The Winter Over Crew 1997/1998
The Winter-Over crew are generaly a 12 month crew (through summer and winter). However, Kevin and Geoff came in at the end of the season to help with a refit of Q hut, which was still a long time considering the summers are short.
As you may have realized, this is no longer the winter crew for Scott Base. Our year has come and gone but I'm leaving this site as a reminder to those of us who shared the experience of a winter on the ice.
These images are a bit grainy. On the new website they are being upscalled as I go : https://ultracoolrunner.com
Helen
Helen was our Scott Base Services Administrator, Librarian, Deputy Fire Chief, a member of JASART (Joint Antarctic Search and Rescue Team) as well as our first aid officer, hydroponics curator and domestic cleaner. She loved to do her work to the sound of party music, which made the time go by faster. Helen also loved to get outdoors, climb the odd hill and socialize with friends.
Hermione
Herm was our Electrical Engineer and Science Tech. She looked after all the scientific equipment and repaired computers after they had been abused by the engineering department. A lot of her time was spent collecting data for the scientists back home. If it looked like science, Herm was the person to call. Herm was also part of JASART during the winter months. In the summer she could often be found hanging off the side of an ice wall or hidden deep in the recesses of her office and labs repairing equipment and writing reports for scientists who always wanted things done yesterday. In winter some of her projects involved working all hours of the day and night so she had to fit a social life in as best possible.
Pauline
Pauline was the Chef and, take it from me, she could make some excellent meals. Her specialty was pastries and desserts. This means that most of the people on base had to make an effort to exercise, otherwise we got fat from eating too much. I personally loved her salads. Pauline also kept busy during the winter looking after the Scott Base shop.
Michael
Michael was the Engineering Manager; one of two base engineers. Michael looked after the fresh water-making plant (reverse osmosis), effluent plumbing, fire sprinkler water system and most of the inside engineering work. If you needed to find Mike after work hours, during the summer, he'd be out skiing or trying to convince someone to take him diving. Mike was German and often mumbled polite, dignified things over the public address system. However, he loved to swear in English as our language has a couple of very descriptive words he liked to use. He also liked to keep his computer in line with a couple of taps under its monitor when it misbehaved.
Jonathan
Jonathan was a sheet metal engineer by trade and our Second Engineer on base. He looked after the main generators, fuels, containers, snow clearing, was a member of JASART and did most of the outside engineering work. He was the quiet type who was always doing something constructive like working. He could be seen at all hours of the day and night either doing his own work or helping someone else do theirs. You had to watch out for Jonathan though; he loved his practical jokes. Jonathan was another computer lover (not!) and, in the end, had to give up the struggle and work the way the computer wanted him to work.
Chris
Chris was a diesel mechanic by trade and Base Mechanic. He had the job of fixing all the vehicles from small, 4-wheel drive motor bikes up to large earth moving equipment and anything else that ran on fuel. Chris was a typical "petrol head" (or as he liked to be called, a "diesel head"). He loved his vehicles and his workshop, so you needed to watch out if you messed either of them up. (He will find you!) Also known as a bit of a torpedo on the ski-field, he had a habit of going straight down the slope and stopping on top of other people.
Ray
I was the maintenance Electrician, and looked after most of the electrical things on the base. That ranged from controls in the power house to equipment maintenance and even some of the wiring in the vehicles. I also looked after the fire alarms, fire fighting equipment and helped out at the bar when it got busy. Things were easy with the great team of people we had. Life was only complicated by deciding between good food, a gym, a spa pool, TV, videos, books, loud music, a pool table, fully stocked bar, internet, email, ski field and sports activities - all at your finger tips.
Eric
Eric was our Telecom Technician, specializing in satellite communications. He was employed by Telecom to look after all communications systems including telephones. A multiple Scott Base "winter over" offender, his experience and knowledge of the way things work was called on more than once. He had a very dry sense of humor and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Eric enjoyed walking through gale-force blizzards in the middle of winter as if it were a calm, sunny day. Mind you, he always had his extreme cold weather clothing with him, so it wasn't a problem.
David
Dave was our Deputy Base Manager, Field Support Officer, looked after stores and cargo, bar manager, Fire Chief and JASART deputy leader. He was another multiple Scott Base "winter over" offender. Dave's years of experience on the ice gave him the nick name "Zen Master". What he hadn't done wasn't worth doing. Dave loved a good laugh and was known to encourage practical jokes or help people organize them. Dave was one of the people who wondered what he had done wrong when his computer didn't work the way it should. He obviously hadn't been trained in engineering. He spent many long nights in his field store getting things ready for other people to go out into the field. Without his efforts and expertise, science in the field wouldn't have gone anywhere.
Geoff
A fitter turner and carpenter, Geoff was one of the two Carpenters employed to renovate one of our accommodation blocks (buildings). Geoff had a passion for riding his motor bike sideways across intersections and had the battle wounds to prove it. Having only just arrived on one of the last flights into Scott Base, he was still getting used to the way we harassed each other like members of a large family. Mind you, he was starting to get a bit cheeky, but it was nothing the rest of the engineering boys couldn't handle as we had already had four months head start down the road to cabin fever.
Kevin
Kevin was a carpenter by trade with a university degree in horticulture and the other chippie employed to renovate one of the accommodation blocks. Kevin was shy but kept the place alive with his sense of humor and a devious grin that made him look like a gremlin. He was also a member of the "I Love the Scott Base Spa Pool Team" and could often be found floating around the hot tub after a hard workout in the gym. He was also known for his willingness to give other people a hand whenever he could, or for getting stuck in and doing a job no matter how tedious it seemed to be.
