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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsAm I the only person who would enjoy a trip to the South Pole ?
Antarctica fascinates me. Last time I checked, to even see the shore of Antarctica costs $11k (if you don't work for the NSF) and to even get to the South Pole without working there, is $40K.
I guess I'm never going to the South Pole.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)The Geographic South Pole is that brass looking tower in the middle. I think they have to move it every year.
The flags are the Ceremonial South Pole.
Phentex
(16,334 posts)some day maybe.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)But I guess I will never get there because I could not afford the $40K.
Samjm
(320 posts)Have always dreamed of it.
LeftofObama
(4,243 posts)cliffordu
(30,994 posts)There are probably more than a couple of folks who would love to see me afloat on an ice flow very near there.....
Like Frankenstein's monster, drifting off into the mist.....
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)I had a friend winterover at the Pole a few years ago. There are some nice blogs that he links to here (no update to the current winter population yet even though the summer folks are all gone):
http://southpolestation.com/links.html
steve2470
(37,457 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)like the 16,000 foot Mount Vinson. Makes me think of the H.P. Lovecraft story about an expedition to Antarctica, At The Mountains Of Madness.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)I don't like cold!
Forty-two years ago, I was a guest of a man that was on Sir Edmund Hillary's team, part of Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Physician and dentist. He taught physiological and was doing research on man's adaption to cold weather (his conclusion: man readily adapts to warm weather, cold not so much). His harrowing story of being downed in a small airplane during a total white-out and camping under a tarp during a -60 degrees storm for eleven days was enough to put me off the game.
Now, Tierra del Fuego could interest me: I can smell gold.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)bif
(22,720 posts)"Encounters at the end of the World"? Excellent movie if you're fascinated by the South Pole. I'd love to go someday.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)Callmecrazy
(3,065 posts)It's cold, windy, and snowy with terrible schools.
Kinda like Chicago. And the airfare is cheaper.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)I once experienced -50°F.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I don't mind the cold ( although pretty sure everyone minds THAT cold) and I would love to get a chance to see something so relatively untouched.
Gorp
(716 posts)harmonicon
(12,008 posts)When I was a kid, I really wanted to go to space and go to another planet, moon, etc. Now that I'm grown up I realize that that won't happen, and even if it were possible, I probably wouldn't want to go because you probably wouldn't be allowed/able to smoke there, so what's the point? Antarctica is pretty close to another world though, and I could smoke there.
pink-o
(4,056 posts)First, you have to go in January, because its as warm as it'll ever get. Second, you can't fly in very easily. You have to take a ferry from South America and cross the Drake's Passage. The currents are so rough, everyone is seasick like dogs for the two-day voyage. But she said once the boat docked, and they first set foot on the continent, the air was so pure and so vital she almost started crying. She hyperventilated just trying to get as much as possible. It's the last untouched, unpolluted land on this planet, and apparently we don't know what we're missing as we breathe in this compromised atmosphere.
I love the sun, and I love large cities. But I would go to Antarctica just to experience that air!
steve2470
(37,457 posts)That's really interesting about the air, so true, so clean it is.
Moondog
(4,833 posts)YankeyMCC
(8,401 posts)of people who would enjoy a trip to the South Pole.
The stories of the 19th century arctic / Antarctic explorers captivated me since I was a kid. I do a lot of backpacking and I read stories of people doing winter trips, even when they end up stuck, I think to myself - "I want to try that."
steve2470
(37,457 posts)For those interested, here's a good NatGeo documentary on how they built the latest science station there: