Like I said, the dogs are long gone, which is a pity. Many people loved them, and visitors from McMurdo would come over just to see them.
I spent most of my time in the summer outside, and I had to go out to check/ feed the dogs every day.
It’s not a problem at Scott Base to go outside at any time of year. We weren’t supposed to go outside in a blizzard, as very easy to get lost, but I still had to check the dogs.
Amount of time outside depends on the job. A scientist or the postmaster might not need to go out at all.
We had a skifield with a rope tow. I presume it’s still there.
A real buzz was going down really fast on a small sledge and seeing how far you could get on the flat.
The snow was very hard and excellent for skiing.
No one on base when I was there did cross country skiing, though someone tried to make a snow yacht.
No snowboards existed in the 70s.
The night sky was very clear if no clouds. I didn’t spend any time looking at the stars- too cold on a clear night.
I used to work outside by the light of the full moon though.
Our rubbish was incinerated, except for metal cans, which were crushed and returned to NZ. I suspect all waste is returned to NZ now.
I know of only one fight in the summer, and the guy was sent home straight away.
Most of the people on Scott were professionals/ skilled and had enough self control not to cause trouble.
However, that is not to say that some people did not deserve a beating- it just didn’t happen. Sometimes I had to suck it in and hope karma gets the guy.
The base leader had “official” authority, like the captain of a ship, I suppose, but there was never anything needing dealing with in that manner.
Don’t know what they’d have done in winter anyway- no jail cell and we all had work to do.
The only gun around was the 303 rifle we used to kill seals. All those movies where people are armed to the teeth are just BS. I saw one where McMurdo had a policewoman- gave me a good laugh that did.
If you like institutional food, you’d like what we ate. Nothing was fresh in winter.
I liked going over to McMurdo as they had hot dogs and ice cream- all free.
I can’t say what resources there are, as it’s not my field/ interest, but they are looking, you can be sure of that.
Extracting them would be disastrous if something were to go wrong, and it surely will, if they are stupid enough to try.
Just a few additional comments.
back then there was no internet and we had to make our own “fun”.
We were able to call home on telephone though.
The bar was base central for most of us, and some people drank a great deal, others not so much.
There were only 2 women on the base for most of the summer, none during winter. Any women on base were extremely popular!
We had a “radio station” broadcasting from McMurdo. They liked their disco music a lot back then. They did have a tv station too, but we had no tv sets. Wasn’t worth watching unless desperate anyway.
We had a lot of parties in the summer. I organised one when about 30 people went out to Willy Field ( the airport ) control tower, and a good time was had by all. They were always happy to see people as they were very isolated out there. I got to know them well as it was a good place to take the dogs out to on a run.
During summer, we shared a double bunk room, but in winter we had a room to ourself.
Music was very important, and the arrival of the latest Pink Floyd album was an event.
If anyone is interested, google earth has the Ross Island area with Scott Base and McMurdo visible.
Always happey to answer any more questions, particularly about the dogs.
I loved the winter. Summer was mad with too many people crammed into the small base, and I had to share a room with someone I disliked intensly. We didn’t get to pick and choose room mates.
I think we only had a shower every 5 days or so. However, because it was so dry, there was no BO.
Winter was quiet with only a few of us still there. I had a more organised routine and there was more “off” time because I couldn’t take the dogs out very much and not at all when it was dark all the time, which was for 8 weeks.
The work load didn’t get less in winter, so every day was busy.
The winter was an excellent time to read and record music onto tape to take home. There was a very large library of LPs to choose from.
Recreationally at Scott Base, it was a movie every night, followed by the usual bar room socialising.
I also went to McMurdo to play volleyball, 10 pin bowling, watch movie marathons and eat loads of ice cream.
I had a couple of really good friends over there as well, so would drop by a lot to see them.
Most of us had a project to do in our own time. The mechanic made a model helicopter that flew, I made a model sledge from real sledge wood.
Photography was popular, and we used the darkroom to develop photos ourselves.
We all had to take turns doing “mouse” duty. Day time mouse washed all the dishes and night time mouse had to clean the dining room and the bar room, plus make breakfst, as well as doing fire patrols. Sunday mouse had to cook dinner as it was the cooks day off.
Most bases are populated all year around.
The only reason to evacuate would be that they were too small or expensive to keep open in the winter.
