Car mechanic quits Colorado job for $80K gig in South Pole with minus 60-degree temps

A Colorado car mechanic decided to leave his job at a car dealership in the States for an unusual gig — at the South Pole, the coldest place on Earth.

Jeff Capps, 33, moved 9,000 miles across the world for the job in Antarctica — where temperatures often reach negative 60 and half of the year is in total darkness, according to SWNS.
He immediately applied for the $80,000-a-year mechanic position at the US government-owned Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station when he learned of it in 2019 and hasn’t looked back since.

(Jeff Capps moved 9,000 miles across the world for the job in Antarctica — where temperatures often reach negative 60 and half of the year is in total darkness.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

(Despite the below-freezing temperatures, Capps stood outside for a photo shoot replicating a day at the beach.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

The mechanic compared the atypical job to being deployed on a ship due to its isolation from the outer world, with the closest shop some 2,000 miles away.

“We call it our spaceship, as it’s 700 miles from the next nearest research station,” he told SWNS. “We’re totally isolated from everything.”

But also like living on a ship, the 43 people who live and work at the self-sufficient station have everything they could need inside the facility, including chefs who cook their meals.

“If you don’t open the door – it just seems like you’re in a nice hotel,” Capps said. “We have a great team of chefs. It’s room temperature inside and you can just walk around in a t-shirt.”

(Capps stands for a picture as the southern lights swirl in the background.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

Temperatures near the South Pole station — described as “the coldest, driest, windiest place on Earth” by NOAA — average a bone-chilling negative 60 degrees in the winter and Capps often works outside to fix trucks and snowmobiles used by the crew.

(Capps took advantage of the cold temperature and performed a trick with water. Jeff Capps / SWNS)

(A can of root beer and bowl of ramen are frozen solid after being left outside of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

The mercury dropped to a shocking negative 76 degrees once when the mechanic was working in the winter weather.
Another extreme weather element in the South Pole is a lack of sunlight. 

There is no sun for six months of the year and complete daylight for the other six.
 In the winter, the sun never rises and in the summer, it never sets.

(The southern lights glow in green as the sun shines dimly during Capps’ stay near the South Pole.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

(The mechanic compared the atypical job to being deployed on a ship due to its isolation from the outer world, with the closest shop some 2,000 miles away.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

(The mercury dropped to a shocking negative 76 degrees once when the mechanic was working in the winter weather.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

(There is no sun for six months of the year and complete daylight for the other six.Jeff Capps / SWNS)

Ref:  Car mechanic quits Colorado job for $80K gig in South Pole with minus 60-degree temps (nypost)

 
 Photo Credit:  Jeff Capps/SWNS