Drunk in Antarctica

So, yesterday I applied for a job at McMurdo station in Antarctica for the upcoming season of December 2017- 2018. Afterwards, I had some questions in my mind about alcohol consumption and general debauchery that I could only imagine would happen after months of being trapped in one of the remotest places on earth. Doing a little searching, I was surprised to find pages upon pages of people talking about the same thing. Imagine my surprise.

Each winter, the few dozen workers at the South Pole research station spend nine months in total isolation: No airplanes can fly in or out until the base "warms" up to 50 below zero -- otherwise the fuel might freeze and kill the engine.

To hold the workers over, the company running the station stocks a store ahead of time with provisions, including plenty of alcohol. (After all, who wouldn't want a healthy gin reserve before embarking on months of endless night with your co-workers?) To round out the standard liquor and beer staples, some of the "winter-overs" bring special treats with them in their 125 pounds of allowable luggage.

A bored, trapped, and cold population naturally gave rise to a bar. Club 90 South was a simple, wood-paneled joint with a hole in the wall opening up to the outside, where the bartenders would put the Jagermeister to keep it chilled. Massive pallets of beer, wine, and liquor were flown in with the winter crew, and they prayed it would last until them all nine months. The previous year's team, Broughton said, ran out of wine and beer early.

The bar operated on an honor system: take some liquor, leave some liquor. The system didn't work perfectly, though -- they were out of all but their worst beer (New Zealand's Export Gold) two months before the end of the winter. The workers became best friends; then they ran out of things to talk about. "By the time a year has gone by, you pretty much know everyone's stories," he said. "There is no escape."

www.theatlantic.com...

"Tales of rampant sex reveal polar life is anything but frigid"-

THE McMurdo research station in Antarctica was described by Jim Lovell, the Apollo astronaut, as a "home for heroes, scientists and visionaries".

Nicholas Johnson, 40, who for 10 years had a menial job on the US base, 1300km from the South Pole, believes there are two reasons people keep going back - money and sex. The Seattle-based writer says the polar community has an appetite for "heedless sex". The fact that people working through the Antarctic winter, the "big dark" between March and August, are tested for HIV makes it easier to switch lovers. There is little else to do. "Though the gender ratio is unbalanced (with two men for every woman), and some go hungry for long periods, when sex does happen it - in the library or the greenhouse - it whips everyone into a frenzy," Johnson said. McMurdo is well prepared: in one year managers distributed 16,500 condoms to the 200 people spending the winter there. Johnson says many take "ice wives" or "ice husbands" even if they are married. "It is understood this is only for the season and no one says anything about it - and nobody tells anybody back in the States, 9000 miles (14,500km) away." McMurdo managers expect 10 people to develop mental illnesses each winter. Some turn violent. There is a lot of binge drinking and the more determined find discreet corners in the coldest place on earth to grow marijuana.

www.theaustralian.com.au...
I would have never imagined anything like that before my searching yesterday. I figured the people there would be serious, staunch scientists that cared about their work and little else, but after doing some reading it sounds like I might just enjoy it there.


If I end up getting the job, my biggest decision will probably be how much of my 125 lb's of luggage I'm allowed to bring will be alcohol.

Kinda gross. Dudes all lining up to get some tail. But to each his own. At least there is booze!

Good luck!

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
Kinda gross. Dudes all lining up to get some tail. But to each his own. At least there is booze!

Good luck!

Haha. In Antarctica you take what you can get I guess.

a reply to: underwerks

Yes, like a ton of hiv tests and penicillin shots. Will there be access to internet porn?

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: underwerks

Yes, like a ton of hiv tests and penicillin shots. Will there be access to internet porn?

They have wifi I think, but I'm not sure how fast it is. A lot of buffering

At least no one's worried about their size. "It's minus 60 out there love".....

I don't get why you'd act depraved though, honestly people are incapable of entertaining themselves.

Are there any research stations where the ratio is reversed? If so does anyone have the application site address.

a reply to: underwerks

Ahhhhh, that's the worst when trying to close the deal!

Looks like you're back to late 90's stills Internet porn photography. It did me justice when I needed it. Ha!

originally posted by: Joneselius
At least no one's worried about their size. "It's minus 60 out there love".....

I don't get why you'd act depraved though, honestly people are incapable of entertaining themselves.

Probably because all there is to do in your free time is have sex and drink. After months of that, you've probably done everything you can imagine. Another article I read said that they are trying to bring breathalyzers in the future because so many people show up to work drunk, but the breathalyzers don't work due to the climate of Antarctica.

Score one for nature.

I have a buddy that was stationed down there for a while, back before the internet was a big "thing." He loved it, aside from completely ruining his back trying to push a hangar door closed.

If you get selected, I'd love to see updates on your journey!

a reply to: underwerks

Almost sounds like a cult, but not really. Lol

a reply to: underwerks

You should bring a beater (insert joke) guitar. That's what I would do. But I play guitar.

originally posted by: CulturalResilience
Are there any research stations where the ratio is reversed? If so does anyone have the application site address.

Not sure about the ratio lol, but I just applied to GSC Antarctica (a contractor) through the USAP (United States Antarctica Program).

www.usap.gov...

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
Kinda gross. Dudes all lining up to get some tail. But to each his own. At least there is booze!

Good luck!

I am sure there are swingers nights too

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

Greaaaaaaat.

Tag me in, I'm going third (Vomit)

originally posted by: Shamrock6
I have a buddy that was stationed down there for a while, back before the internet was a big "thing." He loved it, aside from completely ruining his back trying to push a hangar door closed.

If you get selected, I'd love to see updates on your journey!

It'd be cool if I got the job. There's so many crazy ways to die there though. I was reading about one guy who was working in the kitchen and went to clear out some snow that was blocking the vents in the walk-in cooler, and the snow fell on top of him and crushed him to death. Like a "giant hammer" it said.

Well I am left with the WHAT THE HELL ?

2 dudes for every dudette.

Drink, screw, throw in a little science, smoke a blunt afterwards.

All in the name of SCIENCE!


LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

a reply to: underwerks

Yes! Death! Exciting! Wooooooooo!

Booze, sex, death, Penguins and Orca.

Rock n freakin roll buddy!

I really hope you score this gig on a selfish note, just so we can get the updates. Sweet.

This sounds like rather interesting experience, I'm curious as to what the job requirements are?

lol

Good luck, dude!

Last night I was listening to some podcasts from people that have worked there before and I heard some truly weird things as well. This one guy said that a couple from Colorado started work there as dishwashers or something like that, and one day he walked in the back area of the kitchen and over heard them talking in a "digital" type of language that didn't sound human at all.

Most of the stories just revolve around everyday life on Antarctica, but every now and then something really weird pops up.