Brr
brr.fyi · Personal blog · on HN since 2022
A former worker at the South Pole and McMurdo Station writes about life, logistics, and engineering in Antarctica.
What HN saysCommenters repeatedly recommend it as a really good read about living and working in Antarctica.
93HN people shared it
63linked it in comments
47stories submitted
2.7Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2022people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Brr: An Antarctica Blog22 people · 5 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 2Engineering for Slow Internet6 people · 1.0K points · first shared 2024 · 386 comments on HN
- 3Credit Card Shenanigans5 people · 10 points · first shared 2022 · 2 comments on HN
- 4Pressure Altitude5 people · 6 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 5Sunset at the South Pole5 people · 2 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 6Coming home from the South Pole4 people · 157 points · first shared 2024 · 32 comments on HN
- 7Redeployment Part Three4 people · 96 points · first shared 2024 · 11 comments on HN
- 8Doors of McMurdo4 people · 16 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 9Redeployment Part Two4 people · 7 points · first shared 2024 · 1 comments on HN
- 10Showering at the South Pole4 people · 3 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 11South Pole Topography4 people · 3 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 12Frost4 people · 1 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 13McMurdo's Automated Teller Machines4 people · 1 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 14The Beer Can (2023)3 people · 317 points · first shared 2023 · 55 comments on HN
- 15Snowdrifts (Brr.fyi)3 people · 4 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
hcaz · 2025-02-04
https://brr.fyi/ is a really good read about a dude who worked at the south pole for a while
Crier1002 · 2024-07-12
what an amazing read!
slightly unrelated to the post: does anyone know any similar blog posts as such about people writing about their life? especially in areas of the world that is less known of?
another one that i really like is https://brr.fyi/ where he posts life working at the antarctica
rollcat · 2023-11-19
If you're interested in general with life and challenges of the Antarctica, I recommend this excellent blog: https://brr.fyi/
bizzyb · 2023-10-07
Starlink was certainly a game changer for life around here. McMurdo is essentially a small town so many different jobs and routines to make everything go. Some stay inside all the time, some have to work outside a lot.
https://brr.fyi/ is a really good blog from a person nearing the end of a year long deployment who writes much more eloquently than I ever could if you want to read more.
Antarctica: A Year on Ice is an enjoyable film documentary from ~10 years ago.
A Big Dead Place by Nicholas Johnson is also worth a read from the early 2000s.
hiidrew · 2023-01-21
recommended: https://brr.fyi/
unsnap_biceps · 2026-02-13
If you're one of today's 10,000[1], https://brr.fyi is a fascinating view into Antartica living.
[1] https://xkcd.com/1053/
smlavine · 2025-12-06
Related: a cool blog from a year or two ago from a participant in this program: https://brr.fyi
fleebee · 2025-08-03
Nice post! There's a lot of stuff here that I had no idea was in built-in already.
I tried making a standalone executable with the command provided, but it produced a .blob which I believe still requires the Node runtime to run. I was able to make a true executable with postject per the Node docs[1], but a simple Hello World resulted in a 110 MB binary. This is probably a drawback worth mentioning.
Also, seeing those arbitrary timeout limits I can't help but think of the guy in Antarctica who had major headaches about hardcoded timeouts.[2]
[1]: https://nodejs.org/api/single-executable-applications.html
[2]: https://brr.fyi/posts/engineering-for-slow-internet
madcaptenor · 2025-03-19
It's a shame we can't ask someone at the North Pole right now, a few days before the equinox, if the sun is up.
For what it's worth, brr.fyi documents a sunset at the South Pole: (https://brr.fyi/posts/sunset) and a sunrise (https://brr.fyi/posts/redeployment-part-one)
anotherevan · 2025-01-06
https://brr.fyi/ - Blog posts from someone who spent over a year in the Antarctic. Lots of interesting details about how the infrastructure works and what life is like working there.
arlattimore · 2024-11-11
Not strictly related to the Antarctic Fire Department, but if you're interested in the remoteness aspect of it - you'll likely enjoy reading https://brr.fyi/ which is an account of living/working at the South Pole and has been featured on HN several times in the past.
throwup238 · 2024-10-22
In the same vein brr.fyi has a great time lapse of an Antarctic sunset: https://brr.fyi/posts/sunset
macintux · 2024-08-19
Unsurprisingly, the challenges of getting to, living in, and managing infrastructure in Antarctica is a frequent theme of posts shared here. Some previous discussions of note:
* How to Operate an Airport in Antarctica (also via flightradar24.com): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26340384 (68 comments)
* Nuclear Power at McMurdo Station, Antarctica: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27549484 (192 comments)
And perhaps my favorite blog, brr.fyi makes frequent appearances here. An example:
* South Pole Water Infrastructure: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40615530 (63 comments)
For all Antarctica posts: https://brr.fyi/tags#south-pole
BotJunkie · 2023-10-26
I wrote this story, which originated entirely from a single picture on brr [1], an Antarctica blog that has wonderful, detailed descriptions about how the South Pole station functions.