If it were too dangerous to poop or pee outside I’d be dead.
The interior of the bases are heated, so no steaming pee.
Sewage and water pipes are heated to prevent freezing.
No, I’ve enever seen a toilet explode.
Unless you’re pulling a sledge on an expedition, you don’t need more food than you would at home.
Jobs there in the heated base don’t require any more energy than they would in a warm country.
I was at Scott Base in the '80’s (as well as McMurdo, and field sites)
Did they have the ships bell when you were there? Custom dictated that if you came into the bar and rang the bell, then you had to buy a round for everyone there.
Was Garth Varcoe around when you were there? He was quite the character. Taught me survival training in NZ (He enjoyed cramming us into a burning/smokey building). Sadly he was killed in a Helo crash while on a mission to replace the Cape Bird hut.
Sorry, you must have misunderstood. It is NOT dangerous, unless it was windy and you had to pull your pants down. Then you might get a frozen butt if you took too long to do the bizz.
How do people outside in Canada do it? It gets just as cold there.
Well there were no nightclubs, “adult” clubs or anything of that nature.
As it was light most or all of the day in the summer, I would be taking the dogs for a run or skiing at midnight, so I guess that was my nightlife.
For others it was the bar.
In the winter it was a movie and the bar.
There was nothing commercial provided, so we made our own entertainment.
To tell the truth, I don’t remember a bell, or anyone shouting the bar.
The only “drinking” customs I can think of were that if you came into the bar with your shoes on you had to buy everyone a drink, or if you had a game of pool and didn’t sink any balls you had to drink the yard glass.
I knew Garth by sight, but had nothing to do with him personally. I think he started after my tour.
Yes, very sad that he died, but that was the risk we all took.
Willy Field is named after a Seabee who died when his bulldozer fell through the ice into the sea in 1956 and I remember seeing a plaque somewhere with the names of all the US personel that died down there.
To tell the truth, I don’t remember a bell, or anyone shouting the bar.
The only “drinking” customs I can think of were that if you came into the bar with your shoes on you had to buy everyone a drink, or if you had a game of pool and didn’t sink any balls you had to drink the yard glass.
I knew Garth by sight, but had nothing to do with him personally. I think he started after my tour.
Yes, very sad that he died, but that was the risk we all took.
Willy Field is named after a Seabee who died when his bulldozer fell through the ice into the sea in 1956 and I remember seeing a plaque somewhere with the names of all the US personel that died down there.
After Williams died, they put emergency hatches in the roofs of the bulldozer cabins.
I remember once seeing one of the big bulldozers they use over the top track into the sea ice and they were trying to drive it to safety while standing outside the cabin. When they go through, it’s fast!
During winter, a big digger from McMurdo went off the road between Scott Base and McMurdo at the highest point. It got stopped by a rock about 20 feet down, but that was all that stopped the driver dying.
Not at all, as it was an “event” to be remembered, and I would love to have participated.
Besides, there was probably a party afterwards, and the Americans knew how to party!
There is a rather exclusive group of people that joined the Vanda swim club. They even had a badge. Lake Vanda is in the dry valleys and used to have a summer base. Again, participants had to dive in naked. It’s on google if interested.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to join the Vanda club.
I did however get to be a member of the Lake Vida swim club. Lake Vida is in a different dry valley and there is no base there. It took me and another guy about 8 hours to walk there over the Clark glacier where we met up with a field party. In the morning we all went for a dip. The first guy in actually broke the ice. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very long swim. I’d say that we were the only people to ever swim in Lake Vida, but if anyone else did, I’d like to hear from them.
It would be a very rare club indeed - I’ve never heard of anyone doing it.
We were determined to go for a dip at Cape Bird on New Years eve. We had all fortified ourselves with liquid courage, and went down to the sea ice edge at about 11:00 pm. For the next hour, we saw a couple of leopard seals attack, kill and dismember about 8 penguins close to shore. Nobody was willing to be the first in the water after that.
Not surprised that you wouldn’t brave the leapord seals. They could take the skin off a penguin before it hit the water.
You said you were at Scott Base in the 80s. Was it while the dogs were still there?
Did you meet Barry Hiscock, the mechanic? I heard he got a second tour sometime in the 80s.
I’d have loved a second tour, but the WOIC and I didn’t get along, to be polite, so that would have stuffed it for me.
