In 2019, I was a guest of the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Station, to do research for my graphic novel under the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program. Part of the deal was writing up my experience on the Ice. I am moving these articles from my portfolio site to here, where they belong, and indexing them on this page. This is not a complete directory yet, but will be.
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Before the Adventure Begins
Originally published 28 September 2019 In November of 2019 I will be going to Antarctica with the US Antarctic Program’s Artists and Writers initiative, which takes a handful of creatives down to the US bases in Antarctica to get the word out about…
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The Joy of Grant Applications
A spot on the USAP’s Artists & Writers crew is, in effect, an NSF grant. One is not paid for one’s time there, but it is no insignificant expense on the part of the National Science Foundation to house one, feed one, and…
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The Spectrum of Selection
It was May 31st, 2018 that I submitted my application to the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program. The automatic confirmation of receipt said that it would be a few months before I heard anything. That was all right. I had lots to do.…
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The Medical
When Apsley Cherry-Garrard was applying to join the Terra Nova Expedition, he was told to turn up at the Expedition offices ‘prepared for a full medical examination.’ Presumably it all happened in one go. Mine was … not like that. I know that…
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Antarctic Clothing on a Shoestring
The US Antarctic Program supplies the Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothing for its visitors – parka, snow pants, ‘bunny’ boots, balaclava, etc, as seen here – standard issue gear which they know is of a high enough quality to keep their participants warm…
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Make Your Own Mitts
One of the iconic visual cues of early polar exploration is the white H over the chest made by the straps of the fur mits. Here is the outfit they have on display at the Polar Museum in Cambridge: I knew that I…
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Geography of the Terra Nova
First, an overview of the Antarctic continent. It’s really big. To get a sense of the size, it is larger than Australia; it could fit the U.S. and Mexico together; if you drew a circle around the whole of Europe, that’s roughly the…
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Christchurch
Thursday, 7 November 2019 The last time I was in New Zealand, I was making what I thought was the trip of a lifetime. It was January 2018, and, assuming a trip to Antarctica was unlikely, this was the last gap I had…
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The C.D.C.
The plan was that I would be on the flight from Christchurch to McMurdo on November 11th. The morning of November 10th, then, I had to be at the Clothing Distribution Center to be outfitted with my Extreme Cold Weather gear (hereafter known…
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Getting There
For such an enormous bird, the landing was admirably smooth, and once all post-landing checks had been completed, the hatch was opened. Long before we felt the cold, we could see our breath in the air, as the moisture levels in the cabin…
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Induction McMurdo
Here’s the thing about arriving at McMurdo: It’s kind of like diving into your first week at college. You have a series of orientation sessions, a bunch of classes in different buildings with random numbers, and you meet a lot of new people…
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The Story of the Discovery Hut
The Discovery Hut is named such because it was built on the Discovery Expedition, in early 1902, when the ship had found its permanent berth in the small inlet at the end of the southernmost peninsula of Ross Island. This was imaginatively dubbed…