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Icebound in Antarctica...

by Rebecca Sweat

Imagine putting on your fleece pants, parka, balaclava hat, snow goggles, ski gloves and bunny boots and taking a 20-minute hike up an icy mountainside so you can ski down a giant Antarctic glacier--and you’re not doing this during the daytime but at midnight, with only the moonlight to guide you on your way. It’s a thrill very few people get to experience. Stacie Murray, however, has done just that, and not just once or twice, but literally dozens of times over the last several months.

Murray is the chef and kitchen manager at Palmer Station, one of the three United States scientific research stations located in Antarctica. Scientists come to Palmer Station to study the local ecosystem, along with meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, oceanography and glaciology. The station has no permanent staff, but brings on temporary “support” employees--cooks, electricians, carpenters, computer administrators, etc.--so that when scientific teams come down to Antarctica to conduct their research, they have a fully-operational facility to work from. Most of the support staff come down to work for 4 to 8 month assignments. Murray’s stint started in February and lasts until the end of October.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of visiting Antarctica,” Murray says. “I’ve always been a really adventurous, outdoorsy type of person. I grew up camping, hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, and white water rafting. I love the great outdoors, especially cold, wintery climates.”

Before coming to Antarctica, she had taken hundreds of mountain treks spanning five continents and those were all exciting. But she knew a trip to Antarctica would be in a class by itself. “Antarctica has the wilderness scenery I love,” Murray says, “but what also intrigued me was the mystery of it all--since so few people get to travel here and see it with their own eyes.”

Finding a way to get down to Antarctica was not going to be easy. Since Antarctica has no permanent residents, there were no commercial airports on the continent. There were adventure tour operators that offered trips by ship to Antarctica, but Murray thought their fees were a little steep. One idea that she toyed with was to get a job in Antarctica at one of the research facilities and then her travel expenses would be paid. Those kinds of positions, however, were few and far between.

Then one day last October, the job at Palmer Station practically dropped into her lap. “I had a friend who was working in the kitchen at McMurdo, one of the other two stations in Antarctica. She told me about the job opening at Palmer, and put me in touch with the person who did all the hiring,” Murray recalls.

For Murray, a kitchen job was ideal. Back in Denver where she was living, she owned her own catering business. She catered a lot of weddings and large dinner parties, so she was used to cooking huge batches of food for lots of people. And because it was her own company, she could temporarily shut down her business to come down to Antarctica and have no problem resuming her catering work when she went back home.

Within hours of hearing about the position at Palmer, Murray had faxed over her resume to the National Science Foundation, the organization in charge of the research stations in Antarctica. She had a couple of in-person interviews in November and was hired in December. She spent the month of January making all the necessary preparations before heading to Antarctica the following month. “I probably went to seven or eight different doctor's appointments to get absolutely everything checked out health-wise,” Murray recounted. “They don’t want you to be surprised by any hidden health problems after you get to Antarctica--where you’re not going to have emergency rooms and hospitals you can go to.”

Obviously, Antarctica is a pretty out-of-the-way destination. To get to Palmer Station, Murray had to first fly to Punta Arenas, Chile. That was a full day of flying and airport layovers in itself. Then from Punta Arenas, she took the five day trip by ship to Anvers Island, a tail-shaped peninsula on the northwestern coast of Antarctica where Palmer Station is located. It took her a couple days to rest up from all the traveling and then Murray was ready to get cooking.

It was her job to come up with menus and do all the meal preparation for the scientists visiting Palmer Station and the support staff. Just over 40 people on average occupy Palmer during the summer months (which is the winter season for the Northern Hemisphere). This is the time of year when most of the scientific research is conducted there, since the temperatures are milder and the ocean waters are not completely frozen over. But by mid-June, the last research studies are completed as colder weather begins to set in. Just 20 people (mostly support staff) occupy the station during the winter months.

Murray says she’s had no complaints with her cooking, but has had a few frustrations with what she’s had available to cook with. “We get a large shipment of frozen foods and dry goods every six months. Then once a month we get milk, butter, yogurt and fresh vegetables,” she notes. “When the fresh stuff runs out, we get by with frozen and packaged foods.” Milk and butter are frozen, to make them last until the next boat load of perishable food items (“freshies” as they call them) comes in. “I’m not making a lot of Caesar salads these days,” Murray says. “I’m learning to be really creative with frozen vegetables, dry pastas and powdered milk.”

During the winter months it’s even more challenging to come up with appealing meals at Palmer. That’s because the icy ocean waters around Antarctica are completely frozen over all winter. The last supply boat comes by mid-June and does not return until late September. “I’m sure that in late September we will be very excited to see that boat come in,” Murray predicts.

Murray, along with everyone else on the support staff, works six days a week. Murray usually puts in 12-hour work days, starting at 5 am when she gets breakfast ready and ending about 5:30 when dinner is served. “We have different staff members that take turns helping with dinner clean-up, which gives me a much-needed break,” Murray says.

In the evenings and on Sundays, her day off, Murray does what she came to Antarctica to do: have fun and explore! During the summer months, it stays light until very late at night, which allows for plenty of time to go hiking, ice climbing, snow shoeing and skiing. In the winter, hikes and skiing are still possible in the evening, when there’s a full moon and it’s bright enough outdoors to see.

On Sundays, Murray, along with fellow staff members, may plan a longer hike, or a zodiac boat trip to explore neighboring islands and to go whale watching. She has also been able to help visiting biologists weigh and tag petrels, penguins and seals.

When it’s too cold outside or too dark to go out in the evenings, all is not lost. “We don’t have television here, but we do have a big screen TV and a DVD player and a lot of movies that we can watch. Or we may play cards or board games together, or just sit together and knit and talk,” Murray says. “

Sure, Murray’s experienced some homesickness, and when October rolls around, it’ll be great to see green grass and trees again, reconnect with friends and family back in the States, and visit some of her favorite restaurants. But certainly the eight months spent working in Antarctica will have been well worth it.

“The natural beauty around here is so pristine and breathtaking. To be able to hike up glaciers and watch the sunsets and walk right next to seals and penguins has all just been an incredible experience,” Murray says. “I’ve also made some wonderful friendships. The whole support staff has been through a lot together and we’ve all really become close. This whole experience has been the opportunity of a lifetime, something I’ll never forget, and definitely a dream come true.”

*****

Rebecca Sweat is a freelance magazine journalist specializing in health, pets and family topics. She lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with her husband and two sons.

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