Jon, Lauren and Erin stroll past the Science Support Center (SSC). Everything to the right of the entranceway “eyebrows”is a new addition under construction. For those who care, the quonset hut seen above and to the right of the team is the Science Cargo building. the blue building immediately downhill from there is the Berg Field Center (BFC) and the building below that is building 166, a dorm affectionately named “Hotel California”.

Greetings ANSMET enthusiasts!

If you’ve been reading about our progress you know we’ve made it to McMurdo Station, prepping to get into the field. When we were last here, in January 2020, work had begun on the “Master Plan”- a grand scheme to upgrade the whole of McMurdo station; modernize, raze, build, renovate, centralize, streamline! MacTown has been around since 1956, so the revamp was sorely needed. But then COVID hit. Almost four years have passed, here are my impressions of the station now.

My first thought is that the station seems a bit quiet. No lines at the galley, a dark and silent BFC, and no one playing ping-pong in the 155 lounge (James and Scottie take note:). We know that about 40% of science groups were cancelled this season, and a large part of that is due to the absence of housing on station for those scientists. Back in early 2020, to start off the big renovation, they demolished dorm 203 (A, B, and C wings). This dorm housed a couple hundred people and was often the home of ANSMET teams while we were in town. Unfortunately, they destroyed the dorm in the early months of 2020, just before COVID hit. Bad timing…actually really bad timing, and four years later MacTown is still 200 beds down. They’ve started work on the dorm to replace 203, but it is still pretty much bones.

Sigh, Jim has nobody to play with. All those years honing his bar game skills while stuck in McMurdo, going to waste.

Other than the absence of dorm 203, and the addition going up on the Science Support Center, the station looks the same. The same old buildings still house the same old work centers. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is how they do business. I’ll tell you about a few examples… first, the Berg Field Center (BFC- where we get our field gear), is still up the hill from the Crary Lab in the same building it’s been in for 40 years or longer.  But, this season they are shortstaffed and closed on Thursdays!  Same for Science Cargo, shortstaffed and closed on Thursdays- and you have to make an appointment with Science Cargo to get any cargo into the system!  No more dropping off pieces of gear, tents, radios, sleds, etc. piecemeal- it has to be a scheduled drop off. Obviously, these changes to the work centers have made it a little more complicated to navigate through town on our way out to the field.

Hey, let’s all meet at Gallagher’s……… nope, not tonight.

Its not only the work centers that are operating a little differently- Gallaghers and the Southern Exposure (the two bars in MCM) are still in the same old buildings, but now they no longer serve alcohol. You can bring your own and drink it in the bar, but they don’t sell it anymore. Should they still be called bars then? Likewise for the Coffee House- a favorite cozy hangout for past ANSMET teams where you could get a hot latte or a glass of wine and play a game of Scrabble. But they don’t sell wine anymore, and you are not allowed to bring your own. The store is the same, a little low on inventory,  you can’t rent a DVD anymore, and they are only taking cash. Not sure why. And good luck trying to get to the Scott Base store (known for their greater stock of Antarctic souvenirs); you have to put your name in a lottery for a chance to get on the weekly van ride to the Kiwi station (update: despite Robert entering all 8 of us in the pick, no ANSMETer was chosen for this week 🙁 . Lastly, the galley is still in Building 155 and operates the same way and still has (imho) excellent offerings. But, sadly, there is no more 24-hour pizza station (Ioannis will be sad). To end, there’s at least one thing that is better than back in the day…you can now call home from any landline for free! (Ahhh, remember those long distance calling cards you had to buy, and those awful commercials?!).

It’s a new era here in Antarctica, wish us luck!

-Jim Karner