She's one of the few women currently living at the South Pole.
Toni Traub is sharing what it's like working in the coldest and driest place on the planet...
Toni Traub is sharing what it's like working in the coldest and driest place on the planet...
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TravelTranscript
00:00Another beautiful day here in Antarctica.
00:03It's so pretty! It's so cold!
00:06When you land, I mean, there's no runway. It's just ice.
00:11There was that small moment of like, what am I doing?
00:18Santa isn't here. There's no elves. We don't have aliens. Or if we do, I haven't seen any.
00:30Hi, guys. A couple of people have been asking what it's like to actually live at the South Pole.
00:39So I will be showing you my dorm room. This is an empty dorm.
00:45This is kind of what we are given. Just small mattress, pillows.
00:50It does come with a great view. The sun has set, so it looks like this all the time.
00:55I just walked back from our South Pole telescope.
00:58It's about a 20-minute walk.
01:00And for the first 10 minutes, I did have my goggles on.
01:03But they completely frosted over.
01:18Antarctica was never on my radar.
01:21I wanted to be a probably tropical sunshine princess more than anything.
01:29One of my friends took a job at the McMurdo Station.
01:33And he came back and he's like, it was an amazing experience.
01:36And I was like, well, I want to do that.
01:37I want to do adventure and fun and crazy things.
01:39I was truly surprised how good the food is here.
01:43We have a greenhouse here.
01:45And so we'll have fresh salads every day.
01:48And our chefs are absolutely amazing.
01:51Here's our facilities guy, Joe, making our burgers.
01:54They were so tasty.
01:56If it weren't for the high altitude and low oxygen,
02:00I probably would have gained 40 pounds by now.
02:02But hallelujah, this altitude.
02:24I get asked sometimes, you know, like,
02:26what's the difference between negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit
02:29and negative, you know, 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:31And it is very, very tangible.
02:35Over winter, you know, I walked outside
02:37when it was negative 101 degrees Fahrenheit
02:40with a negative 140 something degree wind chill.
02:44And it's just not fun.
02:45It just hurts.
02:47It feels like when you like put like a match
02:49too close to your skin, like that's how cold it is.
02:53So this is possible.
02:56It just really sucks.
03:01So I work in the logistics and waste department.
03:10So it is our job to take all of the waste
03:13that the South Pole creates
03:14and box it all up to be sent out to the United States
03:18because it can't stay on continent.
03:20This is our food.
03:21There is a whole bunch of it.
03:23There are many more rows.
03:24Because of the Antarctic Treaty,
03:25we can't keep anything on continent.
03:27So everything that we produce in waste,
03:30we sent back to the United States
03:32to keep the continent clean.
03:34We have, I believe, nine scientists
03:38and the rest of us are support staff.
03:40So we help keep the station running,
03:43keep it alive.
03:44We make the food.
03:45We make sure the supplies are available.
03:48All for the support of science.
03:59We have four major telescope projects going on.
04:02They are part of a large project all across the world
04:05that basically creates one giant telescope.
04:07And that's how we were able to find
04:09a picture of a black hole last year.
04:11We have this wall
04:33where we have what we do for the week.
04:35We've got lots of things planned.
04:37Tonight is karaoke.
04:39So excited.
04:40I'm going to sing some Shania Twain.
04:41Going to annoy the heck out of everyone.
04:43After work and like on Sundays when I'm off,
04:47I love to hang out in our movie lounge.
04:52There's usually like,
04:53sometimes I hog it and I'll be like,
04:55we're watching this movie today.
04:56And they're like, not legally blonde again.
04:58I'm like, no.
05:03Getting a job done here.
05:04It's very competitive.
05:06But if you have the capacity and the willpower
05:10and just the love of adventure and passion,
05:13you can find a job here.
05:16I've come out with these wonderful friends
05:18that have helped me be more compassionate.
05:20You know, I met so many people that in my regular bubble,
05:24I never would have met or known their stories.
05:27I've come out a better person.
05:29I think anyone that comes here and you make friends
05:31and you talk to people,
05:32we are all so far away from our homes
05:34that we connect on a different level
05:37that I think we would have not connected with.