Walks from Desk Job
Into Antarctica

By Chelsea Rose Sargent

"I used to work for Stryker Biotech in West Lebanon and one day I was complaining about work when a fellow employee recommended that I give Antarctica a try." That’s how Kevin Rice, 20-something son of Skip Rice of Randolph, ended up in Antarctica.

Rice finished his MBA, sold his house and sent some maple candies to Raytheon Polar Services, where he was hired as Operations General Assistant, a job that would take him to the southernmost continent.

That and a five hour flight from Christchurch, New Zealand in the dark of the cargo bay of a C-17 that landed on an ice runway that melts into a lake every spring. After landing on October 12 he wrote in his blog "I heard that the first time someone steps off the plane they become awestruck at the reality before them. I was determined not to be one of these people. However, after I saw the cargo door open, and a line of forklifts coming to remove the non-human cargo …, I lost cool. IT WAS SO AWESOME!"

As Operations General Assistant, Rice’s duties during his five month stay ranged from monitoring sea ice roads (a thin patch can mean a world of trouble) to sorting the recycling. Raytheon Polar Services, however, is sponsored by the National Science Foundation to research a number of questions. From monitoring the affects of global warming, to studying penguins, they cover it all, according to Rice.

The United States Antarctic Program (USAP) has three main bases at Antarctica. Rice spent his stay at the McMurdo station on Ross Island. Over New Years, however, Rice was able to go to the South Pole where he helped move the South Pole marker to the true South Pole which is recalculated every year as the glacier shifts.

One of the first interesting things that Rice witnessed was a Fata Morgana. A Fata Morgana is a special type of mirage that can be seen by everyone in which objects on the horizon seem elongated. In this case Rice and his workmates saw a series of icy peaks, where there were really none.

Of course one of the most extreme things about Antarctica is the weather there. One day, Rice recounted, the weather was so bad that Rice and his coworkers had to follow a flag route (each flag only about 15 to 25 steps apart) from their tents to the heated module so as not to get lost.

Generally, however, Rice said his Extreme Cold Weather Gear (ECW) kept him warm.

"Everyone there has a similar drive and hearing about other experiences and adventures alone is worth the trip," wrote Rice.

And, far from being a harsh climate, Rice wrote "Life down there is easier than I've ever had it before. All your friends live right next door and the local pub (one of three) is a snowball's throw away."

Rice left Antarctica on February 15, but didn’t seek warmth from there. After spending two and a half months traveling New Zealand, Kevin headed up to Alaska where he is currently working at a remote Island off the coast of Seward.

He’ll be going back to Antarctica as soon as he can get a contract.