Monday, September 28, 2009

A Visit to the Kiwi Snow Cave

Over the winter two kiwi folk (otherwise known as New Zealanders) decided to build a snow cave and live in it. They spent over 100 hours digging out the three-room dwelling in a snow drift behind the main building at Scott Base. I was lucky enough to get to visit the snow cave on my first visit to Scott Base this season. My coworkers and I were invited for dinner by their station's science support staff, and Paul the electrician was hanging out with us post-dinner. We asked for a tour of the cave he built with his friend Gav so he walked Pat and I out back and before we knew it he dove face-first through this tiny little hole into the snow cave. Not thinking things through, I decided it would be better for me personally to go in feet first. Well, of course this snow cave was built to keep the wind out so once I got down to the lowest point, I needed to go up and into the first room of the place. This turned out to be quite a problem since I couldn't really see "up". Luckily Paul was there to rescue me and pulled me up through the tunnel by my feet. He did say it was one of the least graceful entrances he had ever seen to the place. Thank you, thank you. Once Pat made her way in, we hung out in the bedroom for a little bit. It consisted of two flat carved out spots where they had air mattresses and sleeping bags with a handy light on a stand near by. Then we crawled into the guest room aka the party room. There is a giant snow post in the middle with a light inside it, and this room is a working power point (as you'll see in the third photo). I decided to just peek into the third room instead of falling through another hole to get there. This room was the movie room where they had attempted to show a few movies. The only problem with it is that the projector kept freezing on them. Go figure!

You can buy the snow cave by clicking on this link. All proceeds go to charity. Also, you can check out more photos of this piece of prime real estate.


On our way in...



Pat and Paul in the guest room.



A real working power point. In a snow cave. In Antarctica.



I took this photo without my flash to give you an idea of the ambience of the place.

Posted by Katie from the Ice @ 4:45 PM