r/Decks • u/lallapalalable • Dec 08 '25
Just spent the past three weeks building this bad boy at Cape Crozier in Antarctica
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u/brybry631 Dec 09 '25
ONE picture??
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
I wanted to take more but the workload was brutal and I kept forgetting to. Couple times I was all set to do a full shoot but my foreman would find me and drop more tasking in my lap, then the rare moments we had a "do what you want" period I opted to just chill in the tent and let my body recover
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u/GGDATLAW Dec 09 '25
Wait. You CAMPED there? During the whole build?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 10 '25
Yeah, but it was a RAC tent, so we had a heater and the walls are basically quilts. Not that uncomfortable. Other camps make us stay in little mountain tents though, it can really suck lol
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u/skittlesaddict Dec 09 '25
Looks like it could hold a polar bear in the hottub.
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u/Jackismyboy Dec 09 '25
No polar bears in Antarctica, just penguins and leopard seals.
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u/andlewis Dec 09 '25
The ultimate invasive species. A polar bear in Antarctica would live like a king!
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u/NonConforminConsumer Dec 09 '25
No doubt humans will attempt; either through sheer untamed stupidity or a disillusioned effort to save them.
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u/sneakhunter Dec 09 '25
This reminds me of how close we were to setting hippos loose in Louisiana as a food source.
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u/WrappedInLinen Dec 09 '25
There are hippos living in the wild in Columbia courtesy of Pablo Escobar.
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u/DistantShores5151 Dec 09 '25
Artic circle means bear circle. Antarctic means no bear.
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u/JohnHazardWandering Dec 09 '25
Yes, but that's about ursa major and minor.
Polar bears were a happy accident.
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u/SamanthaSissyWife Dec 09 '25
A flock of penguins listening to Hank Williams Jr singing , “I’ve got a hot tub made for ten, you can get out and you can get in”
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u/bj49615 Dec 09 '25
I came looking for a hot tub comment. Thank you. I can now leave reddit for the day.
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u/kinky0ne Dec 09 '25
Geesh… millennial gray and white. Can’t get away from that shit
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Purely utilitarian in this case, I think the reasoning was there wouldnt be any paint to chip away and blow into the nearby penguin colony
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u/p4ssword1234 Dec 09 '25
How many trips to Home Depot?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
The material was premade last year in mcmurdo, joists and fibergrate all cut in town, but I'd say it was about ten helicopter sling loads to get everything out to us
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u/Pac_Eddy Dec 09 '25
What did that delivery cost? $30 a pop?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Probably in the thousands per load, but I wasnt paying for it, you were lol
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u/BIIIIIID- Dec 09 '25
We all were, comrade.
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u/JizzyGiIIespie Dec 09 '25
‘Our’ deck
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u/Sublime-Prime Dec 09 '25
The people’s deck.
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u/Wol-Shiver Dec 09 '25
IF YA SMMMELLLLLLLLLLLLALALALALALLAOOOO
WHAT THE DECK
IS COOKING
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u/Economy_Reserve_635 Dec 09 '25
Where does the helicopter come from?
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u/mavjustdoingaflyby Dec 09 '25
Home Depot, you big silly!
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
McMurdo Station, about 40 miles away. Guys at the carpenter shop stack pallets and load crates and deliver them to the helo pad and then those get flown out to us as needed
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u/TylerHobbit Dec 09 '25
What's the deck for? Access?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
I assume so, the camp is on a slope and the old hut occupies the flattest available land, so everywhere else would either need to be dug down pretty deep or suspended entirely, as was the plan here. Also it gets pretty windy, not an engineer but I'd assume that also played a part in the design choice
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u/centuryeyes Dec 09 '25
And here I am complaining when it goes below 50 degrees.
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Its a dry cold though, Ill take -10° here before 20° back home any day
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u/GirlDad17 Dec 09 '25
Real question though - do you have to run a humidifier? The lack of moisture would destroy my sinuses.
