The South Pole

According to my guide, going to the South Pole is like walking on a treadmill in a white wind tunnel pulling a bath tub! Antarctica is a giant white desert. There’s nothing to see. You can’t tell where sky meets the ground, and there’s no reference point in the distance to aid your direction.

The sun never sets, and it’s always at the same height in the sky all day long. If you head due south, your shadow slowly makes a circle around you as the hours of the day pass by.

I have to admit that I didn’t train as hard as I should have for South Pole trip, and this became a huge factor during the first few days of the trip. I didn’t expect the sled to be so heavy.

As I was strong enough to pull the sled in Denali, it should have been the same here in the Antarctic. I was wrong. It was a very painful struggle during the first few days. The trip towards the South Pole was a gentle up slope all the way, and those sastrugis, snow drift, created a serious hurdle in pulling the sled.

Imagine pulling a large bathtub that weighs a hundred pounds uphill on cross country skis. In many cases, my sled often pulled me back down the slope! After the first couple days, I finally slowly tuned in the rhythm of creating a harmonious relationship between my ski and my sled, learned to manage the momentum of motion at sastrugis and pace myself throughout the day.

To adapt to life in Antarctica, you have to stay warm. You have to carefully manage the layers so you don’t sweat too much while moving, yet cover up every inch of your skin to avoid frost bite.

The air was dry and cold, the vapor from our breath instantly became ice frost on our face mask. To keep the energy going smoothly for a day, we were disciplined about taking 5 or 10 minutes break every hour to load up drink and energy. As you can’t tell when it’s going to get dark, there’s no reference point on this big plain, everything goes by your clock.

After hiking for 8 or 10 hours, it was time to break camp. It gets very cold once you stop moving, so we had to set up the tent as fast as we could. And once in the tent, quickly change into dry clothes and dry socks, warm up the feet and hand. As cold as it can be outside, inside the tent can be very toasty because of the way the tent traps heat. It also helps that the sun is out for 24 hours, aiding in warming up the inside. Much like the Polar Bear plunge, going outside from warm to freezing was an experience.

Unlike the North Pole, the South Pole has a distinguishable landmark..During the last two days of the trip, you began to see a tiny grey dot on the horizon, and it got closer and closer with every passing hour. As you got closer you can make out the modern building constructed over the South Pole. Having been out in white desert for the trip, viewing the US South Pole station was a surreal experience.

The last day was the coldest day, with a wind chill of -48F. Even if we stopped for a few minutes for a break, it was really hard to warm up. So we skipped rest stops and kept hiking til we arrived at the station, not even taking a drink or a bite to eat. I was very exhausted by the time we pulled over the south pole, but that little pole, just having to march the last few hundred yards filled me with pride!