Leaving Pole

Starting this last dispatch from Pole with a shout out to: Themba, Thalli, Whitney and Aaron!!

The last couple days at Pole were a sleep deprived blur…things always crop up at the last minute just when you think you have everything under control and are wrapping up…

The New Years' parties at Pole are um, interesting to say the least…although they seem to have really toned them down lately. This year’s was nothing like the one I attended a couple years ago. People have on all kinds of funny outfits. The parties don’t last that long though because with the altitude most people get drunk really fast.

This is one of the bands that played. The lead singer was a last minute addition—one of the members from the British 47 day expedition. BK, station supervisor, was the lead female singer.

Letting everyone know what year it is, in case you didn't know…Jared and Ryan must be on the fire watch...that probably explains why they were drinking 7-UP. A fire is probably one of the most serious disasters that can take place at Pole so there is always a fire watch, 24 hours a day.

The new marker for the 2007 geographic South Pole, minutes after it was unveiled on New Years Day, 2007. The entire ice sheet on Antarctica drifts about 30 feet a year, so every year a new survey is taken by GPS and the exact location of the geographic south pole is determined. Its interesting to look back along the line of previous poles and see the progression of markers…the pole marker that was unveiled last time I was here, in 2004, is now close to 100 feet away from the current marker.

A view I was well acquainted with, from the window in our building. Pictures cannot capture the utter bleakness and bareness of the pole, especially in the upwind direction, where there is no human activity.

Me, at the pole, minutes before we left. I did not get a chance to get my hero pics (at the pole with no shirt on…maybe next time...)

Couldn’t resist some more pics from the Trans-Antarctic mountains on the way back to McMurdo. You can almost reach out and touch some of the mountains!