Frodo at the Journy's End

The third of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was on the other night and I caught some of it between hockey games. It was the scene where Frodo, Sam and the other two Hobbits have returned and are in the pub. It’s in either the Shire or Downton Abby, I always get those two mixed up. Anyway, they bring their beer to a table, sit down and look around. And I know that LOOK. They have been away and the world has swirled around them, and they might as well have been on the moon. It matters not that they have slain the dragon (both figuratively and literally) or have had great adventures.

Many of us have felt the same way upon our return from Antarctica to "The World". Like in a Colin Hay song, we only slay the dragon in our dreams, but the stuff we saw, and the things we did; no one can take it away from us. Turns out no one can understand it either. Take the picture above. Sridhar, Ginny, Huw and myself having dinner on the trail. It’s around midnight and we were doing a camp move by traverse about 80 miles. Ian took the photo. We had dehy (a dehydrated dinner with 400% of your month’s salt intake in one serving). It was on Whillans Ice Steam (83º40’S, 145ºW). We arrived at the new location around 3AM and pitched a couple of tents, then slept in. How do you relate this experience to anyone? Huw and I drove back to the old camp the next day for another load, camping out along the way.

The picture below is a Twin Otter near the Dufek Massif (82º36’S, 52º30’W) in the Pensacola Mountains. We were installing a seismic station. This is a million miles from nowhere. It took an airdrop of fuel (picture of the barrels below) and some slight-of-hand with fuel barrels to even get there. The only question I am likely to hear though is “Did you see any Polar Bears”. Really? Polar Bears? That’s the best you can come up with?

Maybe that’s why some of my Ice friends choose not to even mention that they work in Antarctica. It’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth. I’ve found myself in that situation. Like when a loved one mentions to someone that I work in Antarctica and I get a blank stare. At lease with your Ice friends you can share “the look” then raise your glass and have a toast, no words needed.