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Mike and I shared
a very comfortable two-person tent, just 50 steps from the
toilet and cook tent, the two most important facilities at
Patriot Hills, aside, perhaps, for the communication tent.
The tent came with a wood floor to insulate from the snow and
ice, 2 mattresses and a pillow for each of us. With the
passive solar heat gain our tent was 70°F! Sheer luxury!
After a great night’s sleep – remember the Sun is up all night
long, so bring a sleep mask – we had breakfast and then took |
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an orientation walk around camp. The camp’s two
11-passenger Twin Otter prop aircrafts were going to be used to
transport Vinson climbers and Last Degree skiers to their
destinations. They would then fly us to the South Pole. |
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Press Photos for Larger View |
Photo by Bill Whiddon |
Photo by Bill Whiddon |
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The first part of
our day was spent reading, relaxing, visiting with other travelers,
touring Patriot Hills and eating wonderfully prepared meals made from
fresh flown-in ingredients. Everyone in our group agreed Gavin, the
camps head cook, was the most important person in camp! Not really.
That designation fell to Mr. Mike Sharp, Patriot Hills camp manager and
weather expert, with 30+ years in Antarctica. |
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The camp doctor John, who is
highly trained in Arctic survival, informed us he would
be traveling with us to the South Pole and on to the
blue ice at the Patuxent Range for meteorite observing.
We arranged to spend a portion of our afternoon with him
on the blue ice near camp, so we could get a feel for
walking. Mike brought a meteorite he had with him for
the exercise and we practiced walking abreast on the ice
30-steps apart from one another. This walk gave us
opportunity to try out all our cold weather gear (it
worked great) and to get an idea of how we would search
for meteorites. At the conclusion of our walk the wind
picked up. |
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The Katabatics had arrived and would
continue to blow for 36+ hours. At its peak the winds
were blowing at 50 knots, with gusts up to 70! It was
amazing. |
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Press Photos for Larger View |
Photos by
David Bloomfield |
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And so we waited - reading magazines, sleeping, eating,
and waiting for the winds to die down. Some of us
braved the harsh conditions and tried out our heavy duty
Antarctic gear which, again, was up to the task of
keeping us warm. |
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Just as sudden as they came,
the winds died. It was time to go the South Pole! We
had to leave the majority of our gear behind, taking
just the clothes we were going to wear, cameras,
toiletries, snacks, water, and the all important pee
bottle. That’s right, a pee bottle. This item comes in
very handy when you wake in the night and do not want to
make the trek over the snow to the toilet hut. |
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We boarded the Twin Otter and flew 2.5
hrs over vast expanses of ice, interspersed with
mountains and hills above the ice, to the Thiel
Mountains ALE fuel cache. We
stopped, refueled, and flew another 2 hours to the South
Pole. |
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Otter
Flight Views
1 |
Otter
Flight Views
2 |
Landing
At Thiel |
Thiel
360° |
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PRESS HERE to go to
the Next Page |
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| Back to Top |
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Copyright 2005 TravelQuest
International. All rights
reserved. 800-830-1998
Revised: December 30, 2006.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective companies or trademark holders. |
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