Hooray - a blog entry from Scott!

As you can well imagine, there is no easy way to get to the AGAP South Camp. After all, 420 miles from South Pole Station on the East Antarctic Plateau is kind of off the beaten path.

Since we were heading to the highest part of the Antarctic continent, we had to do staged acclimatization through South Pole. The plan was to stay at Pole for approximately four days while the medic monitored our vitals to make sure we didn’t get any of the various altitude illnesses like HAPE, HACE or HAEF. The first two can be deadly while the last is pretty much just an annoyance (HAEF stands for High Altitude Explosive Flatulence). No kidding, the high altitude actually causes the bacteria in the gut to behave differently than at sea level. Combine that with the reduced atmospheric pressure and you get HAEF. It only lasts for a relatively short amount of time, but can still be kind of uncomfortable for everyone until the bacteria settle back down.

Fortunately for us, we were treated to the finest accommodations in town while cooling our heels at the Pole such as the luxurious sleeping quarters in Jamesway J-11. Tasty meals were served at the ACK! galley which was nestled in amongst the cargo line a few hundred yards from the main station. The facilities may look a little sketchy, but the camps cooks really did do a remarkable job cranking out great meals for our crew.As we had some down time at Pole we decided to go exploring. Much of the area surrounding the station is off-limits to anyone other than authorized personnel. There are all kinds of experiments going on and foot travel can disturb the sensitive instruments that are placed in and on the ice. Click the panos to enlarge!

We were lucky in that one of our crew used to work at the station and he was able to get us into some of the places that most folks can’t visit.
We made our way from our temporary quarters at ACK! Camp to the dome that used to cover the old station (the old station is now almost completely buried with snow and is being replaced with a new one that can be raised as snow accumulates at its base).
The old station (located to the right of the new station near where the generator is belching out smoke) is like an outer space movie set complete with abandoned rooms, old equipment, and underground ice tunnels that run in all directions. Click the pic to enlarge.
The walls are encrusted with a thick coating of ice, light streams in from cracks and pin holes while creaky old catwalks and steel staircases penetrate this subterranean world. I wouldn’t have been surprised if some slithering monster from the film AVP leaped out of a dark chamber and carried one of us off!
Even though it is deteriorating, the old South Pole station is still useful as a deep-freeze storage facility. It’s so strange to see boxes of things like light bulbs, spark plugs, rubber stamps, and potato chips all stacked on metal shelves right out in the open. OK, maybe not so strange when you consider that this is the world’s largest frozen food warehouse and there are no critters around to gnaw on or otherwise spoil the items stored there.


And of course, I had to make the required stop at the ceremonial South Pole barber pole. There are actually two South Poles down here: one is the actual geographical South Pole of the planet and the other one is the ceremonial pole. This one never changes location relative to the station facility, however, the geographical pole does. The reason for this is due to the constant movement of the ice sheet over the bedrock below. The station and barber pole are attached to the ice sheet so they slip and slide together. On the other hand, the geographic pole is linked to the bedrock which does not change position from year to year. So the two poles are constantly drifting away from each other. In the not-too-distant future it is going to be a bit of a hike to get from one site to another. On the upside, the movement provides "Polies" with yet another reason to have a party as they annually celebrate the moving of the pole marker.

Just before Thanksgiving we got the go-ahead to pack our bags and make our way to the Twin Otter that would carry us to AGAP-S camp. It was nice to be making our way to the deep field—though we really didn’t know what to expect once we arrived (the last radio communication from one of the put-in team members described the camp setting as “extreme and brutal”). Yikes!


You may be wondering what a person sees while flying across the East Antarctic Plateau. OK, here it is. No, this isn't whipped cream, all plaster, or a detail from a Jackson Pollack painting. This is an aerial view of the "Great Flat and White." There is absolutely nothing out here from horizon to horizon - except snow and ice. The only distinguishing features are the wind-sculpted sastrugi ridges in the snow and the readily apparent curvature of the Earth off in the distance. If a person were to stand out in the middle of this vast emptiness, that individual would be the tallest object for hundreds of miles. Now for some people that isn't a big deal, but for a Battaion to be the tallest anything is really saying something!

After several hours of flying over the uniformly flat landscape, we finally made it to AGAP-South camp. Other than some crates, boxes, fuel barrels, and a few tents, there really wasn’t a whole lot to my new home on the Antarctic frontier.
When we stepped off the plane we were greeted with a rather brisk 24-knot wind and temperatures around -40 degrees. We could feel the warmth being sucked from our bodies as we quickly made our way to the galley RacTent.
After a cup of hot chocolate and a few minutes of getting used to the new surroundings, I decided to do something I had been thinking about for quite a long time. I took a walk. Now this wasn’t just any old walk, mind you. This was a unique stroll—one where I was able to place my footprints where no person had ever set foot before. But the marks I left were short lived as the wind began to drift snow over the impressions I had made just moments after I had lifted my feet from the surface.

