'First you fall in love with Antarctica, and then it breaks your heart.' - Kim Stanley Robinson

June 28, 2005 6:46 AM

75 Degrees South :: blogging from Antarctica
posted by anastasiav (12 comments total)

Ooh, neat find. For those of you looking for the RSS feed, the URL is http://simonc.f2o.org/south/index.xml.
posted by thebabelfish at 7:46 AM on June 28, 2005

His book Antarctica was really really good. I strongly recommend it to anyone who has read any other Kim Stanley Robinson.

My favorite portion from the entire book is the description of an ice luge that empties into a heated underground water pool.
posted by sourbrew at 9:21 AM on June 28, 2005

wow! the aurora australis pictures are magnificent!

Thanks, anastasia
posted by carmina at 9:34 AM on June 28, 2005

Well that was weird, browsing metafilter and coming across a link to my own site - thanks anastasiav, glad you're enjoying it!
posted by astro38 at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2005

Astro38, you know my good friend Sandwich Girl?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2005

I've read her website but never met her. Antarctica is a pretty big place - I'm a couple of thousand miles from McMurdo and you can't exactly go visit!
posted by astro38 at 2:23 PM on June 28, 2005

from McMurdo and you can't exactly go visit!

Oh did they cancel the municpal penguin shuttle?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 3:54 PM on June 28, 2005

Astro38 -- you're very welcome. I've been digging around on your site for days and days, and I think its great. Its well put together, well written, funny where it needs to be, and a joy to read. I'm glad that you take the time to share your experiences with us.

If you ever have a minute, drop me an email at the address in my profile. I have a young friend (no, really) who wants to ask you some questions....
posted by anastasiav at 4:17 PM on June 28, 2005

Here's a site that's got me hooked at the moment - Guillaume Dargaud's diary of life at Concordia station. They are a long way from the coast on the Antarctic plateau and really have it tough - not only do they get temperatures down to -80C (I can't imagine what another 30 degrees colder would be like!) but it's the first year anyone has wintered there so they are still finishing off the base and learning a lot of new stuff as they go along. A few weeks ago they were the first humans ever to see a sunset there - what an amazing experience!

Oh, and for anyone who fancies the lifestyle, here's how to get a job down here.
posted by astro38 at 5:00 PM on June 28, 2005 [1 favorite]

SandwichGirl explain how there are some nuts who have been going for the 'summer' months year-after-year. After twenty years you get a mountain or shelf named after you. She even mention some of them go to Alaska during the 'off-season'.

Some people just can't stand to see the Sun set. Frankly, the Sun is my enemy and should be extinguished.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 5:21 PM on June 28, 2005

How strange - I'd been meaning to post this site after meeting one of astro38's colleagues on Flickr, but the site was down for a wee while.

I wonder how much it would cost to arrange the first Antarctic MetaFilter meet-up - it's only a relatively short hop from the Falklands ;-)
posted by jack_mo at 4:26 AM on June 29, 2005

That would be Antarctic M I imagine - yes she's down here too. I take it all back, it is a small continent after all.
posted by astro38 at 12:30 AM on June 30, 2005