This reminds me of Leonid Rogozov performing a self appendectomy in Antarctica in 1961. If I recall correctly there are requirements now that any doctor who winters over must have had theirs removed. More information, including photos - http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/igy1/appendix.html
That's unreal. I had appendicitis when I was 35. You know how doctors ask you to rate your pain level from 1-10? That experience reset the scale entirely for me. I suffered on the floor of an Army hospital ER waiting room for 8 hours before they brought me back. They quickly realized what was wrong with me and gave me morphine and I've never felt anything so blissful. Looking at that doc's pics from your link just blows my mind. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. Maybe he had lots of morphine on hand.
One of my friends is down at Amundsen-Scott, currently for his second overwinter. He works on the BICEP2 project. When I saw this I was worried it might be him. I was able to reach him over the internet and he let me know he was doing well. They are understandably keeping quiet about what is going on, so I can't offer any details, but it sounds like the patient is doing OK for now. That's all I know.
At 3am when I should be sleeping. The internet is the invention of our lifetimes..its just amazing how just on the notion of sheer information - and education of us regular citizens, has totally been shaken. I recently read that libraries were first created with the purpose of letting even poor folk self-educate.
And still there are likely numerous stories that are not on Wikipedia, because of their rule against "original research".
Makes one wonder if there should be an attempt at setting up a wiki for personal stories and such, as i doubt blog services have any dedication to preservation.
These are the little planes which fly tourists between Kathmandu and Lukla airport (with its notoriously short runway) when you go trekking in the Himalayas.
I've jumped out of them when I skydived. They get up quick, carry a fair number of skydivers. Fabulous when you normally jump at a small drop zone with little Cessnas carrying four or five skydivers at a time.
I was amazed that they had brought all those musical instruments with them, and an entire gym! Then it just got worse. No weight spared. A huge building with seemingly no effort made to keep it lightweight. What a difference from Amundsen's and Scott's time!
Deadhorse, Alaska (beginning of the Alaska Pipeline, and as far north as one can go in AK) isn't neutral: no alcohol allowed, and it appears to be at least mildly enforced. Drunk oil workers where it's dark for three months? Yeah, Deadhorse decided that was a bad idea, apparently.
That does sound attractive and a good opportunity to reflect. Anyone here (or do you know any good stories) spent any long periods either in complete isolation, or in a small group like this far away from society? How was it?
Maybe not exactly the situation you're describing, but similar. Spent a month of one of my deployments at a small operating base in eastern Afghanistan. Our barracks were small, minimal structures that had two to a room.
We slept during the day. Planned missions in the early evenings. Huddled around the fired pit, drinking coffee and looking the stars for a few hours each night before conducting missions in the middle of the night, in remote villages far off in the mountains, which would extend till morning.
It required helicopter operations flying low, between the mountains. Long offset infiltrations... we'd land a few km away from the objective, and walk our way, for a few hours at a time through mountains and valleys on our way to the target.
Being in this remote post was surprisingly an enjoyable part of that deployment (most of us were disappointed when told we'd be going here at the last minute)... The (relative) isolation from other units, cleared your mind and focus. We all enjoyed the camaraderie and time we had to just hand out with each other during down time. During off days / nights I got a lot of reading done, probably more than I've ever been able to in a short period since. The scenery and beauty of that country, and specifically that location is something I'll never forget.
> Anyone here (or do you know any good stories) spent any long periods either in complete isolation, or in a small group like this far away from society? How was it?
I overwintered on Kerguelen island. The environment is not as extreme as on Amundsen-Scott, but from what I can see the isolation is almost exactly the same: same amount of personel in summer and winter, just a slightly shorter isolation in winter. On the other hand there's no runway and it's too far from inhabitated land for helicopters, so in case of a real emergency the best that can happen is that a ship can come to the base and get you to Réunion in ten days or so. Also, communications are much worse it seems, with a few tens of kB/s at most, shared with two other smaller French bases in the Indian ocean.
It was great, the best experience in my life so far. It felt like real adventure that doesn't really happen anymore in the civilised world. You have to be very patient, understanding and open though, because at least a few of your companions won't be. There was a sense of companionship I haven't felt elsewhere, as well as the possibility for people with vastly different backgrounds to meet, when they would probably never had met in "real life".
I spent a year on Marion Island, it sounds pretty similar. It's quite a strange feeling adapting back to civilisation afterwards. Going 60km/h in a car feels terrifying. Having to remember to take money everywhere with you in order to get everyday things like food.
Honestly cars were not a problem for me since I had one of the few cars on Kerguelen: there is just one road, to go to the IT/electronics/geophysics lab.
What was strangest for me once back to civilisation was being able to just go wherever I want without asking or even notifying anyone, and even go there alone, after a year of strictly controlled movements and the obligation to go everywhere in groups of three :)
How does this sort of experience bode for long term space missions and exploration. Will contingencies be better planned in environments with even less access to equipment?
I guess most of it would go into crew selection and health screenings, but stuff still happens.
Nations that conduct deterrence patrols on SSBNs have built up many decades of experience in terms of sealing up individuals for months at a time, operating in an unforgiving environment and being self reliant for that period. There's a surprisingly large pool of information potentially available to learn from.
I often wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to have sufficient medical resources ad Amundsen-Scott, than to repeatedly mount risky and expensive rescue efforts. Is it just human nature to expect the best outcomes, and not plan for disaster?
They always have at least one doctor at the pole over the winter. They have two hospital beds, an operating table, and a relatively extensive pharmacy. If someone's coming home, it's because it's extremely serious.
