Some of you are probably wondering what, exactly, I do here at the South Pole.

As the general assistant (GA) to operations, I report first and foremost to the VMF (vehicle maintenance facility, or the heavy machinery garage). The garage is the hub for the maintenance of everything from the bulldozers that control the snow around the station to portable heaters that thaw them out. Nearly every morning at 7:30, I arrive at the garage, trade my parka in for coveralls, and get to work assisting the mechanics.

The GA’s job is never a glamorous one. During my first weeks of assisting in the heavy machinery shop, I spent most of my time maintaining the garage itself while the mechanics maintained the machines. Despite coming through two double bay doors designed to hold out the weather, a great deal of snow comes in with the machines. Thus, I spent much of my first weeks in the garage pumping out the shop drains so that we did not flood the shop and electrocute ourselves or at least damage a lot of tools. I learned quickly to be efficient as I pumped excess oil and water through a separator, barreled it, and then pitted my own weight against the 55-gallon drums as I manhandled them off to waste management.

After some exhaustive research, I concluded that yelling at barrels does not make them any lighter. However, learning how to utilize their inertia does. The more efficiently I work, the smoother the shop runs and the more time I have to assist the mechanics – and learn a thing or two at the same time.

“So, when are you going to start teaching me to drive the bulldozers?” I asked one of the foremen.

“Operate them. You drive cars. You operate the big machines,” he replied with a grin.

“See – first lesson, right there. Thanks!” The “Jane-of-all-trades” nature of my job as the operations GA means that I actually spend less than half of my working hours in the heavy machinery shop. I’m often on loan to a variety of departments on station, each of which is training me in some aspect of their field. Twice a week I work with Cargo to help pull food, using sleds and loaders, from the “deep freezer,” which is our unheated dome to the galley in the main station. The Power Plant has me doing engine room checks. I help Cryogenics transfer helium into portable tanks to transport it to various research stations, where it is used in telescopes. And as soon as we start getting flights in again, I’ll be helping the “fuelies” out on the airstrip marshal in the planes.

My flight was one of the last ones to make it into South Pole Station before an extended period of bad weather shut down all access to Amundsen-Scott. No planes could make it in or out for more than a week, stranding people waiting to leave the Pole and cutting off our access to supplies at the same time. It was the longest period of bad weather holding off flights during the summer season since 2000.

In the garage, we all pause to listen to the voice on the station loudspeaker: “Attention South Pole. Here is the latest flight update. Flight Papa-Zero-Zero-Six has been delayed two hours, due to weather conditions at McMurdo.”

We groan.

“I need those parts in to fix the D8 soon,” worried my supervisor out loud. There is no Ace Hardware we can go to. If something breaks, parts have to be ordered, shipped to New Zealand, and then brought here by plane – and with the delays, incoming cargo is backed up far more than usual. It could take weeks.

But such is the nature of working at the South Pole. While taking a snowmobile to an outlying research building in order to fit a fuel pump for a new filter, I got a good chance to look around at my new environment. The snow stretches out as far as the eye can see in every direction, creating a sensation that is not at all unlike that of being far out to sea. The wind molds waves in the snow very much like the surface of the ocean. It is beauty, though, with the price of isolation. We do what we can with what we have here at the station – and I do whatever I can to help keep things running.

Meg Adams, who grew up in Holden and graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, shares her Antarctic experiences with readers each Friday. For more about her adventure, additional information about Antarctica and to e-mail questions to her, go to the BDN web site: www.bangordailynews.com.