Happy New Year! January 3, 1999 Published during the austral summer for the United States Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. An Alaskan flag, raised by one of many Alaskans work- ing at Siple Dome, snaps in the crisp breeze of a snow storm as it pounds the remote field camp. of trappings.” Down home at Siple Dome Spartan indeed. The vast expanse of white is broken only by Story and photos by Alexander Colhoun the domes of 11 Jamesway tents, 13 Scott tents and 13 Sierra Design tents. Just 100 yards from camp even these structures SIPLE DOME -- The view from Rhonda Ecker’s blue Sierra merge to become little more than small black dots resting on a Designs tent is a magical yet achingly simple union of earth and thin margin between ice and sky. Walk two miles across the ice heaven. and Siple Dome camp, like a dream, ceases to exist at all. The sky is unlimited. The horizon an oval-like expanse that Unwelcomed by mother nature, humans here are merely vis- stretches, mightily, around and around. A sustained flatness rolls itors, and short-timers at that. “When I came to Antarctica, this is out to greet the far corners of the sky like a thin pancake running what I had in mind,” said Ecker, a driller from Alaska. “Out here to the edge of a griddle. On clear days, the air above rockets out you don’t see any signs of the real world. You are out of contact into the stratosphere in a blue so vast it leaves an aching, hollow with everything, no e-mail, no phone, just a little mail every now feeling in the soul. and then.” This is a polar desert. This is Siple Dome. Which is just how most residents of this camp like it. For Situated near the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on a some, life at Siple Dome means getting back to basics, the way stable expanse of ice rising 1,100 feet above the sea, Siple Dome life might have been for early explorers. “Out here we do a lot camp is in fact an Antarctic station in disguise. At its maximum more journal-writing, letter-writing, it’s a more subtle lifestyle,” capacity of more than 70 inhabitants, Siple Dome has double the said Coffey. Snuggled inside his ‘hooch’, an 8-foot-by-4-foot population of America’s Palmer Station on the Antarctic space inside a Jamesway, Coffey spends his evenings tuned into a Peninsula. “We’re big,” said Tim Coffey, an ASAemployee. “It’s more of a station than a camp, but a little more Spartan in terms ...story continued on page 3 INSIDE Life Blooms in Dry Water’s Mark in McMurdo/ Siple Dome Science/ Anything But Ordinary/ Valleys/ Page 4 Page 6 Pages 8 and 9 Page 14 The Antarctic Sun January 3, 1999 2 Two Guinness Records Set at Pole “For me, model airplanes ‘Polie’ Glides into are not a hobby, they are an World Record Book obsession,” Penney said. “It’s all-consuming.” Story and photo by Ginny Figlar Which is why Penney AMUNDSEN-SCOTT STATION -- It carefully packed his $700 elec- took more than a wing and a prayer, but tric sailplane in 10-inch PVC John Penney made history on Nov. 22 at piping and mailed it to the the South Pole with the coldest remote- Pole for his first season in controlled airplane flight ever docu- Antarctica. He has a couple mented. more planes on the way, and With the temperature down to he’s building an “air force” of minus 39 C, Penney attached hand planes during his upcoming warmers to the batteries of his 85-inch- winter at the Pole. Rather than wingspan, six-channel, electric sailplane building planes from a kit, John Penney holds together the pieces of his plane, which crashed a few weeks after his world-record flight. and sent it airborne for five minutes and Penney will “scratch build” the 40 seconds. Using a prototype plane by planes from the 22 sets of plans SR Batteries, Penney flew loops and he has designed. While some spend the Youthful Journey rolls, and glided gracefully into the long, dark months of winter watching Guinness Book of World Records. The movies and reading, Penney said, “I just to 90 Degrees record will be published in the need a little more stimulation than that.” S o u t h 2000/2001 edition. Penney said he’s content with flying Story and photo by Alexander Colhoun “I had butterflies the size of woolly planes from the ground rather than the pilot’s seat. “At least this way, if I crash I mammoths,” said Penney, who is known AMUNDSEN-SCOTT STATION -- Ola can still go home