Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
permanently uses a C-130 Hercules, with which they ferry passengers
between the pole and the mainland and bring in fresh food supplies
fortnightly from New Zealand. (The South Pole operates on New
Zealand time.) Most of the dozen major buildings are devoted to the
United States government's climatology, glaciology and seismology
work and its monitoring of space and climate conditions. At the Sci-
ence Community building I read up on the research being done into
global warming and its effect on the Antarctic. The researchers spe-
cialise in astrophysics and operate a huge radio telescope that stands
23 metres tall, weighs 254 tonnes and has a 10-metre-diameter dish. It
studies the faint afterglow of the Big Bang; the South Pole's exception-
ally clear atmosphere provides the ideal environment to observe the
cosmic microwave background.
January 20
We flew from the South Pole back to the ALE base at Union Glacier to
connect with my flight back to Chile. I had hoped to continue to Chile
today, but once more the terrible weather has thwarted my plans. It
is windy and overcast, the sky the same colour as the snow, and such
conditions result in a lack of contrast that makes flying perilous. We
are stranded here at Union Glacier, just like Douglas Mawson was on
his return from the pole. It seems that once the Antarctic gets hold of
you it is very difficult to escape.
Thankfully, I am in good company. As well as Eric and Ming,
Union Glacier is currently sheltering people who between them have
climbed every significant peak in the world, including Mount Everest
and the Matterhorn, and I never tire of hearing the stories of these high
achievers. One fellow here took his submarine and a Russian team
below the North Pole ice shelf to place a Russian flag in the dead centre
of the geographic North Pole. There are researchers, explorers, pilots
and doctors who operate in the most remote and dangerous regions
on earth, every one of them leading an extraordinary life. The workers
from the Antarctic are a unique group of people, from as far away as
Alaska and London. Some of them are heading home and some head-
ing to their next adventure in the North Pole and the Arctic. The season
for the North Pole starts in March, and they simply continue doing
everything they have been doing, just in a different hemisphere.
