We still have some profiles in the queue to post! Please enjoy Brian's delightful profile, completed during our epic run of tent days. Enjoy!

Our five tent days in a row last week made it a lot easier to make progress on the Nerds of ANSMET series. Brian is our mountaineer and he has managed to elude me and this iPad… until now. Despite Brian's extreme reticence to be interviewed and over his loud protestations, I was able to infiltrate his tent and interrogate him about his varied educational and work background and what he does for fun when he isn't keeping ANSMET team members out of bottomless crevasses. Please recall that although these answers are in the first person, this is a distillation of a conversation that I had with Brian. So, don't hold it against him.

Name: Brian Rougeux

Hometown: Utica, NY

Current town: Migratory (car parked in Silverton, CO)

Background: I always knew I wanted to do something outdoors. In 1998 I enlisted in the National Guard so I could go to college for free. Just as the ads say, this means six years of service comprised of one weekend a month and one month a summer (there is some additional fine print that is not as clearly presented in the ads). I started at the State University of New York (SUNY) Delhi doing a two-year degree in Outdoor Park and Recreation Management. My next step was to go to Johnson State College in Vermont to major in Outdoor Education with a concentration in Wilderness Leadership. Before starting my program, I took a year off to establish residency in VT so I could get in state tuition. I worked at a ski resort, Smuggler's Notch, where I vacuumed approximately one acre of carpet every day with a backpack vacuum cleaner. But I got a free ski pass so it was worth it. Side note: Vermont is awesome (good maple syrup and cheese). Before I could start at Johnson, however, September 11, 2001 happened. My Guard unit in NY was activated and I was sent to NYC to provide security at bridges, tunnels, and street corners. They gave us weapons but no rounds! That was probably a good thing, though. We were well received by the people of Manhattan, who were happy to see us. We didn't get a lot of downtime, since we worked 12 h shifts and then had a 2-hour trip one-way back to our barracks. But we did get a lot of free drinks on our one night off a week. After that we were sent to the Indian Point nuclear facility to provide security, where we did have rounds. After that I did three weeks on funeral detail, which provides military honors for police and firefighters. Eventually I was able to start my program at Johnson in Vermont, where I learned for the first time that guiding was a profession. I had one year there before my unit was deployed to Iraq in 2003. I was 2 months away from my six year commitment being over at that point. We were part of the second wave, which was the largest in situ replacement of troops since World War II. I spent a year there as a fire support specialist. My job was to request and adjust the direction of indirect fire including artillery, mortars, and air support [Nina's note: We had a fascinating conversation about what this entails that is too long to include here, but you should buy Brian a drink and ask him about it sometime because it is riveting]. Afterward I was able to go back to Johnson and finish up my degree. I only had about one semester left at that point. When I was deployed I had to either drop my classes or take incompletes, and I ended up having to retake quite a few classes. Once I finished my classwork I just had to do an internship required for my Outdoor Education major. So I packed up and moved to Alaska to work for Alaska Mountain Guides for a summer, where I led day programs. I was also lucky enough to be able to be a shadow at a 21 day mountaineering course at the end of the summer. Once my internship was over, the company invited me to stay on, and I asked to do longer trips for them. They agreed, and I ended up working there for the next 10 years! Among other jobs, I spent four months in Tanzania leading Kilimanjaro climbs, as well as leading trips in Alaska, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Washington state, Nevada, Utah, and the Yukon. After that I worked for Timberline Mountain Guides in Oregon. Currently my projects include leading one trip per year for Alpine Ascents International, and I am also the Field Safety Officer for a research vessel in Greenland, as well as supporting ANSMET field work. I started a master's degree at Prescott College in Arizona in Expeditionary Studies through the GI Bill, but it ended up being too expensive because of a variety of technicalities and I dropped out [Nina's note: Our veteran support structures are pretty infuriating sometimes and this is a great example]. I figure there will come a time when I'm too old and feeble to hoist bags, but with a master's degree I can teach. It's something I may still do in the future. 

Why ANSMET?: I first came to Antarctica to work for the Field Safety Program for a season, and I really enjoyed it. I've made my career doing exploration and Antarctica was an obvious next step. I didn't come back the next year because I was going to start on my master's degree [see above], but I knew I wanted to come back. So I went on the NSF website and looked up every research project and read about them, and then narrowed them down to projects that might need a field mountaineer and emailed them all (including Ralph). Ralph got back to me and said that they weren't currently looking for a mountaineer but they might be next year, and to be in touch. So I was in touch a year later and got the application, and the rest is history. ANSMET is a really appealing project for a number of reasons. Firstly the team goes to multiple destinations rather than the same field site year after year. All the destinations are in and around the Transantarctic Mountains as well, which is more interesting terrain than the flatter plateau to the east. It's nice to work with a small team. It's also great that this project has long-term funding and thus some stability, since I wasn't looking for a one-off project. It's great to work with Johnny [our senior mountaineer] since he's been doing this for a really long time and has a lot of experience. I've been studying up on meteorites since before my first season last year. I've always had a recreational interest in space science so I this this work is pretty awesome. 

Family: My parents, two brothers, and one sister. I also have three nephews and one niece. Given my busy travel schedule, I usually stay in touch by email but I do manage to get home to visit once or twice a year [Nina's note: Brian told me that his mom mailed him a mobile phone. Everyone, your mom likes email but she'd love a phone call once in a while]. 

Tell us about your hair: I'm told I have a dinosaur haircut [Nina's note: Brian got a haircut at McMurdo]. 

Hobbies: I enjoy recreational outdoor activities including technical climbing, mountaineering, and snowboarding (with a split board for better backcountry maneuverability). I don't collect anything but I do read a lot, and I keep the books I read (at my brother's house, thanks!). I don't usually reread anything except if it's a technical book. 

If you could choose between flying or being invisible?: I'd choose flying. I think I'd use it primarily recreationally, but it depends on how fast I could fly, I might not take planes anymore. Can I carry things? Done recently: I gave talk at my nephew's school for his third grade class right before coming to Antarctica. They were studying the contents, so I focused on Antarctica. 

Greatest fear: Being negligently responsible for the for death of a client. 

Claims: I'm an open book, haha [Nina's note: Uh huh]. 

Reading now: Cousin Pons by Honore Balzac. 

Secret talent: I can stay in a tent for days on end without going crazy. 

Little known fact: I'm a great son! Hi Mom. 

Tell us about your last name: It's pronounced "rouge-y."

Done recently: I gave talk at my nephew's school for his third grade class right before coming to Antarctica. They were studying the contents, so I focused on Antarctica. 

Brian's message to the world: I did this interview under duress [Nina's note: Brian was amply compensated with freshly made cinnimon toast].