. The excerpted letter below was sent upon my arrival to loneliest continent, and it was the first time as I felt I had something worthy to speak of.

“Greetings All,

I am just writing this email to let you all know that I am still alive and doing very well in Antarctica. It was quite the adventure to get down here to McMurdo Station and now that I am here and preparing for the long winter wanted to share some photos of the most populated station at the Southern End of the World. Here at McMurdo, today the last plane for 7 months just left. It left 130 of us: cooks, mechanics, welders, power plant operators, equipment operators, fuel technicians and many other critical roles necessary to sustain critical infrastructure through a long dark polar winter.

On that flight was a  coworker who has left me with the critical role of maintaining the Wastewater Treatment System for the next 7 months. His departure was not anticipated as he had to leave for family reasons and has left me in a leadership role to maintain and operate the furthest Southern Wastewater plant in the world. Out here on the Ice life is sweet as the fall Antarctic sun continues to wax shorter with each day. The food is amazing and while it may whither as winter goes on a true blessing it has been. As I am writing this from having been here for a week, I can affirmatively say I am content where I am and know what a privilege it is to be here. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

God Bless,”