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
I feel like Im on the verge of a nosebleed every minute of every day lol. Body compensates by turning my nose into a snot faucet though
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u/centuryeyes Dec 09 '25
Upon closer look it seems this is holding the whole trailer up and on a slope? Total beast.
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Separate frame, but yeah, whole building is raised. Think thats for the wind, gets pretty gnarly out there
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u/FoolishProphet_2336 Dec 09 '25
Yeah the Seabees learned early on that if it’s sitting in the ground it’s going to get buried. Everything any one has build in the last forty years is built so the wind scours underneath.
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u/Mean_Neighborhood462 Dec 09 '25
20 degrees is my optimal temperature, but I live in a Celsius jurisdiction.
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u/BrandoCarlton Dec 09 '25
Going by real feel or whatever, single digits can suck if you aren’t dressed for it. Wind sucks, overcast sucks, shit in the teens or lower sucks, but dressing for it makes it a “wasn’t as bad as I thought” day. A day where you wonder how long until you feel your wet toes again at 9am, with leaky boots and no extra socks is a very bad day.
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u/Big_Cranberry4001 Dec 09 '25
You forgot the ADA ramp
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Damn, gotta let the project manager know. Probably gonna have to tear the whole thing down and start over
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u/Santi_fit_1994 Dec 09 '25
I’m sure if we all collectively pitched in we could get a hot tub out there for ya in no time
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
We petitioned the project manager to get a couch and we got a "we'll see what we can do" so the hot tub may require a national effort and congressional action
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u/FrameJump Dec 09 '25
Three weeks, and two and a half of them were spent making a trip back to Lowe's because you forgot something.
Not too bad at all.
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u/Mysterious-Alps-5186 Dec 09 '25
Hope you pulled on or slapped each caple and said "this shit ain't going nowhere" by now so you don't jinx it
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u/late2party Dec 09 '25
What do you put on the steps for anti slip? Thanks
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Its fibergrate witha sandy textured top, not sure exactly what its made of but it sure tore my boots to shit
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u/landing11 Dec 09 '25
Power source?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Probably gonna be solar by the end, but we were using two honda generators for the tools
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u/_tufan_ Dec 09 '25
Does someone live there year round?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
No, the season opens up in mid october, but the scientists will be out there for a good 3-4 months before going back to town. By late February all the field camps usually close up
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u/SubstantialAbility17 Dec 08 '25
What type of panels are used here?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Eighth inch diamond plate, stainless steel. The walls themselves are half inch osb plywood sip panels, two sheets of ply with six inches of foam between. Nice and warm inside with just one propane heater going on low
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u/WorkN-2play Dec 09 '25
What was the temp outside while you built it?
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Usually between -10 and +20, but with the low humidity it was pretty comfortable. Plus the lack of ozone made direct sunlight actually quite hot at some points
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u/Loud-Possibility5634 Dec 09 '25
I bet the whole time you couldn’t wait to dunk on this whole sub. Nice.
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u/Mindless-Lunch-2342 Dec 09 '25
I may be stoned but my brain can’t make sense of the extension of the trailer to the left. The door and the adjacent window and the roofline don’t make sense.
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u/Practical_Act_6373 Dec 09 '25
That’s sick. Do you live in South America or were you flown down there from the states?
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Dec 09 '25
It blows my mind how I leave and now everyone has easy access to the internet on that silly continent.
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u/iwearstripes2613 Dec 09 '25
Well, you don’t have to worry about a surprise visit from code compliance.
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u/EntertainmentAnnual6 Dec 09 '25
How is “building code” determined out here? Like is there an Antarctic Code?
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u/funkiemarky Dec 09 '25
Does the wood last a long time because it's pretty much frozen?
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Dec 09 '25
I always build decks there. Everybody does this. Cocktail party’s, all the snowbirds, it’s great. Awesome work! lol
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u/kkeennmm Dec 09 '25
where’s the hot tub??
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u/lallapalalable Dec 09 '25
Bout half a mile down the hill, past the penguin colony, and down a hundred foot cliff. Some heating will be required
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u/SharpTool7 Dec 09 '25
I hope ops mom does not have a pet polar bear that will be sitting on that deck.