Of course, these little excursions outside the perimeter of the camp could only take place when the weather would cooperate which was not the case during the early days at AGAP-S. In fact, the first days at camp were particularly harsh with winds at a steady 35+ knots and wind chill down to -78 degrees. Not exactly the best conditions for a pleasant walk in the park.

Once the weather settled down a bit we started receiving cargo flights from McMurdo station. Nearly all of the supplies that come to camp are transported via LC-130 Hercules transport planes. These sturdy old beasts, which are operated by the New York Air National Guard, can be seen making their approach from miles away first appearing as a small white speck just above the horizon which then becomes a long snaking cloud as the plane’s contrail forms in the thin air.
On the ground they continue to make their own weather as the particulates in the engine exhaust provides nuclei for the formation of airborne ice crystals.

Landing a Herc at this high elevation is tough enough, but getting one back off the ground is a whole other ballgame. Because of the thin air and extreme low temperatures, conditions have to be just right to take off. On more than one occasion we have had airplanes taxi back and forth on the skyway in order to burn off fuel and lighten their load. Sometimes even this isn't enough and the planes require a little assistance from JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rocket motors that are attached to the rear of the fuselage. We were tempted to strap a couple of these little gems to a snowmoblie and see if we could make it Vostok or Pole in record time.

The cargo just kept coming and our camp finally started to take shape.

We put up a galley, medical tent, sleeping quarters, mechanic facilities, communications shack, science structures and more.

There were cooking supplies, office equipment, mountaineering gear, engine parts, and even a special rescue sled arranged on the cargo line.

We started a "tent city" for people who wanted to sleep in private quarters instead of in the communal Jamesway tent.

We were even able to erect a proper bathroom. Okay, as you can see, it's actually an outhouse. Ah, but this outhouse is unique in that the pit is just a long tube that has been melted in the snow using a device called a Herman-Nelson and the structure itself has to be lashed to the ground using cargo straps lest it blow away in the wind. I've often wondered what future archaeologists will make of the frozen and fossilized statgmites of human waste that will emerge out of the melting ice.
P flags are spread around camp and are used to indicate designated areas where people can, well, pee. If is a necessary restriction because all the water we use in camp comes from melted snow and the risk of contamination is always a concern. And, strange as it may seem, the presence of a, um, splash of color is this otherwise blank landscape is somewhat of a, uh, relief. Speaking of melting snow, this is how it is harvested and transported. We dig snow from a "snow mine" that is located a few hundred feet away from and upwind of camp. The snow is packed into plastic trash cans and then "man-hauled" back to camp where it is melted in huge stock pots that sit on the heater stoves. Not the most efficient way to get water, but one of the necessary chores that have to be done several times per day.
And then there were the airplanes. We are definitely the busiest little international airport on the plateau!

British planes
Stopping for fuel and a quick meal
The first BAS flights came through early in the season, so we had to hand pump fuel from barrels. When they return at the end of the season we will be able to pump fuel directly from large storage bladders which will make the process much quicker and easier for everyone involved.

Of course the BAS planes make for great photo opportunities.
In addition to the British, we were visited by the Germans (with Canadian flight crew) who flew a Basler DC-3 to camp. They too were on their way to AGAP-North—in this case to deliver cargo.

The U.S. Antarctic Program also contracts Twin Otters to fly science missions in Antarctica. The AGAP program uses one survey plane and one cargo plane for this purpose.
The U.S. Antarctic Program also contracts Twin Otters to fly science missions in Antarctica. The AGAP program uses one survey plane and one cargo plane for this purpose.
While the GAMBIT plane uses an array or special sensors to penetrate the ice sheet and view the mountains beneath. In both cases the unpressurized planes have been outfitted with special oxygen systems that allow the pilots to fly for many hours in the extreme conditions above the plateau. Click to enlarge the pic.
So, there you have it. Life in a deep-field camp. The experience has been amazing though not without a variety of hardships. Painfully long hours, sub-zero temperatures, canceled flights, missing cargo, malfunctioning equipment, and the long-term effects of high altitude on the body all make for some of the most challenging work conditions I’ve ever had to deal with. However, this opportunity has also been a dream come true for me and one that I doubt I’ll ever forget.

I’m pretty sure I’ll return to Antarctica. I’m just not sure where I will be placing my next set of footprints.