The building of the first South Pole Station in 1960

The navy first wintered here in 1957. A few years later they built the first station. Photo credits to PK Swartz from the 1960-1961 summer and winter season.

Interesting things about his year here--this was the first year that
the Navy (VX-6) had the ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft (yes, some of
these aircraft are still flying, you may have come here on one of them).
(The Air Force had ski-equipped Hercs earlier, for use in the Arctic, and
these planes had been used briefly during the previous season.) During the
1960-61 summer season the construction of the huge new buried Byrd Station
was underway (and PK has included a few photos of this). An interesting
(and unique for Pole) 1960-61 science project was biological--a UCLA
project that brought bean plants, cockroaches and hamsters to Pole--the
goal was to see if the location on the Earth's axis would affect the
organisms' biological "clocks." No effects were noted...but the aftermath
was interesting--the live hamsters were left behind at the end of the
summer, several litters were born during the winter (although none of
the young survived--this was all duly documented in the monthly science
sitreps) and Midwinters Day events included hamster races. And based
on this precedent-setting research, the new (domed) station included
a "biomed" building with appropriate facilities for plant and animal

Bill Spindler put this narrative together along with all the pictures. I have added a small portion of these pictures.

This is a map of Antarctica with the outline of the US over it showing relative size.

 

All the ice tunnels stated collapsing from snow accumulation weight.

Tunnel from science building to seismology and magnetology areas.

Deep trenches cut in snow.

Building of new toilet facility.

Ice formation in passageway near the new generator. These had to be broke up by hand.

Happy hour was held once a week. It took several days to thaw the beer. 

Whenever the temperature drops below minus 100F people join the 300 Club. The sauna is brought up to +200 degrees F then you run outside, naked, a few hundred feet to the South Pole marker. The above is when I joined the club in 2013. 

The temperature has dropped below 100 several days this year. But I am a "one and done" on this. From 2013. It was a real struggle to get my camera's frozen shutter to work.

Never again. The neck gaitor is important so your lungs don't burn. Other than that I am wearing my running shoes. This picture from 2013.

Ice Cube lab. Photo credit to Hunter Davis.

Ice Cube Lab by Hunter Davis.

You can see the lab sitting on top of this graphic. 

We are enjoying plant leaves.

There is no regular lettuce grown here. 

Like sitting in a park on a sunny day.

We have been in a several day stretch under 100. I am really feeling the physiological altitude of 11,600 feet. Lots of huffing and puffing. 

We are in nautical twilight with the sun 5 degrees below the horizon. The South Pole's one and only sunrise occurs September 22nd!

After 6 months of darkness you have to smile even if you aren't dressed for the temperature. 

Nautical Twilight is near

All continues to go well at the South Pole. My daughter Jocelyn and I completed our new book draft from our world bicycle ride with thanks to my wife Andee with editing. This book is much larger than our first and contains over 120,000 words and I recently sent it to our professional editor. We are really excited about this one as it is very different than our first book with many more stories without sticking to a day to day journal. I started writing when I arrived here last February and it took almost six months. Speaking of six months I have been here six months today with three more to go.

During the winter darkness it is difficult to walk the 3/4 mile from the station (right) to my work antennas (white domes on the far left). It doesn't snow at the South Pole (the driest desert in the world) but the snow blows in with winter storms from hundreds of miles away and stops at the first resistance it meets on the polar plateau, the South Pole station and surrounding buildings. Negotiating the large snow drifts during the 40 minute walk with just a red headlamp can be quite the challenge.

As in my 2013 South Pole winter I exercised my way to McMurdo Station on the coast 835 miles away by jogging the station passageways and stairs, riding the stationary bike and rowing. It took five months.

On the bottom right I have started the return trip to the Pole. Soon there will be light and I will be jogging outside on the skiway!

Mail! Not really but my wife had several cards hidden in my duffel bag that I have enjoyed this season. This is our 5th anniversary in a row apart. Maybe I will be home for our next one. 

Various cards and pictures in my room. 

On station in the Satcom office working the overnight satellite coverage. 

The small green screen on the right monitor shows our signal from here uplinked to a Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) satellite then downlinked to an similar antenna in Christchurch, New Zealand. From there the data is relayed and processed in Denver, Colorado. 

More awesome pictures by Hunter Davis. This one showing our Milky Way galaxy along with a few other distant ones. 

South Pole aurora storms by Hunter Davis.

The ceremonial pole.

I am looking forward to the sun but will really miss the incredible night sky views such as this. 

Nautical twilight occurs on the 21st of August. The sun will then be 12 degrees below the horizon. It is called nautical twilight because there will be enough light on the horizon to navigate with a sextant. Sunrise occurs on September 22nd.