at night,” he said. as “Big John,” around the station. Skinnarmo, a 26-year-old Swedish He learned that first-hand recently “You’re pretty sure that it’s going to adventurer became the youngest person when his sailplane took a turn for the work, but it’s an unknown, a big ever to reach the South Pole under their worse. Rounding a loop, the G-force was unknown. own power, skiing from Hercules Inlet too much for the long wings. One of the “But I’ll tell you what,” he contin- on the coast of Antarctica. wings snapped, sending his prized ued, “when I launched that first one and Skinnarmo arrived at Amundsen- plane into a nosedive for the ice. The she started taking off, it was a huge Scott South Pole Station on Dec. 21 at wreck was a sore subject. weight lifted off my shoulders. That was 6:30 a.m. to little fanfare. Most station “Us R/C guys don’t like to dwell on a magnificent flight. That was beauti- residents were asleep or working as the negative,” he said. ful.” Skinnarmo made his way to the geo- With reinforcements on the way, The 43-year-old’s passion for flying graphic South Pole, marking the end of Penney said he will try to better his model airplanes was sparked 15 years his one-way journey. record as the temperatures dip down to ago, but it wasn’t until within the last “As I look back on these 47 days, it minus 100 C. In the meantime, he is not four years that he’s been able to afford went much faster than I thought,” said too worried about the competition he’ll his favorite past-time. Back in the ‘80s, Skinnarmo as he sipped a glass of red drum up with his world record. he said, the cheaper planes ran close to wine, given to him by one of the many “Most people who do this kind of $1,000. Now, the prices have come new friends at the South Pole Station. thing are wearing t-shirts and shorts,” down. As a result, his interest has taken “I’ve really had a good time.” he said, not bunny boots. ✹ off. ...story continued on page 3 The Antarctic Sun, part of the United States Antarctic Program, is funded by the National Science Foundation. Opinions and conclusions expressed in The Sun are not neces- sarily those of the Foundation. Conveniently located just off Hwy. 1 at the busiest intersection in town! Use: Reproduction and distribution is encouraged with acknowledgement of source and author. Publisher: Valerie Carroll, ASA SeniorEditor: Alexander Colhoun Editor: Ginny Figlar Ring in1999 with a new “Dive in Antarctica” Contributing Editors:Ty Milford, Sarah Ohlson T-shirt or olive herringbone dress shirt. Contributions are welcome. Contact The Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in “Thanks for your continued support,” Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: http://www.asa.org Michael, Rhonda, Jenn and Yvonne The Antarctic Sun January 3, 1999 3 Guinness ...continued from page 2 His success may be attributed to years of preparation, beginning with a So good in fact, at least one South ski traverse in Norway and a second trip Pole resident told Skinnarmo it seemed as across Greenland’s ice cap. These suc- if he’d just come from a stroll in the park. cesses emboldened the Swede to attempt In truth, however, Skinnarmo’s journey the South Pole route and in November of covered 1,150 kilometers from its start on last year he set to work gathering spon- the Weddell Sea to its finish at the Pole. sors that include Iridium communica- To reach his objective, Skinnarmo tions and Jack Wolfskin. hauled his sled, filled with 120 kilograms In total, the adventure cost more of food and gear from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. than $200,000, which has Skinnarmo every day, taking 10- to 15-minute breaks looking forward to the lecture circuit and every 90 minutes. Crossing just six the income he hopes it will generate. crevasses on the entire route and tent- But from his roost in an elevated bound a mere two days due to bad weath- dorm at the South Pole, his glass of wine er, the Swede’s journey was nearly flaw- nearly empty, these concerns seemed far less in execution. On Dec. 20, Ola Skinnarmo, 26, a Swedish adventurer, from his mind. “You think about a lot out became the youngest person ever to ski from the coast to “The route is hard at the start,” he there,” he said. “How your life has been. the South Pole. said. “ It goes up quite fast in altitude, but You play up small events.