Tia Kramer on the ice

November 7th, 2007 andrea

tia kramer
When Tiffany (Tia) Kramer is on the ice working, she makes daily contact via HF, VHF, and Iridium Satellite phone with field camps all over the continent, connecting them with weather forecasters and observers, relaying aircraft off decks, and is their primary point of contact in case of emergencies. She is also an artist who studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, works in media and runs a small business in handmade jewelry.

She is at McMurdo now, and as I prepare to travel there, we have been in contact. Here is her latest update, a difficult situation there:

“At present we are in the midst of an intense Condition 1 storm that has been bombarding us for three days, backing up flight lines from Christchurch and to the pole, halting all helo(copter) and road travel, and stalling the 50 polies who can’t seem to make it to the South Pole. The polies have been living in crowded dorm rooms without their luggage for 8 days.”

but good news the next day:

“There has been a window in the storm front and three evening flight lines finally made it to the Pole tonight! The whole station is celebrating, along with the Today show, who has an hour ground time before they head back to McMurdo. Now we are just hoping for some flights from Christchurch so that we can get our 25,000 lbs of backed-up cargo, package mail and freshies (fresh fruit and veggies)!”

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