Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss When hell freezes over

In October 1979 JHAP walked up the cargo ramp of Hercules LC-130 airplane in Christchurch New Zealand carring a duffel bag of gear and the attitude 21 year old to begin what would become one of the most memorable adventures of my life.

After an eight hour flight the Hercules began the landing approach, sound mundane?

This specially equipped LC-130 would be using skis instead of wheels would land on an ice runway. Yep I said ice runway. To say the least landing via skis on an ice runway is unforgettable in and of itself and was just a hint of the adventure that would play out during my six month adventure.

The cargo bay door opened and, wearing near 30 pounds of “foul-weather” gear, this Southern California raised surfer, stepped out on to the coldest and one of the most unforgivable continents on our third rock from the sun.

The continent of Antarctica.

This particular photo is not mine (all of the rest of the photos in this thread are) but is a photo of an Hercules LC-130 on the ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctia. I flew on an identical aircraft and landed at the same location:




I won’t bore you with all of the details of the six month adventure; I took quite literally thousands of photographs, and forged some friendships some of which I still maintain today. I was fortunate enough to see many things that most will not in a life time. I watched the chain of life unfold. On many occasions I watched penguins frolicking amongst the “break ice” in Winter Quarters Bay only to be later hunted by the fierce leopard seal. One day the Construction Superintendent called a group of us into his office to observe through his telescope a Killer Whale that was no doubt hunting the leopard seals. A near-frozen chain of life unfolding before my very eyes.

One day (well technically every moment was day whilst I was in Antarctica, it was during the 24 hours of sunlight summertime) while taking photos of Penguin’s this little guy decided to follow me around, he followed me from all the way from the bay into “town.”



In 1979 the unofficial motto for McMurdo Station, Antarctica was...

"Antarctica, where men are men, women are men, and penguins and seals run scared."

And that's all I have to say about that.

But that's not the point of the story, so let us continue...

It was quite an transformation from a Southern California surfer to a member of United States Antarctic Research Program’s “Operation Deep Freeze.” Anyone recall the series “MASH” with Hawk and Trapper John lounging in the Swamp? Well this very same type of building, a Korean War era Jamesway (insulated tent) is what I would call home for my six month stay.

We would use the occasion of an unseasonably warm day for a photo op to take a picture the group of us that lived in these quarters.

This is me, the third guy from the right standing in front of what we affectionally called Hooch 162:


During my stay in Antarctica the US Navy was in charge of building an “Ice Dock.” They would use specially equipped Caterpillar D-8s to flatten and smooth the surface of some ice and when satisfied that the surface was adequately groomed, would detach this chuck of ice using explosives (GO TOMG!). This “Ice Dock” would then be floated out to a cargo ship to provide us our annual supplies.

During the building of this “ice dock” the US Navy lost 2 (yep I said two) of the Cat D-8s into Winter Quarters Bay. One D-8 dozer, while working near the dock, fell through an as yet unseen fissure in the ice – fortunately the operator realized what was happening and ran out of the cab and jumped to safety before as the huge dozer plunged into to the icy depths. I’m not sure the circumstances as to how the second Cat D-8 ended up in the bay, I’ve heard several stories and am not sure exactly which is true.

But the how and why the the two Caterpillar D-8s ended up at the bottom of Winter Quarters Bay aren't particularity important.

The important facts to note are these:
(1) Within a one week period of time the US Navy deposited 2 very large and expensive pieces of equipment into Winter Quarters Bay, Antarctica.
(2) Unfortunately for the Navy, this event took place during a time in which JHAP was living and working there.

Well folks, needless to say, I’ve always had a sense of humor similar to what I currently display on these forums.

And a part of the story that I haven’t yet mentioned is that I during my stay in Antarctica, I worked in the “Construction Materials” office and had access to all manner of tools and supplies.

Knowing the resources that I had at my fingertips, and trying to find a creative outlet for my always over active imagination, I hatched a plan. Late one night (technically night but really day) I entered the shop, cut some wood, painted it and using our stencil machine designed a nifty sign.

I put the sign in the back of the “materials truck” and in the wee hours of the morning snuck down to Winter Quarters Bay. Using a hammer that I brought just for the occasion I placed this sign along the road to the Winter Quarters bay:



Needless to say the Navy did not share my sense of humor and they removed the sign the next day.

Fortunately word quickly spread about the sign and several people took photos of it before it was removed. The photo above is the picure I took immediately after placing the sign.

