When a former Powell resident crossed paths with U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., at her workplace last week, it wasn’t the chance encounter that was necessarily unusual, but the location: McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Lummis was on a Congressional trip to check out the U.S. Antarctic Program, while Anne Condie, a 2015 Powell High School graduate, is working at one of the station’s airfields. As an aerospace ground equipment (AGE) mechanic, Condie’s job is to help get people and cargo off the snow and ice at Williams Field.

“People take all sorts of routes to end up down here but for me it was pretty straightforward,” Condie said in an email. “I really wanted to see the continent and I figured the researchers down here must need support staff so I found a contracting company with openings.”

Getting to the Antarctic station takes some doing, as it’s a 2,414-mile flight from Christchurch, New Zealand (a bit further than a trip from Los Angeles to Miami).

It also takes a special plane: The New York Air National Guard uses a ski-equipped aircraft — the Lockheed LC-130 — to land on Williams Field’s snow-packed runways.

Last week, one of those LC-130 brought in a Congressional delegation that included Sen. Lummis. 

A Wyoming meet-up

While weather and maintenance thwarted a planned dinner with the Wyoming lawmaker, Condie got a chance to say hi before Lummis made a midweek trip to the South Pole and helped see the senator off.

“I never thought I’d meet someone from Wyoming on one of the most remote continents on the planet, but it was such a welcome reminder of home,” Lummis said in a statement to the Tribune. “Leave it to someone from the Cowboy State to end up at the bottom of the earth!”

Condie similarly said it’s always fun to meet other Wyomingites “out in the wide world.”

McMurdo Station visits from members of Congress are “a pretty big deal for those coordinating it and all of us by extension,” Condie added, “since we want to show off the great work being done here and demonstrate why federal funding for this project is so important.”

Lummis said the so-called “CODEL” gave her a firsthand look at how the U.S. Antarctic Program “maintains American leadership in scientific research and governance.”

“It was such a great opportunity to see the cutting-edge research they’re conducting in weather and astrophysics up close and personal and understand the impact this research has on our satellite operations, GPS navigation, and power grids,” Lummis said.

Through its Antarctic program, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports research in astronomy, atmospheric sciences, biology, earth science, environmental science, geology, glaciology, marine biology and oceanography. As an NSF webpage explains, the southernmost continent’s “extreme environment and isolation make it a prime location for unique research that cannot be replicated elsewhere.”

Hostile and captivating

Condie describes Antarctica as “the pinnacle of untouched natural splendor.”

“[I]t’s as stark and hostile as it is beautiful and captivating,” she said.

She called it “staggering” to consider the determination of the early explorers, who reached the southernmost point of the world “with none of the modern resources we take for granted.”

Actually living in Antarctica “is so surreal,” Condie said.

McMurdo is currently in the midst of its summer season, which features around-the-clock daylight. The lack of darkness “is bizarre at first,” Condie said, and makes it easy to lose track of time.

“Blackout curtains and long days are the main ingredients for good sleep down here,” she said.

The station’s entertainment options include lounges that show movies and shows 24 hours a day, bars that don’t serve alcohol (patrons need to bring their own adult beverages), a gym with a rock wall and sports court, theme nights, karaoke, dress-up days (last week featured Goth Day) and periodic events like an “Icestock” music festival and a recent marathon.

The roughly 700 summer residents can also rent musical instruments, bikes, cross-country skis and various other equipment, go for a hike, look for wildlife, read at the library or tour the station’s facilities, Condie said.

Most people work 60 hours a week, she said, “but we play hard in the off hours!”

Condie said she’s been enjoying the community, the lifestyle and the chance to help advance the NSF’s mission.

“And aside from all that it’s just really, really cool. Pun intended,” she wrote.

Other than the 24-hour daylight, Condie said McMurdo Station feels a lot like Powell — though the station was actually about 20 degrees warmer than her hometown on Friday.

Planning a return

Condie’s current contract is set to end around March, which is when the station transitions from its summer to winter crew.

“[M]ost of the 700ish people at McMurdo right now will go home and a much smaller team will fly in to prep for the long, dark winter season,” she explained.

In the same way that the summer months are marked by constant daylight, the winter months include weeks of uninterrupted darkness. But Condie is undaunted, hoping to get hired on to work through Antarctica’s winter season in 2027. She thinks the opportunity to see the southern lights “would more than make up for not having sun.”

Navigating that long stretch of darkness is not easy, and McMurdo residents often rely on UV lights and supplements to get through it.

“It’s not for everyone,” Condie said, “and those who winter over say it does change you a little and they find it jarring when the first plane full of boisterous, tanned summer workers shows up.

“[B]ut I think it sounds peaceful,” she said.

Condie left Wyoming in 2019, but still visits whenever she can, including making a stop in Powell last fall. As for this coming fall, she hopes to head back to Antarctica.