Posted on 02/15/2015 3:04:29 PM PST by SamAdams76
The final flight out of the South Pole was Friday, February 13—the last chance to leave until mid-November. Those 40 or so people staying the winter will have no way out of Antarctica for around nine months. They won’t even be able to venture more than a mile or two off the base, because all the facilities are in a condensed area, and there's no point in sightseeing during the four months of darkness and two more of twilight.
The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is the southern-most of the three U.S. research stations down in Earth’s basement. It is located about a hundred meters from the pole itself. It houses around 150 people during the summer and 50 during the winter. The other stations are McMurdo Station, located on Ross Island, and Palmer Station, on Anvers Island. McMurdo is the most populous of the bunch, with 800 to 900 people residing there in the summer and nearly 150 during the winter. Winter on Antarctica’s Ross Island is slightly shorter than at the South Pole. This winter, planes will fly intermittently out of McMurdo, where winter begins on February 28, and the station’s summer crowd arrives on October 1.
The U.S. Antarctic Program doesn't fly over Antarctica during the winter, even between bases, because temperatures get below -50 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which gasoline freezes. In the depths of winter, around the beginning of July, temperatures can drop below -100 degrees Farenheit.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
There is a video on YouTube giving you a tour of the base down there.
Despite being somewhere where the air outside could kill you, it was a fairly nice place. Kind of looks like a university science building and resort.
/johnny
In case you don't remember, these people were from the "Ship of Fools" that went to Antarctica last year to find proof of global warming. They didn't find it and instead, they got stuck in ice (in the middle of summer) and a Russian icebreaker had to come to the rescue.
Northern Ohio has been a real treat this winter too.We were -11 last night,warmed up to 2 degrees this afternoon.Now it’s -3 and heading down to -10 tonight.More sub-zero temps for Wednesday and Thursday too.
/johnny
I’ll take the Texas summer heat ........ Thanks anyway. : )
I remember that.
Very funny !!!!
They all seem to be having a good time,though.:-)
.
Since I know better, would it be better to ask for a decent rifle and expend their ammo on target practice, or just dummy up and enjoy the slack time?
As a recent widow. My husband passed away October 1st.
I’ve been a singin this song since the first 2 feet we received in January.
You picked a fine time to leave me hubby,
two feet of snow an another two on the way.
I don’t mind shoveling but if this keeps a comin,
I have a feelin I’ll be with ya real soon.
I know that you loved me but could ya have waited for summer,
cause at least I wouldn’t be so peeved,
You picked a fine time to leave me hubby!
Seriously, my neighbors have been wonderful.
Sometimes ya just have to laugh. He and I were constantly making up jingles with each other. And I know he got a kick out of this one.
Check on your neighbors.
But Algore said that Antarctica would be all thawed out by now.
This too shall pass.
And it does, once or twice a day.
Antarctica pretty much cycles from “winter” to “winterer” to “winterest” and back again, doesn’t it?
They’re Norwegians, Mac!
Colonel Norman Dane Vaughan was a member of the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1928-1930 and the first American to mush dogs in the Antarctic. A monument at 10,320 feet, Mount Vaughan was named to honor Norman by Admiral Richard Byrd for his contributions to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
Vaughan served in World War II in the Department of Search and Rescue. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge while commanding dog sled ambulances used for the rescue of wounded soldiers. He later became Chief of Search and Rescue for the North Atlantic Division of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the air wing of the United Nations. In the Korean War, he served in the Psychological Warfare Department, assigned to the Pentagon.
Vaughan participated in the Dog Racing Event of the 1932 Olympic Games. He has mushed in 13 Iditarod Sled Dog Races in Alaska, and was awarded the Most Inspirational Musher Award and True Grit Award in 1987. Three years later he was named the Iditarod's Musher of the Year (1990).
During the late 1990's Norman initiated an annual Serum Run by dog sleds that followed the same Iditarod Trail used in 1925 to dash anti-toxin to Nome to aid hundreds of dying Eskimos suffering from diptheria.
Norman's motto in life was: Dream Big and Dare to Fail. His writings include, My Life of Adventure and With Byrd at the Bottom of the World.
The final published work of Norman Vaughan is the 'Foreword' he wrote in PURSUING THE UNTAMED, 2005.
Excerpt
What'll You Do for Your Centennial?
Explorer Col. Norman Vaughan has big plans for his birthday As told to Claire Antoszewski
Col. Norman Vaughan, the last living member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1928-1930 Antarctic expedition (the first to fly over the South Pole), has also raced a dog-team in the 1932 Olympic Games, led more than 200 rescue dogs in World War II's Battle of the Bulge, and competed in the Iditarod 13 times. Some heart trouble has kept him from mushing of late, but for his 100th birthday, the "Indomitable Snowman" from Salem, Massachusetts, plans a trip that would test the hearts of men half his age. He's no blowhard, but after 99 years on Earth, he's not short on advice, either.
I was born on December 19, 1905. For my 100th birthday, I plan to go back to Antarctica and climb the mountain that's named for me.
I climbed Mount Vaughan for the first time just before my 89th birthday. I was very glad to be the first person to climb it. It's a very rugged mountain. There are long glaciers on both the north and south sides. I am planning to climb the south glacier which has anywhere between a 30- and 50-degree slope. It is mandatory to rope up because there are many crevasses, and if you slip into a crevasse, you might never come out. Most likely we will take the same route, but the details haven't been finalized yet. I will have six guides, plus a doctor and a nurse at the base. I will have my first taste of champagne ever at the summit. I've never had a drink in my life. Well, only at the altar when I took communion.
My advice for young explorers, or anyone, is dream big and dare to fail. If you don't try to accomplish your dream, you fail before you start.
f you ever find Norman's book at a tag sale, get it...I'll guarantee you won'gt be able to put it down. [My Life of Adventure and With Byrd at the Bottom of the World.]
I miss Norman every day
Colonel Vaughn is on the left. This photo taken on 1928-1932 Expedition to Antarctica.
Very creative! Know you must have had many fun times together sharing jingles. My condolences.
Nice invention. Ugh. I swam the Pan American games in butterfly many moons ago. Tonight we will probably hit -10 before wind chill. I could get use to the warm water again.
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