Main description:

Jerri Nielsen was a forty-six year old doctor working in Ohio when she made the decision to take a year's sabbatical at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station in Antarctica, the most remote and perilous place on earth. The 'Polies', as the inhabitants of the research station are known, live in almost total darkness for nine months of the year, in winter temperatures as low as 100 degrees below zero, with no way in or out before spring. As the physician for 41 researchers, construction workers and support staff, Jerri Nielsen's job was to keep the Polies mentally and physically fit. This is her own account of her sea change as she becomes 'of the Ice', and finds that she would rather be in Antarctica than anywhere else on Earth. It is also a thrilling adventure of researchers battling against a hostile environment, and a penetrating exploration of the dynamics of an intense, isolated community faced with adversity. But at its core it is a powerfully moving drama of love and loss, of one woman's voyage of self-discovery and courage, and a very personal struggle for survival.