An Incredible Journey

I know I sometimes go for several days without posting.  The reason is that I have lots of work to do here and not every day is new and exciting.  Also, I need some time to sort out what is worth telling and how to tell it.  I've tried to stick almost entirely to experiences that I have had personally, and not share second hand stuff that someone else could tell better.  If I'm looking it up on the internet in order to share it with you, I might as well send you to the source.   So while I'm working on my next post, I want to share another blog with you that I think is facinating.

I asked someone several days ago about a traverse to the South Pole that I had heard about.  She said, "Oh, they left a few weeks ago."  I wanted to know more, so I went googling.  Here's basically what I'm talking about:

Since there is no way to bring a seagoing ship to the South Pole like we do at McMurdo, all of the supplies for South Pole Station are brought in by aircraft, including a massive amount of fuel.  There has been one exception in recent years though.  Every summer there is a small caravan of brave souls that drive the thousand miles between McMurdo Station and Amundsen Scott South Pole Station, basically making their own road as they go.  They follow, essentially the same route as the original Scott expedition, accross the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Beardmore Glacier and across the long-flat expanse of the Polar Plateau.  Their mission is to drag huge bladders of fuel to the Pole and return the same way they came.  You can imagine that it takes some pretty exotic vehicles to make that crossing; and that they have some great stories to tell when they come back. While I'm somewhat jealous, I'm not sure I would volunteer for that two month journey, when I can go--as I expect to next week--by way of a five hour (each way) plane trip.  I'll tell you about that when it happens, but in the mean time, enjoy this blog that was posted about last year's traverse to the South Pole.  I think you'll be amazed.
Click on the link below--and remember that it's a blog, so you read from back to front.  Or, if you're in a hurry, go straight to the pictures on the right and click on "Traverse History," and "Traverse Photography."

SouthPoleTraverse.html