Dear friends and family,
This is the personal web space I set up, begin of November 2008, to share with you my adventures in Antarctica, during both summer and winter 2008/2009.
This site is meant to be a news/pictures/stories/movies dump for you. Please feel free to share any comments or to report any errors. I would certainly appreciate, since this is my first website.
In addition, this site is built only for you, dear friends and family, but you may pass the URL around, as long as it stays in close relation to yourself.

I'll try to update this site as often as possible, but I can't promise to do this every week. To find out if a link has been updated in the left menu side, drag your mouse on the link without clicking, and the day of the last update should appear in a a little title box. For the rest, this is a good exercise for me, to train consistency...

After my Masters and 2 years working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, my contract was about to end in April 2008, when a promising scientist walked into my office, asking what my plans were for the future. As I was applying everywhere in the world for the most strange positions at that time, he told me : if you are fed up with society there is an interesting cosmic particles experiment going on at the geographic South Pole, called the Icecube Neutrino Observatory
For the joke, I took a look at their website, saw there was an interesting vacancy for spending 14 months as a winter-over experiment operator, 90° South, being part of the US Antarctic Program (USAP). I applied, got interviewed two weeks later at the University of Wisconsin, passed thorough medical examinations and got the job. Eventually, my contract started on July 1st 2008 for a 3 months training in Madison (Wisconsin). And at that point, I realized it wasn't a joke anymore.

On Thursday October 23rd, and after a farewell party that will remain in memories, I step in a plane to Christchurch, New Zealand. This is the entry point for most of the Antarctic bases, especially the 2 biggest USAP bases: McMurdo Station on the cost (77°51'S), and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (90°0'S).
On the 27th of October, my polar Extra Cold Weather (ECW) gear was issued to me and I step in this US Air Force C-17 "Globemaster", to the McMurdo Station, on the cost of the Ross Sea ice shelf. There, I spent 10 days wandering around, waiting until the weather allowed us to fly to the South Pole Station.

I finally arrived at destination, the geographic South Pole, the only point on earth where any direction you look at, is North. The Amundsen-Scott USAP Station is hosting 250 people in the summer, including the outside summer camp, in heated tents. The winter crew, however, is 49 members this year, and the challenge is that during the 8 winter months, the temperatures are too cold for any plane to land. This means that the station is in total autonomy with no way to leave.
As the poles are exactly the points where the 24 time zones merge, there is no time here. But because all the logistics is coming from New Zealand, the South Pole Station lives in New Zealand Time, which is exactly 12 hours ahead of Paris (GMT-1) time.
The temperatures range from -25°C in the summer to -80°C in the middle of the winter. But after a little while you don't care about the temperatures anymore, because your body doesn't feel the difference between -30°C and -50°C, it is just cold. The only scary factor is wind. The average wind speed is between 5 and 10 knots, which is quite acceptable. Going outside above 15 to 20 knots, however, becomes hell because of the "windchill" effect. As it is too cold for snow falls, the sun is always shining, at least when it is above horizon. In conjunction with ice crystals floating above us after a wind storm, the sun sometimes gives strange phenomenons, like halos and "sun dogs". I'll have to find a way to take a good picture of this, to show how the sky looks like with 3 shining suns.
The cooks here are creative and experienced, so food is surprisingly good. The average energy you need to work outside here is around 6000 calories per day, so you can eat like a crazy you will still lose weight (around 5-6 kg in a summer, no idea about the winter yet).

In the left menu side are the monthly reports. I'll try to write one for each 14 months I spend at pole. There are also other sub-categories which I'll try to extend as life goes on. If you are taking a look at this website, you probably know my e-mail address, so feel free to ask for specific questions or requests. I can send postcards and unique stamps, it will only cost you a beer when I am back.