South Pole Trip

Yesterday was my lucky day. Everyone in my department had already had a trip to the South Pole so a spot on a southbound LC-130 got defaulted to me. Im the most jounior person in the department so I really didn't expect to go. I had a great flight, a couple hours on the ground and in the station and I was back in time for dinner.

My roomate Roy got to go too
Landing at Pole. I got to sit on the flight deck for landing. This is what the view looks like. Miles of flat snow and ice in every direction.
The Pole has their own little green house. This is really the only cool thing inside the station.
Heres what I came to see: The South Pole. The old dome station sits to the left of the new station. Snow is slowly covering the old station which is actually the seccond one built here. The first is buried in the snow. The new station is designed to have the snow blow under it and it can be raised every few years to accomodate the rising snow. This is the "Ceremonial Pole" the geographic pole is nearby.
My best Atlas impression at the geographic south pole
The 'beer can' in the background is stairs and pipes. My jacket got really frosty. It was -47F when we landed. You can also see frost on my glasses, cap and the snot from my nose starting to freeze too. Its exhausting just being there. Its 10,000 feet, cold, bright. Wow. Being used to sea level it was a major deal just to try and walk up a hill. The cold makes it so hard to breathe.
They aren't quite finnished with the station. The nickname has been 'plywood palace'

The old dome station is empty now, used for storage

Bye bye South Pole. It was nice to visit but I don't think I want to work there. Its so cold and isolated. Visiting is far more fun and McMurdo is where the fun is, Antarcticly speaking. My visit was just long enough, and pretty cool too. More people have climbed Mt Everest than been to the South Pole, or so I hear. Now that I've seen the South Pole, might as well go see the North Pole too, huh?