Myself and a fellow researcher have been emailing about this essay today. Despite the author spending shockingly little time there, it's definitely spot-on McMurdo.

> McMurdo looks like a series of shipwrecks that people have tried to make the best of.

I've often tried to accurately describe the feeling you get when seeing McMurdo. This is pretty good. It's an ugly town.

> It’s not just that McMurdo station is ugly—and it is lens-shatteringly ugly—but that there is so damned much of it.

I personally dont find this fair. McMurdo is an operating fuel, food and support depo for the US operations on the continent. It supports a fixed wing airport and full helicopter operations in crazy inhospitable conditions. There's no local home depo. There's no McMaster. There's no grocery stores. No independent construction companies. EVERYTHING has to be down there. There is going to be a lot of stuff around. While down there, I've often pondered how many of our very beautiful cities are probably supported by far less beautiful cities. Do you know where your garbage goes? Down there it's stored until shipped back once a year.

> The only way tourists might come to the Ross Sea in numbers would be by air, but the memory of the 1979 crash, when an Air New Zealand plane flew into the side of Mt. Erebus, is too painful.

If you don't have a weak stomach, the tale is a fascinating one (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_Zealand_Flight_901). Highly recommended.

> the Chalet, an ancient administrative building built in a style I would call ‘Ford-era National Park’.

This is so right. It's a weird building(https://www.jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2014/12/the-national-s...).

> We're certainly not the ones leaving our trash all over the ice. Tourists don't have bingo night, IceStock, exercise bikes, hot lattes, or yoga.

Whoa, there isn't trash on the ice. At least no intentionally dropped litter (the wind is strong, stuff can get blown around). Trash is a big deal down there and compared to everyday USA, everyone is super vigilant down there. There is a lot of stuff around, but much of that has purpose or is being stored (often outside as there's limited indoor storage space, so things can look cluttered).

Also, keep in mind most of those activities the author mentions are all run by volunteers. Nobody is paid to put on bingo night (thats new to me), IceStock, or yoga. Hot lattes? Yeah, there's a machine in the coffee shop that's open like three days a week for a few hours. And yes, there's exercise bikes, but come on, even people in prison get to exercise.

> The US Antarctic Program did not fly cases of Jim Beam to the bottom of the planet to watch them disappear into visiting bloggers. We are cut off.

They don't fly heavy staples like that down. Pretty much everything shelf stable or frozen comes down once a year on a ship. You should see the selection of booze and beer diminish when the main body of workers and scientists are down there. There is no flight resupply. I had one week with Sierra Nevada available last year, then all I could get was Tecate.

> Our presence here is just as unnecessary as the sprawling American base whose cookies I can't stop eating

The cookies from the kitchen are actually really good.

> The summer staff is about to be raptured to New Zealand, leaving only a remnant to face the tribulation of a Ross Sea winter.

Interesting note. Last year they started doing monthly flights through the winter, so the wintertime crews are going to be a lot less isolated (apparently, a couple days before every winter flight last year several people would quit. Before the flights that just wasn't an option).

> “Okay,” I say. “Do you have any Zippo lighters?”

I didn't know they had these. Ironic that smoking is so rare, otherwise these would make great gifts for my friends.

> “Today is the coldest I've ever been in my life.” I want to say something, but my jaw is too stiff to move.

So cold mid-to-late summer? I don't get it. Honestly, I'm from Wisconsin and summer in McMurdo is pretty balmy. The author must have zero cold tolerance. January and February daily mean temp is around freezing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station#Climate) and the sun is pretty damn strong.

Seriously, summertime in McMurdo isn't that bad. Wintertime is of course another matter.

But yeah, great writeup.