The sign’s location was unknown for quite a while and then one day it ended up in the “Chief’s Club” (a make shift bar) hanging prominently on the wall, where it remained for many, many years and perhaps is still there today.


And now you know the rest of the story...

You mean that you used to have hair? What is Sunil doing standing next to you?

I still have hair, it's just not where I would prefer it to be.

No that is not Sunil standing (or kneeling) next to me.

Good story JHAP...

Great story, very well written, on a surprising topic! You made my day, dude!

ahhh the formative years...great stuff jhap, i think you or JWHAP mentioned this story to us a while back......fun to see the pics......

what happened to yer little friend? did he taste good?....sorry...i bet ken doesnt have a penguin recipe...he he

you guys look like a vintage shot of "the band".

gotta love the (plaid) flannel, my first wife used to say my favorite color was plaid flannel.

Great story. No penguin recipes unfortunately. It was too cold for them where I grew up. I understand they taste just like . . . fish.

JHAP, do you remember the names of the people in the picture? Do your remember if the guy shown in the far left of the picture was named Dan L., and was originally from New Braunfels, Texas?

Ken

Jeff,

Thanks for sharing that with us! Hey didn't George spend some time on the ice too as a researcher? George?

I was north - JHAP was south .... poles apart ...

Great story Jeff. I have a friend who was at McMurdo twice. She is a tough girl.

Jeff -

Neat story. Given the length of your golden locks, can I take it that this adventure was not the result of a military assignment? How did you manage to land that gig or was this an attempt to run from the IRS??

- Russ

Jeff,
Thanks for sharing that story and those pictures are a nice bonus.

The gentleman at the top of the picture in the blue flannel shirt seems to be sending a coded message....

upsidedown peace brother..

Ice and cold is just as miserable at both poles isn't it?

What was the weather like when you were there JHAP? I am sure cold, but just how cold?

You didn't happen to meet a welder named Tim while you were there, did you?

I assume they put big ice augers on the Cats to drill holes so you could ice fish or did they just use the TomG method?

Great story. Not sure I understand the implications of the sign though.

If there was snow in the picture, I'd be thinking of the movie, The Thing.

Ok, here goes, some answers and comments:


If you in any way disturbed the wildlife you were immediately terminated, flown back state side and fined $10,000. When the penguin followed me around town I became quite nervous.

There were a bunch of people that brought down musical instruments some of them were quite good. I played the tambourine.

You gotta love the plaid flannel, I have an entire collection.



I remember most of the names in the photo, but unfortunately not all. Also a lot of people went by nicknames. I had one as well but there is no way I'm telling this crowd - Brettski would have a field day with it, most folks did in fact know me simply as Jeff though. The guy on the far left is actually another friend of mine named Harry (his real name). Harry lives only about 3 miles from me. There were quite a number of people from Texas. The company that I was under contract with, Holmes and Narver (H&N), was a large construction and engineering company that was head quarted in Texas. I remember a painter that was on the ice named Dan.



Also quite cold! I didn’t know that George, where about up Nort?



Successfully fulfilling an Antarctic contract was gold for anyone that liked this type of work. While on the ice, before I came home, I was offered a contract extension to “winter-over” at the South Pole. I was flown to South Pole Station to work for a week. Upon realizing that wintering over would entail spending an additional six months with 30 people stuck inside a large dome structure, 24 hours of darkness, and little outside communication (back then all communication was radio) I decided against it.

I was also offered contracts to Greenland and Africa. But another event in my life caused me to completely change what I thought was important, but that is an entirely different story.



Nope, it was not a military assignment. As I mentioned above, I was a civilian working for a construction and engineering company. The military had a large presence there, they handled all of the transportation to and from the continent, ran the mess hall and several other infrastructure tasks.

I NEVER run from the IRS, and have successfully done battle with them many times.

Here's how I got to Antarctica: A high school friend of mine worked at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California (just a few minutes drive from me) and, at that time, they ran the marine lab on the ice. He wanted to go to work in the marine lab but all the spots were filled. So the director of the marine lab suggested that my friend contact H&N since they ran the civilian side of “Deep Freeze.” Mine friend called and was offered a contract, he called me, I got a contract and off we went.



