When Cyprien Verseux was told he’d have to undergo some training before he set out to Antarctica in 2018, he thought that sounded reasonable. There are some basics expected of everyone who’s sent to do scientific investigations at one of the research stations in the remote, icy continent: a medical assessment, some basic survival skills, a psychological profile. After a dramatic 1971 incident in which the sole medical doctor at a USSR station had to cut out his own appendix, some countries made appendectomies a requirement for their “winter-over” medical staff in Antarctica. Most others will ask that a dental X-ray is done and wisdom teeth are taken out if it looks like they could impact. That’s because, once you arrive at an Antarctica research station for the winter, you can’t be reached again for nine months. It’s just you, a skeleton staff (most people take the three-month summer option), and perpetual darkness.
That complete isolation from the rest of the world is the reason why everybody there needs basic survival skills. Generators can fail, food can spoil, people get locked out of their accommodation by accident, emergencies happen. Knowing how to cope — and to remain calm — in such situations is just common sense. Verseux knew all of that. He thought it was a good idea.
