Mele Kalikimaka

Merry Christmas from the South Pole. I have the day off so I should be able to get some posts up with pictures. Last night there was a caroling contest over the radio between the different bases in Antarctica which was broadcast over the PA system in the station. So far today we've had the Race Around the World and we'll be having our very nice dinner later.


The station Christmas tree next to the geographical south pole.



















The vehicldes lined up at the finish of the 2.1 mile course. The fastest male and females runners won a free trip to McMurdo to compete in the marathon there. The vehicles and runners are on two separate paths because of some collisions in previous years






























In the distance you can see a hill that the runners had to climb. I thought the hill was being made for some downhill skiing, but it may also get used for that.















The slowest vehicle in the race, it was hardly faster than the walkers.














I got to ride in the chariot for the event. The chariot is made from re-purposed spools from the IceCube experiment. The drillers who made this float also have a fire-breathing dragon that they did not bring out this year.















There were quite a few couches on the road.































This photo doesn't really capture it, but this is of the cargo area for the station. There are at least a few years worth of food out there as well as a lot of spare parts and a lot of old parts. I was reminded of the scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark.















I think it's safe to say that there's nothing important in this area of the cargo section.















On the other side of the runners you can see some of the traverse vehicles. Ten people drive from McMurdo station to the South Pole which is about 800 miles as the bird flies. They have been doing it for the last few years to bring in fuel as it is more cost effective to drive stuff here than to fly it in. As luck would turn out, one of the people from Siple Dome who came out on recovery with us for ANITA was driving the traverse this year. Apparently it took them 38 days, but on the record it counts as 33 because they had to turn around two days out due to a malfunction in a new sled design. He said that when they got up onto the Plateau they were snowed in for a few days; it got so bad they couldn't see the vehicles 15 feet away. At the end of storm they spent a few days digging out because some of the vehicles were buried up to near the roof of the cabs. They were possibly going to head out today, but I doubt they will. They are supposed to continue on to pull out the last of the gear from another field camp before turning around and heading back to McMurdo. I figured they'd being staying in the station, but it turns out they get to stay out in there mobile home while they are here.














Here you can see the fuel bladders they haul. They sit on big plastic sheets like a toboggan.