Blazing Ice by John H. Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

The impression I was forming disturbed me: Did these guys just not get it? Were they that much out of touch with the nature of our work, with the nature of that place?
How far out of step with them am I?
    When the meeting broke up, my boss caught me deep in thought in the long hallway separating the massed cubicles from the meeting room. “There’s something you should know,” he said, softly. “When your name was discussed for the traverse project manager, the COO spoke strongly against you. He said, ‘I have heard his safety philosophy directly from his own mouth. He is opposed to our corporate philosophy. I don’t think we want him for the job.’”
    I cursed, silently.
    â€œWhat did you think of the meeting?” my boss changed the subject.
    I looked around to see who else was in the hallway. “I think the safety director just told me Antarctica is not a frontier.”

4 French Connections
    Getting started, the hardest part of any job
, became easier with a generous boost from Patrice Godon and the French Antarctic Program. I might’ve met Patrice a year earlier, but something got in the way.
    I was off contract following the third year of the tunnel project and at home when an unexpected e-mail from Steve Dunbar landed. When I heard from Steve, and that was rare, I paid attention.
    â€œDo you think any of these scenarios will work for you?” he asked.
    Steve managed USAP Field Science Support these days. His note came at the head of a long e-mail string originated by unfamiliar names. It mentioned timetables and places foreign to me, and had circulated between high levels of the USAP and the French Antarctic Program. I scrolled down until my eyes lit upon my name.
    Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001
To: Stephen Dunbar
Subject: FW: Participation of NSF personnel to Dumont d’Urville/Dome C
Steve-I assume John knows he’s going?
BRIAN STONE
Research Support Manager
National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
    Do I know I am going where?
Dumont d’Urville and Dome C? I’d overhead those names from passing conversations going the other way in a McMurdo hallway since 1993 when I first started in the program. Russ once said something about digging out a buried airplane there. But Brian Stone was asking the question. He’d worked logistics for the support contractor before his cometlike rise took him to NSF’s Office of Polar Programs. I paid attention when Brian Stone spoke, too.
    Below Brian’s note to Steve, I found my name again. This time Erick Chiang addressed Dave Bresnahan. I knew
of
Erick Chiang, but I could think of no reason he would know me.
    David —FYI and planning for John Wright. I have forwarded the message to Mario to make sure that he is aware of the plan. Let me know which option is preferable.
    I think we will have to get John to and from TNB.— Erick
    The aspen leaves on our mountainsides were turning autumn gold and red. Though the sun warmed our south facing valley, inside we wore sweaters. Soon I’d leave my family for winter’s work. This morning my wife joined me at the computer.
    At the bottom of the e-mail string was a lengthy note from Patrice Godon, head of the Technical Department, French Polar Institute, to Erick Chiang, NSF Office of Polar Programs. Godon recognized an agreement in which the USAP would provide an observer-participant for the French traverses. He offered three scheduling options for the then coming austral summer, November through February, to accommodate that observer-participant.
    â€œApparently I’m being considered for that observer-participant role. That’s exciting,” I told my wife.
    â€œAnd you
love
traversing, honey. What does an observer-participant do?” She met the prospect enthusiastically.
    This was the first I’d heard anything about imminent plans for the USAP traverse development. Brooks Montgomery, a USAP mountaineer, had joined a