No the cold experience sure isn’t something Imax can portray! So it’s Sunday, our only day off here in Antarctica and they I heard they had the Discovery Hut open for tours. This was hut build by Scott back in the early 1900’s and sits just outside of town at Discovery Point. I was told it’s only a 10 min walk (not untrue) but I had no idea there would be a hour wait outside the hut and didn’t quite take into account that the wind chill was -30 F!

I wouldn’t say I wasn’t all bundled up. I felt warm in my core, arms and legs with my multiple layers of wool, quilted carports, thermal, more will and down but my hands and feet just weren’t keeping up. The walk out there was great! Wind was at my back. Standing outside wasn’t terrible. I considered waiting till next week but there would be more people arriving by then and the line would still be long. Even at the front of the line I considered calling it and just going back. But I was chatting with the scientists on line with me about sea spiders and so I stuck it out. They had their big reds on and ECW gloves but one had ripped jeans and the other didn’t have a neck gaiter or bakalava. At least I had a neck gaiter and a scarf in addition to my big furry hat.

We’ll…I got into the hut but made it fast cause it was colder inside the hut! Took some pictures of 100 year old dog biscuits and headed back. This time the -30 F winds were gusting right at me and I had to lean into the wind just to walk. My toes were for sure already numb and my hands went numb super fast when I took my mittens off to secure my hat’s neck strap. But I was already mildly hypothermic and fumbling so I had to hold my hat on all while rubbing my fingers inside by mittens.

I made it back but couldn’t feel my toes. My heart was racing! I quickly got my boots and socks off to assess the situation and thankfully they were not white like I had imagined based on how they felt. I put on two pairs of wool socks and wrapped myself in my wool blanked and hunkered down with a movie. Two hours later I still had the shivers but at least I could feel my toes again.

Note to self…pack toe and hand warmers (they are free and by just about every door) and never journey out without at least two pairs of socks or my ECW boots.

Here’s some pics of the dog biscuits… worth it??