Antarctica is both treacherous and beautiful in it’s vastness. During a typical winter morning the temp will raise to negative 25.However, the weather can be punctuated by gale-force winds with an eyelid-freezing wind chill factor that howl over a glacier that is two miles deep and spreads as far as the eye can see in all directions.The South Pole has to be the roughest place to be other than outer space.
Probably the world’s most forsaken, yet most important outpost to manage is the United States permanent station here.Until recently, only approved researchers could set food in Antarctica.But now, people with too much money to burn are getting small flights that will bring them to this barren landscape to view all of it’s glory.Cruises to Antarctica
It seems that all there is to see is ice and snow.Nary a penguin dots the landscape anywhere.However, in this world of “been there, done that”, it certainly is a rarity to be one who stood at The Pole.
The concept that this scientific outpost is a tourist draw, isn’t something that the scientists and others conducting work here feel comfortable with. The cranes and bulldozers that noisily work to continue to enhance the outpost, don’t exactly make for a relaxing getaway.But is doesn’t stop visitors, as the do come frequently during research season.Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to prevent it.
Antarctica isn’t owned by any nation, however 43 nations signed treaties in order to protect and study an icy section as big as Mexico and the United States combined.There is not a day that goes by that the three large U.S. stations are not staffed. This include the eight months of winter where the Pole is completely pitch-dark.No matter how unwanted visitors are, the unwritten code of the Pole encourages residents and scientists to welcome anyone who makes it as far as 90 degrees south of latitude, even if they are not invited.antarctic cruise reviews
Due to the lack of knowledge about this land and the fact that it stands at 10,000 feet above sea level, visitation by untrained people is not promoted.As a result, many of them show up freezing, dehydrated, and dealing with altitude sickness.
In 1975, the dome opened with a sleeping quarters able to accommodate 33 men.Now the two hundred men and women at the Pole crowd into every bed that is available.At Summer Camp, manufactured homes made out of plywood, canvas and plastic adorn and dot down a portion of the glacier.
As in many camps, Summer Camp has access to an unlimited supply of fresh water.However, it takes melting ice with $12 per gallon fuel to get it. This means that showers, laundry, and flush toilets are few and far between.If you want to use the communal bathroom you have to make a slippery and teeth-rattling journey over the ice and through the cold. The temperature doesn’t change much even when the sun is blazing at 3 a.m.
When women were first allowed to be on Antarctica, they had to be chaperoned by military personnel.Now, women make up 1/3 of the summer support staff population and they are treated just like everyone else.There is a toll that has to be paid to the Pole.
Studies that have been conducted have shown that people working in a severely cold environment, will take three times as much time to finish a routine job.This happens because the brain is focused on producing more hormones for physical activity (to keep the body warm), resulting in less hormones being produced for problem solving.In winter, this phenomenon gets worse.
It is in mid February that the South Pole is virtually deserted as the last aircraft leave the area.For six long months, the 28-man crew will stay behind for the winter.And night will reign until October, when spring, the sun and the airplane will return.