Images of

ANTARCTICA

Ceremonial And Geographic Poles

Photos © 2004 Seth White

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There are actually two poles here: the real (geographic) pole and the ceremonical pole. The difference is that the geographic pole is precisely at 90 degrees south latitude, while the ceremonial pole is simply planted at an arbitrary nearby location. Also, since the ice on which the station is built moves about 10 meters per year, the geographic pole is resurveyed each year on January 1, and the marker is moved. The ceremonial pole, on the other hand, just moves with the ice. This is a picture of the ceremonial pole. It's a wooden barber shop pole with a metal sphere on top, surrounded by flags of various countries with Antarctic presence. These may be the flags of the original nations which signed the Antarctic Treaty, but I am not sure of this. In any event, it's more picturesque than the geographic pole.

Another picture here of the ceremonial pole, with the sun, dome, and new station in the background.

And another. From the galley of the new station you can see the poles right outside the window. One day while standing in line for dinner, a guy was out at this site having his picture taken, completely naked. Better to do this during non-meal times. I have been planning to do this, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Who the hell am I going to ask to take the picture? The person I know best on station is my friend Joe, but I'm not sure if he's up to the challenge...

Here is the actual sphere itself. It has seen some wear over the years, and isn't perfectly smooth. I was also surprised at how worn the barber shop pole looked. The wood is cracked, the paint is flaking, and a little kick will set the whole thing wobbling perilously. But I guess it's like the Stanley Cup....there's a lot of history here, so why refurbish it? Actually, I later learned that the metal sphere is only about 10 years old. It sure seems older than that though...and so does the wooden pole.

Me, with my face warped by the sphere's surface.

Another one of my reflection in the sphere. Luckily you can rotate the sphere and find a good smooth spot....

...and you can even pick the thing up and run off with it - if you are so inclined (Photo by Ben Rusholme...a physicist from Stanford, here working on a telescope in the dark sector, who was also taking pictures at the pole this day).

Penguins don't live at the South Pole. Nothing lives here except humans, and the occasional skua which gets blown WAY off course. But this industrious little fellow somehow managed to waddle all the way here and jump up on the pole for a hero shot. Either that or he rode in my luggage. Either way, it's a long journey for him. I tried talking to him but he only speaks Italian.

Another one of the heroic penguin.

And now for the real pole. Only an American flag flies here. There is a wooden sign with thoughts from Amundsen and Scott when they each arrived here. A pipe sticks out of the snow with a decorative marker on top. The design of this marker changes each year, and in recent years they have become little works of art. Behind the current marker is a row of poles which denote the positions of the pole in previous years. Some of these poles still have the markers attached, while other markers are removed and brought back to the station (it seems completely random which ones are left and which ones are removed). And, unfortunately, some low life stole the 2003 marker just a week before I arrived. Too bad, because it was a very nice yin-yang design which used three different metals.

One day I scavenged a bike, rode from the Jamesways out to the pole, and started off on my intrepid ride around the world. I did it twice, clockwise, so I'm now two days older than I should be. (Photo by Ben Rusholme)

A couple days after I arrived I walked into the galley for dinner and to my surprise I found my buddy Dave, who was at McMurdo last winter (and two winters before that, and who is nuts enough to be here for ANOTHER winter this year). He works for ATS and was down here to check on the TACAN system - the Tactical Aid to Navigation used by aircraft. He and Greg, another friend from ATS, had about two hours to kill before their flight out, so I tagged along with them as they went out to help install a met probe on a mast. This is an exciting action shot of them, wrangling this instrument.

So after this we moseyed over to the pole to get our hero shots. Here's me....still feeling very sickly due to the flu I had when I got here.

This is Dave...

...and this is Greg.

This is the 2004 marker for the geographic pole. Nice work.

A top view of the marker.

In case you feel the need, there is a set of horseshoes and posts sitting near the pole.

Yesterday (1/29), was a busy day here for tourists and expeditioners. Two privately-owned twin otters arrived and picked up all the remaining people camped out here. Fiona Thornewill, who had arrived about 2 weeks earlier after skiing solo and unsupported to the Pole (and gave a couple talks to the station about her adventures) left on one of these planes. Her husband had arrived the day before after leading another expedition to the Pole. So here is a pic of the people getting packed up to leave South Pole.

Another one, with both twin otters parked about 100' from the pole.

On the same day two guys also arrived after their ski trek. They arrived in early afternoon, and after about two hours they flew out. The two hardy souls are the guys in white, both British. It seems like a lot of the people who trekked to the pole this year were British. I went by the store that afternoon to mail some postcards and found two of the twin otter crew members frantically buying souvenirs and mailing postcards.

I understand that the shorter guy is 63 years old, and has done this something like 5 times before. OK, I'm impressed. I thought about talking to them for a bit, but then I figured if I had just skied to the pole and had to leave shortly I wouldn't want to make small talk with some numbnut tourist. Which really is the case - I'm just here for a couple weeks, living in comfort and doing non-physically-challenging work in a heated building. These guys earned it!