In 2005, a group of 8 expedition members will spend the Winter, from April to December, on the Antarctic Peninsula, in the area chosen by Jean-Baptiste Charcot for his wintering 100 years ago.

Why a Wintering Within the PPA Expedition?
There are many reasons.

First of all, from a historical point of view, we hope to get back to the pace of our illustrious predecessors. Like Charcot and Gerlache, we will reach the Antarctic by sea in the Summer. We will then winter in an existing scientific base, usually left unused in the winter, and leave the continent the next year, again travelling by sea.
Furthermore, from a scientific point of view, some polar reseach programs require long periods of observation and measurement over a whole year's cycle; only a wintering will enable us to consider such studies.

Nuit arctique
(collection Northanger)

Finally, to winter in the Antarctic is to live out fully a self-made history that may have its roots in an age-old dream. It is also rediscovering oneself, within a brutal quasi-primitive universe and in relationship with a small group of privileged human beings.
In the polar regions, nature's cycle is unique and very powerfull. Come Winter, nature slows down, but has unpredictable meteorological mood swings. While the sun lies forgotten below the horizon, all signs of life disapear in the ever present snow. The animals migrate to the ocean where lies their only possible means of survival. The continent is transformed into a mineral world where even the liquid element is frozen. The human group stubbornly struggling to stay there will find itself as on Mars.

Modern technical means of survival will of course isolate them from these extreme surroundings. We are, after all, no longer in Charcot's time. Come September and the Spring season, life gradually returns with the first penguins and seals (like scouts), then faster and faster and litterally bursting forth with the coupling and then the births around November/December. Nature then goes into a state of emergency as each species must insure its survival within a few weeks.
When Summer arrives, in January, the youn g ones must quickly learn to be self sufficicient in order to survive their first threatening winter. They will soon bravely head for the sea, escorted one last time by benevolant parents.
This strong relation to the animal world, mostly lost in our technical society, takes humankind back to its very beginnings and puts a different light on the existentalist questions of the world's emergencies.

The Choice of the Wintering Site

Provision has been made for the members of the wintering expedition to use existing scientific facilities that usually remain unused in the wintertime. This choice is motivated by the fact that this will have less impact on the environment than putting up a new camp site exclusively for this expedition and then taking it down.
From April to November, the ice will physically cut them off from the rest of the world. No outside help will be available to them.

Logistics of the Wintering
The Chilean base of Carjaval is located at 66°46' S and 52°55' W on Adelaide Island in Marguerite Bay.
The need for multiple living areas (at least 2) is essential :

Safety in numbers: in case of major damage (fire, etc), each building can house all 8 team members in an emergency.

Comfort and versatility for the group's well being: the members will be able to make their "home" in the dwelling of their choice, according to their preferences and activities. Life in close proximity tends to emphasize conflicts. In such an extreme location as the Antarctic, it is important to be able to separate protagonists long enough for tempers to cool.

Storage capacity: the base's buildings will easily contain the scientific instruments, house a mini bio lab and shelter the equipment needed for the Winter's anticipated raids.

La base chilienne de Carvajal
(IPEV)

Environmental Impact
The concrete texts (the Madrid Protocol 1992) are very specific about what humans may or may not do on the Antarctic continent. Any project to take place within the area covered by the Antarctic Treaty must henceforth be submitted in advance to a we study of the environmental impact.
At the end of the wintering, every piece of equipment will of course be brought back on the ship. The base and the site will be entirely cleaned and restored to its original state before we leave. In other words, we will leave it as we have found it.
During the wintering, a proper management of the waste material and of the energy is essential.

Wintering Activities
We will winter in the relative comfort of a scientific station that normally remains unused in the Winter time.
Appart from the setting up and closing of the expedition, some daily tasks will be taking up most of the group's time and energy.
Various scientific research programs are presently being conceived by the labs: glaciology, atmospheric chemestry and météorology, medecine and télémedecine. These programs will require routine procedures such as measuring, testing, maintenance of the equipment, etc. Each member of the group will be in charge of one or more manipulations, in accordance with his/her skills (doctor, ingineer, mountaineer) . Some of the programs will involve recurring outdoors operations: ski trips on the on the pack ice to measure the thickness of the snow within the buoyed up zone, maintenance of the atmospheric pumping station.
In small interchangeable groups- one does not travel alone in the polar regions-we will carry out self sufficient pulka* raids that may last from a few days to many weeks. The temperature remains moderate on the peninsula (Vernaski meteorological chart), compared to the conditions on the inner continent.
The participants themselves will be responsible for the production of images covering all these activities. Media communications, feeding the web site and transmission of scientific results to the labs (via satellite) will keep us occupied during the long "warm" evenings indoors.

Previsional Schedule
The wintering group will be set down on the base around the end of March when the Chilean Summer dwellers are picked up by their Marine ship. They will be cut off from the rest of the world for nearly 10 months without any possibility of rescue and then released by the thawing of the ice and the return of the Marine ship returning the staff of the next Summer's campain.

Final note
In 2000, the sailing ship Northanger wintered at 76° North, on Ellesmeer Island in the Canadian Arctic, in a historical expedition: "Otto Sverdrup Centennial". That wintering was a total success. The owners of the sailing ship, Greg Landreth and Keri Pashuk are long time friends and are helping us prepare for our expedition.