Antarctica's Mr. Clean

BRIAN BIRKENSTEIN mops floors in Antarctica, but he is not a professional janitor.

He graduated in 1996 from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in geography, traveled the world as a tour guide, then applied for a cleaning job way down under because he wanted to see Antarctica.

Why pay thousands of dollars to take an Antarctic cruise, he figured, when you can collect $7 an hour for cleaning toilets at McMurdo Station?

Raytheon Polar Services Co., a Centennial, Colo.-based contractor, hires about 1,000 people every year to perform support work for the U.S. Antarctica Program's field camps, research vessels and three permanent stations, including McMurdo on the southern tip of Ross Island.

"We hire everyone needed to run a small town," Raytheon's Elaine Hood told me by e-mail, "cooks, janitors, plumbers, electricians, computer technicians, snowplow drivers, construction workers, secretaries."

Workers are trained, then transported to the research facilities. They're equipped with big red parkas, insulated overalls, gloves, neck warmers, hats and goggles.

"People who work outdoors get more stuff," said Birkenstein, a native of Fountain Valley.

Before he took the job, his mother warned him that he wouldn't be able to wear flip-flops. But when I talked to Birkenstein by phone in early December, it was 37 degrees and sunny at McMurdo, near the relatively temperate Antarctic Peninsula.

"I walked to the bowling alley in flip-flops today," he told me.

Here is some of our conversation with him:



What does the base look like?

The station is [home to] about 1,000 people, set on a hill overlooking the frozen-over sea. It is on an island about 20 miles from the mainland. There are 100 or so buildings — dorms, warehouses, workshops, a medical facility, firehouse, chapel, cafeteria and three bars. We even have saunas, weight rooms and a bowling alley with two warped lanes and a manual pin setup.

Most people live in dorms with one to three roommates. It is as comfortable as can be expected for shared living in the coldest, driest, most isolated continent on Earth.



Do you get cold?

In my room, I actually sleep with a fan on, partly for white noise and partly to cool it down a bit. The weather is cold by most standards, but you adjust.

The sun never goes down and won't for a few months. Then it will be dark and really cold for the long winter, but I will be gone by then. Some people winter over; however, I think they're of hearty, non-Californian stock.



What's your routine?

I work six days a week, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. I clean the same dorm every morning and the coffeehouse every afternoon. I do it over and over. It's like that Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day."



Do you ever go outside?