From Ruskies to Royals

One fact that initially surprised me about living on base is the amount of visitors we get here at Rothera. Knowing you’re going to live in Antarctica gives you the mental impression that you are going to be pretty well isolated from the world, but in summer as it happens Rothera is a positive hive of activity… I just left working next to the real UN only to find a pseudo UN attempt at the South Pole!

But with a small amount of neuro-crunching it’s not surprising. Rothera has a 900ft crushed rock runway, a wharf capable of mooring 1000ft ships, fuel to run a small country, damn fine bacon butties and location location location. We are half way up the Antarctic Peninsula, and so the perfect stopover locale for any nationality entering or leaving Antarctica.

It’s also very amusing watching the different nationalities character traits when they arrive on base either by ship or plane. Stereotypes are very much alive and well in the 21st Century. When asked what their plans are for duration of stay, accommodation needs, etc, etc, the Canadians, for example, will look at you implying “I haven’t got a clue… not thought about that yet”, while the Germans have an itinerary printed and will be leaving at 07:23 the next morning. They left at 07.23 that next morning. The Russians had us drinking vodka in the bar until 4:00am after arriving in their 1960’s beat up ‘ole choppers. Seriously, state of the art is a necessity down here, and so it took me a while to work out what was so familiar about the Ruskies aircraft… then it dawned on me: OMG… they’re flying over the pole in a camouflaged Mr Blobby!

And then there are the Americans. They fought long and hard for their freedom, and are very vocal and proud of that status… so what do they do with this liberty. They become the only nation on the planet to ban beer from their ships. A dry ship, at sea for months, comes into contact with British stocked bar… carnage, carnage I tell you. I am still not 100% convinced there are not some hammered Yank scientists still wandering aimlessly around Rothera point singing a half tempo, slurred Bon Jovi ode.

Good night for the band though, ever need to book an amazing cover band in the Antarctic, look no further than Ratchet Death!

The Crowd goes wild !!!

The visits this season had and have a very eclectic feel to them. BAS operates two ships; The RSS James Clark Ross and The RSS Ernest Shackleton. In case you’re interested James Ross was one of Britain’s most successful early polar explorers, discovering the magnetic North pole in 1831. He then proceeded to make three trips down south.

And Ernest… as instilled in all British school children; Ernest Shackleton is up there with Scott as ‘The Man’ when it comes to Antarctic exploration. He first traveled to Antarctica in 1902, but is best known for his survival tale of

when his ship (the Endurance) was trapped and eventually crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915. His journey from there to South Georgia remains one of the greatest survival journeys in human history.

HMS Endurance also is a regular in Marguerite Bay, and is the official Royal Navy presence in the Antarctic waters. Her helicopters provided some amazing research opportunities and are used extensively by BAS to reach locations that are inaccessible by Twin Otter or would take too long to arrive at by Ski-doo. The arrival of the Endurance also heralds the start of the Antarctic Winter Olympics. It’s a very peculiar site, to be dragged up the glacier on a sledge with helicopters blazing overhead, round the final corner and see this… sort of a M.A.S.H. on ice! Big burley navy boys sculpting mermaids in the ice, igloo-building competitions, you name it we race, build or crafted it! By the way… we won the Olympics!

However, one single event courses through the base upon the visit of any ship… the game of Football. Do not underestimate the importance of these games. Bragging rights travels along way on short-wave. We started this season with a record of played three, lost three! It hurt. They were close against our own kind, the BAS crew. But the Navy won 5-0… we don’t talk about that.

Look at this formation, how could we lose.

So optimism was high with the arrival of the Gould. Surely we had to win this one. We had too… they’re yanks! They can’t play “soccer”. Plans were in place to uplift the team back to the UK should we lose, the shame imposed on us would make our staying here untenable. But, we didn’t. A decisive victory in the end it has to be said. What is said a little less is that half the team was girls, and they were their best players!

And… we had Royalty. The Princess Royal visited Rothera as part of the International Polar Year. I was able to chat on a few occasions, including escorting the Royal party from HMS Endurance to the base, and can say that her and Rear Admiral Lawrence are cool people. A real pleasure to talk to. I won’t mention any more details for fear of men suddenly crashing through the ceiling on ropes to pull me away.

The final message though is that visits from the other nations ships and ‘planes are incredibly looked forward to by the base personnel. It brings news faces, new conversations (and in the case of the Russians, new alcohol) and makes you realize the politics of the “real” world carry no weight here. Collaboration down South between the world’s nations is 100% forthcoming and absolute.