"You write a few hundred scientific papers. You go to Antarctica and become a snow shoveler. This is the height of your scientific career." - Dr. Svein Osterhus, British Antarctic (-)
That's pretty much what he said in the Science Channel's program on research in Antarctica...maybe he used something else instead of "become" (as things recalled five minutes later go, this is one of my more accurate recollections)
Hm, I wonder if Helen Cutter ever felt that way during her time post-disappearance.