It all started in college, while perusing the plethora of non-descript booths at the annual career fair- in a low traffic side row, between the “Fast track to Chick-fil-a Management” table and the “Join the Colorado DMV for an Exciting Career” table, there was a company pushing… what? a job in Antarctica? a chance to go to the bottom of the world? to see and experience what most people never will? Hmmm, I thought. Raytheon Polar? That sounds pretty crazy- I think I’d like to do that… But, rounding the corner, I came upon the tables for all the engineering firms which promised a good career, a chance to put to use my degree, and a decent salary among other things. After five years as a poor undergrad, dollar signs immediately started flashing in my eyes, and my mind was made up. Yes, out of college, I would definitely be headed for the work-a-day world, not Antarctica- but none the less, the seed had been sown. Kacey had a very similar experience at the career fair- encountering the Raytheon table, entertaining the idea, but ultimately deciding on an alternate course.
It wasn’t until years later on our epic road trip 95 Degrees South, travel weary yet jubilant as we drove down the quiet streets of Ushuaia, Argentina, coming to a stop at the water’s edge of the famed Beagle Channel- the southernmost extent of our southbound expedition, and the ultimate goal of the whole endeavor- we realized, that though we had succeeded in driving to the bottom of South America, reaching Ushuaia could only be the penultimate stop on our journey south.
Antarctica lay less than 700 miles away, and even though we had just driven 23,000 miles, for us it might as well have been further than the moon. For most South American travelers, the typical route further south is aboard one of the many Antarctic bound cruise ships- which while very nice I am sure- at $7000 to $10000 per person was a little cost prohibitive for us. So, instead, we came up with a different plan…
That night we found a cozy hostel with good internet to stay at, brought up Raytheon Polar’s website, and promptly applied for every position that we were even remotely qualified for. Anxiously waiting for any reply, days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and then one day in the middle of summer we were contacted by NANA, the kitchen services subcontractor to Raytheon, and offered “alternate” positions as stewards at the South Pole Station! You can imagine our excitement. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out- as alternates, we would only be going if someone else dropped out of the program for some reason, and no one did that season- so no dice for us.
But we persisted, and applied again as soon as the job announcements were posted for the following season. This time we were luckier. NANA contacted us once again, and I think mostly because we had been alternates the year before, we were chosen again to be stewards at the South Pole- but this time we were primaries! Kacey and I jumped up and down like we had won the lottery- which in many ways we had: getting hired at all to work in Antarctica was pretty lucky. And the fact that we were both hired was incredibly lucky. And the fact that we were both hired to work at the South Pole station was absolutely absurdly lucky! Some people working for Raytheon go back year after year and are never given the chance to work at the Pole- so, for us to get to go on our first deployment to the ice, and together no-less, was nothing short of a miracle.
We spent the next six months getting everything ready, taking a slew of medical exams, and arranging our domestic lives in preparation for leaving. This certainly wasn’t the first time we had diverged from the lock-step of modern society, quit our jobs and blindly set off on what some might consider a foolhardy adventure. But it was the first time we had absolutely no idea what to expect. Europe, South America, everywhere else we had been- we usually had a vague idea of what we were going to see, or at least what we could expect to see. The Pole was going to be a different beast all-together. Combing the interwebs led to a few blogs on the subject, but even so, these weren’t much help in providing a decisive answer to our debate over Kacey’s intention to pack a whole suitcase of silk long underwear. I agreed that it would be cold, but honestly, how many pairs of long johns does one person need? If you think you are going to be that cold, just pack a Himalayan body suit as your one pair of pajamas and be done with it! but I digress…
So, medical shots taken, bags packed, everything else in storage- we were ready to go. And here is where the real story begins…
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