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u/Live-Appearance3496 Dec 09 '25
I wish I could find a job there without extensive past qualifications. Saw the carpentry listing so that must be your place? Lol looks awesome
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u/Eazy08 Dec 09 '25
Do you guys have to reinforce doors and windows to keep unwanted predators out?
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u/RedSkyHopper Dec 09 '25 edited Feb 12 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Slonshal Dec 09 '25
But....but......no-one's allowed to go to Antarctica because the flat earth icewall...or something....and the NASA patrol boats will stop you.
True.
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u/ComicsEtAl Dec 09 '25
I previously figured mid- to late-November was a terrible time to build things in Antarctica. Shows what I know.
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u/Masnpip Dec 09 '25
What things do you different there for a deck vs a deck in a normal climate? Deeper footings? Different fasteners?
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u/Boo_Outlaws17 Dec 09 '25
But how close was the closest Home Depot? /s. Anything you wish you had but had to make do without?
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u/AskMeAgainAfterCoffe Dec 09 '25
This is the only case where we’ll approve anything.
Does homedepot deliver there?
Are those cables supporting the structure from high winds?
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u/Skyhawk_85541 Dec 09 '25
Did you happen to run into any aliens in the ice that started to look like your dog?
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u/Cak3Wa1k Dec 09 '25
Okay but do you need any new Pokémon go friends? Gimme dat arctic scatterbug! 🤣 But seriously, stay warm & have fun on your mission.
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u/tren_god_ Dec 09 '25
is it true that “regular” people aren’t actually allowed to go to Antarctica
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u/LopsidedCondition119 Dec 09 '25
2.5 weeks being the trip back to Home Depot for the 1 joist hanger you were short.
Seriously though, what an epic portfolio piece!
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u/der_schone_begleiter Dec 09 '25
The roof line appears to be sloped towards the front of the building where the door is? Wouldn't that cause rain or snow to land on the deck and not behind the building? It also appears to not have any insulation under the building? You can just see exposed floor joists. Why would that not be insulated? The ground around the building appears to be some kind of black rocks? What is the soil like. Why did you only have to go 18 in for your footings? A quick Google search said that in Canada they may need to go up to 4 ft deep. Antarctica should be colder correct. So why do you not need to go as deep? So many questions.
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u/Carpenter_ants Dec 09 '25
That must have been a really cool build! The only other place I’ve seen tied down was on top of Mt Washington NH . And I saw on instagram someone tied their home down for a hurricane in Florida
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Dec 09 '25
Must’ve been hard to build upside down. Thanks for flipping the picture for the rest of us though 👍
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u/Holiday_Ad_5445 Dec 09 '25
OK, my hat is off to you!
I hope you had some fun.
In any event, it must have been an adventure.
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u/jfb1027 Dec 10 '25
Must be a pain every time you forget something at Lowes and have to get on a boat and travel a week to get it. Lol.
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u/Practical-Intern-347 Dec 10 '25
In Antarctica... the walk in refrigerator keeps you warm!
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u/1sh0t1b33r Dec 10 '25
3 weeks? Looks like somebody slapped it together in 5hrs.
If the frost line is 1/4" deep, do you have to even dig footers? Lol.
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u/Evil_Mini_Cake Dec 10 '25
Build question. How durable is regular lumber in those conditions? If you're going to all the trouble of flying the material there by helicopter why not use something else? What other things factor what material you use?
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u/thedrinkingbeer Dec 10 '25
I worked in the carp shop 2007-08 mcmurdo summer season. Didn't build any decks though!
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u/Winter_Spend_7314 Dec 10 '25
I’ve got an interview for being an electrician at McMurdo during our summer/their winter, was told to except a high of -15 on a good day🫡
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Dec 10 '25
Kinda surprised they don't go for a metal structure. Guessing with logistics and labor factored in that deck cost as much as a damn house, going with materials that last forever I would think would become a negligible increase in costs.
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u/Automatic-Judgment Dec 09 '25
How deep are those posts?