The Whole Wide World

Happy Winter Solstice! Last night, at 2:57AM, the South Pole reached its maximum tilt away from the sun. It’s Antarctic Midwinter. We are halfway between our last sunset and moving closer and closer to our first sunrise on August 20th. There are 144 of us here at McMurdo and 17 down the road at Scott Base. Midwinter greetings are shared across the continent. I’ve shared McMurdo’s on my Instagram and the ones we have received from across the continent are on display in the entrance to our galley.

Midwinter is celebrated at stations across the continent with a formal dinner. It’s a tradition that dates back to the Discovery Expedition of 1902. Our Kiwi neighbor’s at Scott Base are having their dinner tomorrow and I am excited to have been lucky enough to receive an invite to that. Then on Saturday we will host our Midwinter dinner here. There is a cocktail hour before the dinner and an after party at Gallagher’s. I am bartending the after party, which is my favorite place to be when I am at Gallagher’s; behind the bar with a purpose. I’m really looking forward to getting all dressed up, well as dressed up as one can be down here.

With the repetition of the extremely cold and endlessly dark days that we are in, it is easy to forget that we are all sharing an incredible life experience, together. This weekend is a reminder of how unique a winter-over experience at the bottom of the world is. It’s not easy living and working in such a small community, let alone such a harsh and isolated continent, but by large we are an amazing group of people, who for the most part support each other through such a uniquely challenging experience.