The Penguin Is Out of the Bag

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The Penguin Is Out of the Bag

October 15, 2007 by aphriza

A momentous and long-awaited e-mail arrived on Friday:

I am in receipt of your TRW, and passport information forms.

The RPSC Medical data base shows that you are physically qualified.

I’m not sure what my TRW is or how anyone came to be in receipt of it. But the rest of the message is all good news. “Physically qualified” is the official way of saying that I’ve been judged a safe bet not to drop dead or nearly dead anytime in the next several months, and that therefore I will be allowed to spend the holidays in Antarctica.

Antarctica! Ah, finally it becomes clear (to anyone I haven’t leaked this to yet) why I’ve been piling it on so thick with the Worst Journey. I’m going to Antarctica as part of Woods Hole’s Polar Discovery team to write about penguins and lava.

All told, the trip is 5 weeks, from just before Thanksgiving to just after Christmas. At least three of those weeks will be spent in tents, 30 or more miles from the nearest electric heater. If all goes well, we’ll have Christmas dinner in a tent on Cape Crozier, the point of rock where Cherry, Wilson, and Bowers waited out that horrible blizzard that ripped the roof off their igloo.

In coming weeks, keep an eye on the website for more details of our expedition. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you.

7 Responses

on October 15, 2007 at 2:52 pm | Reply Anne

Wow! Awesome news, Hugh.

Congratulations. Can’t wait to start reading your adventures (although I have enjoyed those of Cherry & co).

I’m told that duct tape and super glue are two modern essentials of Antarctic travel. Use the duct tape to craft frostbite-fighting face protection (just stick it on in the morning and remove at night — ouch). Coat your fingers in glue (keep them seperated while they dry) to keep them from splitting from the cold.

Have a great time.
Anne
on October 15, 2007 at 10:53 pm | Reply aphriza

Hey Anne,

Thanks for the advice. just when you thought there were no more uses for duct tape to be discovered.

By the way, nice story about race and academia for AAAS…

H
on October 16, 2007 at 5:19 am | Reply Jenn

Physically Qualified! Congrats! Lava + penguins = two of my favorite things. The BU Antarctic group is already compiling a list of the best bars at McMurdo for you.
on October 18, 2007 at 9:34 am | Reply GVP

Hey,

Good news! What about NZ?

Alternative headline and homage to both scientific exploration and crappy WWII movies: The Penguin Has Landed. Though perhaps you are saving that one for your first ice-laden post from the pole…

–g
on October 18, 2007 at 9:45 am | Reply aphriza

you’re dead on – i was saving it for the first post. although now that penguin is out of the bag, too…

i’ll be in New Zealand from about New Year’s until about Jan. 17th. Come one, come all, Raglan awaits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raglan
on October 25, 2007 at 12:58 pm | Reply Hannah

How do the polar explorers get those big, ice-encrusted beards if they’re using duct-tape depilatories? Just one of the many mysteries I hope you’ll unravel in your reports. One more: what does lava have to do with penguins? Or are those two separate assignments?
on October 25, 2007 at 4:33 pm | Reply aphriza

I’ll have a go at it – though I’m tending toward the big ice-encrusted beard rather than the duct-tape option. And you’re right about two missions – though the Adelies do nest on bare rock, which happens to be composed of the volcanic excretions of Mt. Erebus…