[1]: https://brr.fyi/
vgeek · 2023-10-25
His movies have really gone downhill since Next Friday-- I guess melting 2m/minute of snowpack has a different audience?
Kidding aside, https://brr.fyi/ is a fascinating site that details "less exciting" daily life at the much larger coastal McMurdo Station.
Amundsen-Scott itself is neat to read about, particularly the strategies they employ against becoming buried in snow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Statio…
chrismeller · 2023-10-16
You can also go straight to her blog [1]. There is another really interesting one about life at the South Pole by someone in IT [2].
1: https://wandereatwrite.com/life-at-the-south-pole-station/
2: https://brr.fyi/
syntaxing · 2023-08-13
This person’s blog pops up every once in a while in HN but might be a good inspiration [1].
[1] https://brr.fyi/
ChrisMarshallNY · 2023-08-13
I think this person is in IT: https://brr.fyi
May not be a software engineer, but they have an interesting job.
overvale · 2023-07-29
The newsletter is just website updates, but I recently discovered https://brr.fyi.
Also, it is probably well known, but I don't ever see it posted here: Liberty's Highlights - libertyrpf.com
TurkTurkleton · 2022-12-15
Unless you're a scientist or researcher in a field that would be performing research at McMurdo, your best bet is probably to apply for a support position with one of the organizations or parner institutions listed here: https://www.usap.gov/jobsandopportunities/
Though as the blog mentions in an earlier post[0], you may have to re-apply repeatedly over the course of several years.
[0]: https://brr.fyi/posts/basics
layer8 · 2025-10-03
Why don’t you? https://brr.fyi/subscribe
gary_0 · 2023-12-23
And then https://brr.fyi/ breaks the Internet!
focusedone · 2023-09-14
If you haven't already, check out https://brr.fyi
cj · 2023-07-23
The linked post "Showering at the South Pole" is interesting as well. From how they get their water to its rationing.
If you arrive on a 90 day journey, you can bank your shower points (not shower) until your last day in the station, and spend your shower credits for a 52 minute shower! (1.3 gallons/minute)
https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole
> Reasonable options are as follows:
> Every 3 days: 102.9 shower-seconds. That’s 1 minute, 42.9 seconds. Bold and daring! Can you rinse off in time?
> Every 4 days: 137.2 shower-seconds. That’s 2 minutes, 17.2 seconds. Enjoy the extra time! You’ve earned it.
> Every 5 days: 171.5 shower-seconds. That’s 2 minutes, 51.5 seconds. Approaching luxury territory. Enjoy every precious, hard-earned second!
> Every 6 days: 205.8 shower-seconds. That’s 3 minutes (!!), 25.8 seconds. High risk, high reward. If you can hold out, you’ll be able to enjoy an indulgent, almost decadent shower.
Metacelsus · 2023-07-09
Check out https://brr.fyi/
iamtedd · 2023-03-12
jacoblambda · 2022-12-15
McMurdo during the summer routinely gets above freezing and isn't all too different from Alaska or northern Canada in the early spring. During the winter of course it gets cold.
As for power, McMurdo has a mix of power sources including a number of renewables. For about a decade ('62-'72), McMurdo also had a small nuclear power plant on site as well. This was also only a few years after McMurdo was established ('56). So there was definitely a time where energy was not particularly expensive and the greater issue was the cost per kilo for shipping supplies.
Of course now that shipping logistics are mostly ironed out and nuclear was deemed too problematic, various fossil fuels are used for power and heating a good chunk of the site (whatever the scattering of renewables can't handle).
Wind Turbines: https://brr.fyi/media/hut-point/town.jpg
PM-3A Nuclear Site: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/PM3Anuclearpowerpl…
a022311 · 2026-08-17
One man's trash is another man's treasure. The mistake is being absolute and ignoring this fact.
This post reminded me of Engineering for Slow Internet (https://brr.fyi/posts/engineering-for-slow-internet), another case where careless assumptions by better-off people can have a huge impact on others.
jcranmer · 2026-03-09
It should be noted that because of the effect of the poles on the atmosphere (the atmosphere is intrinsically thinner near the poles), the surface pressure is even lower, so that it feels like about 11k feet in altitude rather than 9k feet in altitude.
(See, e.g. https://brr.fyi/posts/pressure-altitude.)