Antarctica: A Year on Ice Page #5

after the last storm.

All the snow you can see

in the corner of the room here

basically worked its way in

through the tiny gaps

in the window seals.

The wind speeds got up

to 222 miles an hour

so this filled up in just

a matter of a few hours.

And there's

a complete lounge suite

in the corner over there.

This is the fireplace

that's normally used for

keeping the room warm.

In the middle of March,

there's that magical

brief couple of weeks

when the sun is rising

and setting

like normal days

and you can actually

leave the curtains open

on your window at night

to be woken up

by the sunrise in the morning.

We were out and the wind came up

and there was just moments

that it was so cold

I could really

actually feel the danger in it

and feel the...

this crazy like mind thing

that happened that was like...

it was hard to focus on anything

except just getting out

of the conditions we were in

and trying

to just be warm again.

It was really hard

to still focus on

gathering all of the gear

and trying

to do what needed to be done

rather that just run

for whatever vehicle

or, you know, it was...

it was amazing how

your instinct...

it just...

it just snaps.

The first time where

I was just ridiculously cold

was actually with you

just a few days ago

taking the shift photo

up on the hill.

Oh yeah.

The wind was whipping

through there.

I'd probably say it was

negative 80 with wind chill.

And I remember

looking over at Chris Cavanaugh

and tears were streaming

down his face.

He didn't even know it

because it was so cold

and the thing that surprised me

is when he looked

at me a second time

those tears had frozen

to his face.

So that's...

that made an impression on me.

Maybe it's time to get inside.

We're about 30 K's away

from the nearest seawater here

and it's still quite common

to find guys like this.

It's a mummified seal

that's lost its way

and wandered inland.

It's an amazingly

common occurrence.

It's heartbreaking when you see

animals in distress like this

because we're not allowed

to interfere

We just have to let nature

take its course.

It can be really hard

just being away from home

and hearing stories.

My sister just had a baby boy

a week ago.

And that day was...

really bittersweet.

It was really cool,

but man I wanted nothing

more than

to get the hell out of here

just for a day.

Go home and enjoy that moment

with my family

because they were all together

and then I was down here,

you know,

shooting emails out all day

and then on the phone

a couple times

and that was really really hard.

So for me,

what sucks is definitely

missing family,

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