Steve
Steve was also a carpenter by trade serving his time down at Scott Base as our Winter Manager, Project Supervisor (for the accommodation block renovations) and full time Carpenter. He was a dab hand at repairing pool tables and pool cues. He could often be found chatting away in the bar until all hours of the night or doing all the carpentry repair jobs around the base that other people took for granted. It always amazed me how he could fit two full time jobs into one day , but he did it with ease and you never heard any complaints. Being the Base Manager, Steve often heard everyone else's moans and groans when things didn't go right and often had to make the best of some very bad situations. Anyone who's supervised eleven slightly stressed out and very independent people in an isolated environment would know what I mean.
Life after Scott Base
To be brief, we scattered like snowflakes in a storm as soon as we landed back in New Zealand. I'm not in touch with everyone but I have heard a few things on the grape vine, so I will say what I know or have heard. If I'm wrong, please tell me.
Helen- Worked in Queenstown for a while and trained to be an instructor for bogie boarding down rapid filled rivers. Then she followed a tourism and adventure company over to Africa or some place. The idea was to take tourists down some African rapids and stay away from the hippos and alligators if she could. I heard the season was good and she should be back in New Zealand for the 1999 summer. Good luck, Helen, and watch out for the predators.
Hermione- a very intelligent woman with a big future in front of her. I heard that she had started up (or was going to start up) some sort of telecommunications engineering and support business and eventually hopes to work for the Red Cross somewhere in the world. I wish you well. She is also another person to visit the ice again in a technical support capacity.
Pauline- Last I heard she was working in a flash hotel in Wellington and may have started up her own business again. She was also in the process of redecorating her house which she had bought before starting work on the ice. Keep up the salads and deserts Pauline -- I'm still on the lookout for your Terramisou desert recipe which nobody makes as good as what you did.
Michael- found a job as an engineer on a boat in New Plymouth, I think. He told me he enjoys the work and, having come from a sea-faring background, found it good to renew his engineering ticket for working on a large ship. Last time I tried to get hold of him he was in Germany visiting friends and relatives. He is also thinking about going back down to the ice for the British Antarctic program B.A.S.E (on the Antarctic peninsula) as an engineer and maybe diving supervisor.
Jonothan - He was working in Queenstown for a while in a boat building factory. He is currently back in his old desk at Scott Base for another season as Engineer. Somehow I think he may be a repeat visitor to Scott Base if he has the opportunity in the future. Since then he has been down on the ice for several seasons and has even been Scott Base winter manager
Chris- He lived in or around Dunedin for a while and worked on various stuff like forklifts and his old man's logging equipment. Then he followed his girlfriend, from the American Antarctic program, over to the states and was touring around Kansas during tornado season. He too has responded to a call from the ice is currently one of the summer crew at Cape Roberts drilling site not far from Scott Base. He now works in America somewhere ?..
Ray- I came back to NZ and for about 5 weeks I worked on my web site and produced a Picture CD Rom with all the years digital and scanned photos I could lay my hands on, as well as visiting friends and family. My wife and I then flew off to Australia to warm up on the sunshine coast. From there we flew to the UK and Scotland where we traveled with friends in a camper van. We experienced Hogminay (new years) in Edinborough and a few more days in London before spending a month on a bus tour traveling western Europe. Nothing like going from an Antarctic winter into an northern hemisphere winter. From there we went to San Francisco and then back home to New Zealand. We both soon found jobs in Christchurch and, at this writing, are settling into our new house. 2004 and Im now in a large 5 bedroom house with 2 great kids. Currently Natasha is aged 4 years old and Matthew is almost 2. It seems like a lifetime ago since I was on the ice. Great memories and a website is all I have left.
Eric- He spent a few weeks on holiday and then went straight back to working for his old Telco employer. His experience with Telecom equipment was invaluable. He may end up back down on the ice again one day. I know he is often used as a point of reference by Telecom when they need to know what or how certain Telco equipment works on the ice. Last I heard, he had another short visit to the ice to sort out some stuff for Telecom. He also married the a woman he meet on the ice a few years ago and they now live happily in NZ.
Dave- is currently working and living in Dunedin with his wife and kid. I often phone him up and we talk about what's happening in the world of Antarctica NZ, the pro's and cons of various decisions Antarctica NZ makes and how they might affect the future of the place. We also chat about what other members of the team have done or are doing around the world. I asked him if he would ever go back down to the ice. That's something everyone who has ever been there gets asked on a regular basis. He answers, "Not right now, but you never know what might happen in the future". Most of us want to go back down, but we don't always get the same opportunities to do it again. ----- He did go back down to the ice and is going to be winter manager for Scott Base in the year 2001
Geoff- Someone who just disappeared. I haven't heard a squeak out of anyone about him.
Kevin- often referred to as "Mork". I caught up with him on the streets of Christchurch not long after coming back from the ice and he said something about living and working in Wellington. Last I heard he was on ice once again and loving every minute of it as he always does.
Steve- He was working in Papua New Guinea as a contract supervisor, then he went to Germany and is now back in Christchurch last time I caught up with him.
Antarctic Adventurers Reunion. These happen on a regular basis and normaly about he middle of the year. Loctions are varied and you need to contact the Scott Base office in Christchurch to see if there is one near you. .
See you there!
Email me (Ray Young) at
Main Page - Home - Antarctica, Scott base By Ray Young (geocities.ws)
www.geocities.ws/coolrunnernz/
9-3-01 then touched up again on 5-5-2024
Written by Ray Young
Edited by Shirley Baston - [email protected] - ICQ # 15167279