City employee’s resume includes working in Antarctica

by Mollie Rushmeyer

news@thenewsleaders.com

Most Minnesotans have probably complained about the length and temperatures of our winters, but if you once lived at the U.S. McMurdo Station for science research in Antarctica like Sauk Rapids Public Works Director Peter Eckhoff, Minnesota winters may not seem so bad.

Before Eckhoff became a city employee — budgeting, maintaining, and repairing roadways and buildings, as well as managing public works staff — he spent from late 1989 to early 1991 at the southern tip of Ross Island, part of the New Zealand-claimed territory of Antarctica.

As Eckhoff recalled what it was like living in Antarctica, he began with saying, “The winter is brutal.”

He described winter’s arrival in Antarctica as marked with shorter and shorter days until eventually the sun never comes up. Minnesota’s summer solstice, June 21 – the longest day of the year – is the shortest day in Antarctica. Winter is dark and windy with temps reaching 20 to 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

During the summers, as in Minnesota, days get longer. The winter solstice, our shortest day of the year, is the Southern Hemisphere’s longest day. The sun stays up 24 hours a day.

“I remember setting a softball-sized black volcanic rock on a large chunk of ice,” Eckhoff said, “After a couple of days the sun’s heat, 24 hours a day, had sunk the rock in the piece of ice about two feet.”

So, what made Eckhoff decide to make the harrowing 35-hour journey from the Midwest of the United States to the barren, ice-covered bottom of the world?

When he graduated in 1987 from Moorhead State University, he said the job market was pretty tough for graduates. He found employment at a Fargo pawn/gun shop for awhile. Then he tried his hand at selling copiers and fax machines at an office equipment store. Fax machines had just come on the market, so selling them proved to be a challenge. Eckhoff recalls customers asking, “Why would I want to spend money on a fax machine?” Later, of course, they became an office staple.

So, when a friend was hired with ITT Antarctic Services Inc. as a heavy equipment operator, Eckhoff decided to give them a call. ITT is a third-party company contracted by the U.S. National Science Foundation to take care of the hiring and technical aspects for McMurdo Station Antarctica. And McMurdo Station is a logistic hub for much of the scientific research done on the continent.

When Eckhoff contacted ITT, they offered him a job as a welder’s helper contingent on him passing a physical examination. Thus began the drawn-out process of physical and dental exams to ensure he was fit for the job. Once approved, he went through orientation in Denver, after which he flew to New Zealand where the company outfitted him with cold-weather gear.

Then Eckhoff went on to what he calls the worst leg of the journey – from Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo Station. The Air National Guard piloted the plane with no heat so all passengers were required to wear full winter gear and ear plugs.

“We then would fly for four hours, or roughly half the journey to McMurdo, and then radio the landing field at McMurdo to get a weather report,” he said. “If it was too windy, or poor visibility, or conditions didn’t warrant a safe landing, they would turn the flight around and fly back to Christchurch. A whole day of flying and not getting anywhere.”

But eventually he did get there.

The first year, he worked as a welder’s helper, scrapping and sorting metal to recycle back to the United States. Then a winter-over job became available, and they asked if he would be interested, but he required a psychiatric exam due to the isolation and extreme temperatures brought on with the winter months in Antarctica.

Up to that point, Eckhoff experienced the summer population swell typical at McMurdo Station, around 1,200 people. Scientists from all over the world came to conduct experiments during the summer season, along with various workers to keep the station functional. Summer in Antarctica starts in late November, early December and ends in late March. Then everyone leaves except for a select few, like Eckhoff that year. Just a small crew of about 75 people stayed on with Eckhoff during the winter season to keep everything operational.

After surviving the winter in McMurdo, he did additional traveling in New Zealand and Fiji, but then he made his way back to Minnesota where he met his future wife, Jane, in St. Cloud and began looking for employment in the area.

He worked at Fingerhut, Speedy Delivery, then landed a job with the City of St. Cloud in the street department. He worked there for 12 years. In 2005, he became the assistant director and eventually the Sauk Rapids public works director.

While an adventure, Eckhoff said of his time in Antarctica: “I think winter in Antarctica ruined winter for me today. Many weekend plans have been cancelled because of forecasted snow.”

Though winter may not be his favorite, Eckhoff has chosen to keep central Minnesota his home, saying, “Sauk Rapids has been good to me. Some days are hectic, but I really can’t complain.”