Mainer heads south to Antarctic

I’m going south for the winter.

Mainers are familiar with going south for the winter, but I’m going a bit farther than most. About as far south as you can go, actually – and I don’t mess around. You see, growing up in Holden just wasn’t cold enough or remote enough for me, so this fall I’m headed off to a somewhat chilly research station. At the geographic South Pole.

Yes, the actual South Pole. Including, I’m told, the candy-striped post. No, I can’t bring you back a penguin; those are just on the coast of Antarctica. I’ll be too far inland – the actual South Pole is too all-around inhospitable for pretty much anything alive, so no penguins, though I will get to see them en route.

And Santa Claus is allegedly on the other end of things, so don’t get any ideas about asking me to mail you an elf.

I’ll be stationed at the Amundsen-Scott base, population 225, from the end of October through February. I’m working with the support contractors for the U.S. Antarctic Program as a general assistant – a “Jane-of-all-trades” providing mechanical assistance throughout the station. Essentially, I’ll be doing whatever needs to be done to keep the station running from shoveling snow (bet you can’t guess where I learned to do that) to operating, maintaining and repairing vehicles. Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest and emptiest continent on Earth – and I’m thrilled to get a chance to experience it firsthand.

Why would I want to do this? The answer is simple: for the sheer adventure of it. My childhood instilled in me a love for exploration, for those less-traveled paths – and for a good, stiff winter. Nine years ago, I proudly wore my “I survived the Ice Storm of ’98” T-shirt. This year, I hope to tackle even bigger challenges: living on the harshest continent on the planet.

I’m in for a bright, if frosty, season. Like most of the area below 66.5 degrees south latitude, the South Pole enjoys just one long day and one long night during the summer and winter, respectively. I will never see the sun set during my time in Antarctica. Lucky for me, I’ll be there during Antarctica’s summertime, so the average monthly temperature I will experience should be around a balmy minus 18 F. Even with sunlight 24 hours a day, it will never rise above zero degrees.

Like any sturdy native of Maine, I’m used to boasting of my tolerance for the cold. Now is my chance to truly prove my mettle. And after years of complaining about the lengthy drive just to get to the grocery store, I can stop worrying. There will be no grocery store to drive to. Amundsen-Scott station will hold all of us in tight, close-knit living quarters, and I will eat all of my meals with everyone else in the station galley.

Look at it this way: The population at the South Pole will be almost twice the size of my high school graduating class, John Bapst ’03.

I first was exposed to the idea of living in an insular, self-sustained – frankly, sardinelike – community while working on board some of the many boats and tall ships that sail the Maine coast. But while life at sea is often isolated, the option to make for shore and sail into a port will have no equivalent in Antarctica. Transport to and from Amundsen-Scott station is run by LC-130 airplanes, cargo planes equipped with retractable skis designed for landing on snow and ice. These cargo flights are possible only from October through February when temperatures are (usually) higher than minus 60 degrees.

As far as leaving the station during my stay, that will happen only in an extreme emergency – and even then, it could take nearly two weeks to get me out.

The adventure will be worth it, and I’m ready to take it on. I am no Ernest Shackleton (an explorer who made it to Antarctica, but never to the South Pole), or hotshot scientist (or, to my occasional chagrin, Indiana Jones). But I am from Maine – which, I think, has me better prepared than not.

Meg Adams, who grew up in Holden and graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, will share her Antarctic experiences with readers each Friday. For information about her adventure or Antarctica and to e-mail questions to her, go to www.bangordailynews.com.