Summer Camp

Here at the pole many of us stay in what is affectionately known as summer camp. Summer camp is two rows of Jamesway tents and three buildings in between the rows. The camp is only open during the summer months allowing station occupancy to rise for the busy summer season.

The camp is about 1/4 mile from the new elevated station or a five minute walk. There are two lounges one a smoking lounge which was recently described to me as “the seedy trucker bar”. The second lounge is a non-smoking lounge that is often host to dance parties. Inside it hosts a second room with a large screen T.V. Before the construction of the new elevated station these lounges were the gathering places for the entire station. However I have been told that, with the new station being complete the numbers have dwindled.

Summer camp is also equipped with four bathrooms, the new arrival luggage hold (Alti Meadows) and a store room for pillows and blankets. These are just not that exciting but very necessary, especially the bathrooms, which are cleaned daily by different tents. The bathroom cleaning is called house mouse. Every one on station participates in house mouse. We leave work a little early to do the cleaning when it is your house mouse day.

My favorite part of summer camp is the bouldering cave and work out room. The cave is humble. Made from plywood and 2x4’s with plastic handholds it is a work of love and is maintained by volunteers who set routes and carry out repairs when necessary. The workout room has free weights, treadmills and a stationary bike. All great things to have at your front door.

The Jamesways themselves are a half dome wood framed tent that has a insulated canvas cover. They are heated via a forced air furnace that looks very similar to something you would see in a typical suburban house. The big difference being the fuel that they burn, these burn jet fuel. The tents are divided up inside with drapes or plywood. Most are divided into 12 or 14 rooms allowing each person to have some degree of privacy and personal space. Rooms vary in layout and luxury. Some previous inhabitants put a great deal of effort into creating a comfortable well functioning space, while others are equipped with a bed, metal closet and a curtain wall. For the most part the tents are warm, comfortable and have lots of character. They feel well lived in, warm with a honest rawness that disarming.

There is a level of exposure people living in the Jamesways have to work with. While we all have our own rooms the tops of most rooms are open and sound travels very well. With people sleeping 24hours a day respecting the quiet is a big deal. This also means that when the LC-130 cargo planes fly in you hear it quite well, and when the bulldozers clearing snow come by, it is as if the world is crashing around you. But these are minor things that once here for a little while you get used to.

To live in summer camp is to experience life at the south pole with closer relations to the environment and each other.