South Pole Mike is going back to the ice after 3 years and 3 months

Sunday February 11, 2017

I spent the winter of 2013 (February through November 3^rd) at the South Pole working as a satellite communications engineer. The previous winter of 2012 I worked in a similar position at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. In between these jobs my daughter Jocelyn and I rode our bicycles around the world covering 5 continents, 37 countries, 33 months, and 28,000 miles which we recorded at fatherdaughtercyclingadventures.com.

I am on my way back to the South Pole for the winter of 2017 and am currently in Christchurch, New Zealand awaiting transportation to the ice. It was a long trip just to get here from Florida covering 11,000 miles with a combined flying and layover time of 36 hours. The ice flight to McMurdo and the South Pole is scheduled for tomorrow. The expected closing date of the South Pole is Wednesday and due to circumstances, I got a late season start. Today I was at the clothing distribution center receiving my extreme cold weather gear and am ready for an early flying time onboard a C-17 for a 5 hour flight to McMurdo then a 4 hour flight onboard a ski-equipped C-130 to the Pole. 

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean on the way to Sydney, Australia.

This was my third time flying on the largest passenger plane in the world the Airbus A380.

When I first traveled to McMurdo, Antarctica for the Winter 2012 season Christchurch had a devastating earthquake. One of the first things built was a really cool shipping container mall. 

A shipping container bar!

A quick view of Antarctic Science and Exploration.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station where I will spend the next 10 months.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sitting on top of a two mile thick ice flow.

Christchurch is going through the very slow process of rebuilding downtown.

Many buildings are just being held together waiting for reconstruction.

A plant conservation display.