Our winter in Antarctica will last 6-7 months.  The period of darkness will last 3-4 months.  Really though I always thought all these days, weeks and months would all melt into one very long night.

Just before coming to Antarctica, I was trying to explain to my nieces what I thought it would be like to overwinter in Antarctica.

Although just to young to know exactly what I was talking about, the best analogy I could think of was that the darkness period was just like a reeeeeaaaaaaaalllllly long night – a sleep over at a friend’s perhaps, that would last 3-4 months.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to sleep overs at friends houses.

Staying up late, usually but not exclusively if there was school the next day, watching movies rated beyond your age ‘borrowed’ from older brothers, late night snacks and ice-cream.

Wintering over in Antarctica is much the same.

Only there is ice, no (ice) cream, and I miss that cold glass of fresh milk at 1am in the morning though.  A room temperature carton of UHT milk just isn’t the same.

The reality and isolation is more akin to Russia’s Siberian Gulag, in the Kolyma region perhaps, or worse.

 

I leave you inspired by the film’s trailer below – hopefully our winter-over won’t turn into a crime story, though so far there have been some twists and turns: