“I always try to tell Anna that it’s not the cold that gets you — it’s the wind. But, oh what I’d give for a little wind now. Any wind.” –The Long Way Home
Yes – more Antarctic fiction! Veteran Polies will need to forgive me for slightly tweaking some station layout. But I’d like to think that veteran Polies will also remember how unnervingly an ice fog can, itself, warp the lay of the land.
At about 5600 words, this is a bit longer than most of my stories, but I think somehow that also seems fitting.
I hope you’ll enjoy The Long Way Home.
(And if you do, please don’t be shy about giving it a “clap” or two when you reach the end!)
David Pablo Cohn 
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Sorry, I can’t read your stories anymore :'(
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Dangs – I was worried that this would pop up for regular readers. Thanks for letting me know, and so sorry about that! Lemme try this: I’ll leave it in the “Medium Partner Program” until week’s end, then flip it to public. That way I’ll (in theory) get a week of Medium promoting it, and they’ll get the benefit of having “premium content,” but folks who don’t subscribe will still be able to read. Can you check back in on Friday?
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Wow, that was incredible. Clap clap clap.
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Awww – thanks! I actually started writing that one about three years ago, then set it down halfway through because I couldn’t figure out what happened next. Very pleased with the way it turned out.
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You should be that was tremendous
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Hi David,
Thanks so much for this! I came across a link to your story that Bill Spindler posted in the Old Antarctic Explorers group on Facebook. As an Ice veteran myself, I was hooked! Every detail, from the way the ice crunches underfoot, to keeping the pee bottle on the floor so it stays frozen, to that sense of terror when you think you’ve made a dreadful mistake that might cost everything… Even the sound of a Herc flying overhead. You really took me back there, and of course the spooling out of the narrator’s relationship with his wife as he contemplates the end of all things only served the heighten the tension and pathos of the narrative.
I’m glad to have found your work, and I look forward to reading more.
Cheers,
Matt
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Aww – thank you, Matt! Yes, this was a fun one to write. I was only at Pole 2010-2011, and I know Summer Camp is no longer inhabited, but I figured that it was such an iconic place/time that I had to try and capture my memories.
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Well worth it. I never actually made it to the Pole, but I wintered over three times at McMurdo, plus did some summer-time deep field camp work on the Plateau and in the Dry Valleys, between 1991 and 1995. Based upon your description, the biggest difference from my time there was that we had no Internet; otherwise, it seems not much has changed!
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Amazing story!
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