At the top of the Pole

Today, Mike and I climbed up the stair to the roof of the station. Puh, that was a rough wind up there, so I didn’t linger too long! Here are some impressions from the highest vantage point at the Pole:



Alas, the weather was strange today, a lot of wind and ice crystals in the air. Yesterday and today, I was out for a few hours on my own, checking our tanks and it was so cold! Even though the ambient temperature hasn’t been below -32C yet, we had -45C windchil both days. After two hours out there I was cold down to my very bones! Back in the station, it took me hours to really warm up. Even couple of hot chocolates didn’t help at first.

Otherwise, things are fine. Food was especially good today (Coconut curry soup and Peanut sauce chicken with rice noodles), and I even switched off a bit watching a movie (Trainspotting). That was fun! Tomorrow, the central event of the day will be cleaning the restrooms…

2 comments

  1. Anne schoell’s avatar

    Hello Levent,
    I guess cleaning out the restrooms did not warrant another blog from you on the 2nd.

    Whatever do they do with the stuff ?
    Anne

  2. Usta’s avatar

    Actually, I was lucky: When I was back from the field, everything was already done. Since I cleaned both men’s and women’s last week, I think that’s ok.
    What happens to the sewer? Well… Fresh water is produced by melting it from the ice. When the hole is too big, the well moves to another location. And that BIG hole gets filled up with, well, you can guess. Now, get this: Since the whole Antarctic plateau is moving towards the Wedell Sea, in some 1000 years, the whole frozen shit of this station will pop into the ocean. A big frozen shitberg…

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