We were a rough bunch, show fear and you were tormented. Back in those days I had a quick temper and had taken boxing lessons to back up my mouth. JHAP was not always the easy going roley-poley guy that he is today. The point? This was the cleanest photo of this group that I ever got. Most of the group photos are not suitable for public consumption. You probably wouldn’t believe some of the things that we did just because of a dare – I for one jumped out of a two story window into a snow drift. Fortunately, as fate would have it I wasn’t injured at all. The guy who dared me refused to fulfill his end of the obligation and was "encouraged" by several of us to jump from the same window. This group did not suffer braggerts.



The coldest day that I recall was 60 below zero without any wind chill factor. Damn cold. We would get winds that would slice though you. Even during the summer, we had several “cold days” in which temperatures were just too cold to be outside. The other factor was that we would get “White Out” conditions in which wind would pick up particles of ice and blow them around. The sun reflected off of these particles and off of the snow and created a condition in which you had absolutely no visibility. We actually had a rope tied from Houch 162 to the “Red Head” latrine during one week because we couldn’t see a large bathroom building that was 30 or so feet away. All work stopped and we were confined to quarters during white outs.

The photos that you see above were during the warmest couple of weeks, IIRC, it got up to about 40 for about 3 weeks. That was quite unusual.

I would estimate that the average temperature was between zero and 10 above for most of my stay. Most of our heavy equipment had oil pan heaters and cab heaters to keep the oil from freezing when not in use. We also used a fuel named DFA (Diesel Fuel Antarctica) that was a blend of diesel fuel and something else to keep it from freezing.

By the way the coldest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Vostok Station in Antarctia. -128.6 on July 21st, 1983.



I don’t specifically remember a welder named Tim, but as I said, a lot of people used nick names or “ice-names.” For instance one prominent character went by the name “Wally Fletcher” of course everyone called him “Fletch.” I thought his ice name was Fletch. Years later I found out that he had gone to the ice and assumed the name Wally Fletcher while in Antarctica, that neither Wally nor Fletcher were his real name. Hmmmm, who does that remind me of?



The marine biologists cut holes in the ice large enough to use as a dive access point. They used a “dry suit” and actually entered the water. The marine biologists were studying a variety of wildlife while I was there including: krill, Antarctic Cod, Weddell and Leopard Seals, Emperor and Adele penguines and probably lots of other stuff that I have long since forgotten.

Whilst, I was in Antarctic there were a variety of scientific studies going on. The ones I can remember are the Marine Bio Lab as discussed above. There were volcanologists studying Mount Erebus – the active volcano in Antarctica, Paleontologists were looking for prehistoric bones, Geologists were studying a variety of things including the dry valleys (areas in which ice did not form) and various rock formations, Climatologists were studying the ozone layer and various other things.



It was merely a joke, the sign was placed next to Winter Quarters Bay in which the Cat D-8s were deposited.

The photos are somewhat deceiving in that for most of my stay the entire ground was covered with snow. McMurdo Station is at Winter Quarters Bay and the snow melts off the ground in and around the bay for a couple of months. This was during that period.

I’ll size down and post some photos that are more reflective of what conditions looked like while I was there. The ones above make it look like summer camp. I'll post photos that I took of the circulation tanks in the marine bio lab and of Antarctic Cod. Much of the story is better told with photos. I'll post them in the next couple of days.

Oh and a bit of trivia for you. Look carefully at the top of the "totem pole." The dark triangular shaped item that resides at the top is the head of an Antarctic Cod.

Rodney Dangerfield?

Neat story Jeff - Thanks.
My stay in the high Canadian Arctic was a cakewalk adventure compared to yours since mine was a supervisory category and only about a 10-day trip IIRC.
We established a base camp on King Christian Island for Oil and Gas exploration in the spring of 1972 and recall the oval shaped sun circling the horizon 24/7.
My role was to direct the processing and geologic interpretation of seismic data.
I believe this to be the first non-military on-site computer facility north of the Arctic Circle.

First step was to fly in a dozer on a Hercules transport air craft to prepare a working landing strip on snow pack, for 4 engine prop jet aircraft containing crew and support facility. These units were assembled on site to eliminate any outside access due to 30 below temps and high wind chill factor.

Whiteouts were common and dangerous for single wing and helicopter operations.

Tom would have had a “blast” since holes were drilled through some 8+ft of ice into the Arctic Ocean to detonate small explosive charges to generate seismic signals recorded on geophones at the surface.

George Glazener aka "Hugh Hefner"

You guys have lived a RICH life... Very very cool!