On January 12th I took a C-130 from McMurdo Station to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Here are some photos of the flight.
Inside the C-130
More of the Transantarctic Mountain Range
The South Pole Station sits at about 9300 feet, but because it's located at the earth's pole it has a high pressure altitude making it akin to being at around 10,500 feet. The station's lowest temperature while i was there was -75 F factoring in the wind chill and -57 F ambient.
The Pole runs almost entirely off diesel fuel offloaded from C-130's. A month into the summer a traverse loaded to the gills with fuel (150,000 gallons) drove across the stretch between the McMurdo Station and the South Pole. The journey took them around 60 days, and will probably continue to be repeated in the future in an effort to cut down the amount of fuel flights needing to head to the Pole. My main task while I was at the Pole was to offload the fuel off the C-130's after they touched down.
View of the Transantarctic Mountains 
Inside the C-130
More of the Transantarctic Mountain Range
The South Pole Station sits at about 9300 feet, but because it's located at the earth's pole it has a high pressure altitude making it akin to being at around 10,500 feet. The station's lowest temperature while i was there was -75 F factoring in the wind chill and -57 F ambient.The Pole runs almost entirely off diesel fuel offloaded from C-130's. A month into the summer a traverse loaded to the gills with fuel (150,000 gallons) drove across the stretch between the McMurdo Station and the South Pole. The journey took them around 60 days, and will probably continue to be repeated in the future in an effort to cut down the amount of fuel flights needing to head to the Pole. My main task while I was at the Pole was to offload the fuel off the C-130's after they touched down.
Science is the biggest consumer of fuel at the station. These buildings are large water heaters, heating up massive quantities of water to use for drilling deep into the ice.
While the water is being heated the contraption in the background on the right pumps it into the ice until a 2km hole is created. After the hole is made the scientist lower an $8000 computer down into the ice. The computer is never retrieved, but it sends data about neutrinos back to a massive supercomputer (in the background on the left.)
The fuel arch. All the fuel offload from C-130s is pumped into here. The arch contains 45 - 10,000 gallon tanks, which are connected to the stations power plant. The temperature in the arch hovers at around -50 F.
Aside from the bone chilling temperatures the weather at the South Pole is much more consistent and sunny then McMurdo, providing plenty of opportunities to witness sundogs.
Sometimes when we're marshaling in C-130's they don't put the brakes on soon enough, and we have to push them back into place. I had to use both hands for this guy.
Me hauling the de-fuel nozzle back from a C-130. The most important thing to remember is that the props are always spinning down at the Pole so don't go near them.
These bad-ass trucks just showed up out of the blue. They drove from the east coast of Antarctica setting up the finish line for a European South Pole X-country ski race. 
Me holding on at the South Pole
The South Pole with the new station in the background
The true geographic south pole does not itself move, but because the pole marker sits on top of glacial ice which moves (10m every year) the position is annually re-determined and the marker moved.
My home - a double canvas walled Jamesway.
My little cubby of a room. Since the walls are made of canvas its basically like sharing a room with 9 other people - you can hear everything (hence the single-malt scotch on the dresser).
My buddy and fueling comrade, Andrew, got an opportunity to ride in an Otter and snap South Pole Station photos. Here's three of his pics.
The new station on the upper right and the famous S. Pole dome on the lower left.
On the return flight back to McMurdo I snapped few more shots of the Transantarctic Mountain Range.
While the water is being heated the contraption in the background on the right pumps it into the ice until a 2km hole is created. After the hole is made the scientist lower an $8000 computer down into the ice. The computer is never retrieved, but it sends data about neutrinos back to a massive supercomputer (in the background on the left.)
The fuel arch. All the fuel offload from C-130s is pumped into here. The arch contains 45 - 10,000 gallon tanks, which are connected to the stations power plant. The temperature in the arch hovers at around -50 F.
Aside from the bone chilling temperatures the weather at the South Pole is much more consistent and sunny then McMurdo, providing plenty of opportunities to witness sundogs.
Sometimes when we're marshaling in C-130's they don't put the brakes on soon enough, and we have to push them back into place. I had to use both hands for this guy.
Me hauling the de-fuel nozzle back from a C-130. The most important thing to remember is that the props are always spinning down at the Pole so don't go near them.These bad-ass trucks just showed up out of the blue. They drove from the east coast of Antarctica setting up the finish line for a European South Pole X-country ski race. 
Me holding on at the South Pole
The South Pole with the new station in the background
The true geographic south pole does not itself move, but because the pole marker sits on top of glacial ice which moves (10m every year) the position is annually re-determined and the marker moved.My home - a double canvas walled Jamesway.My little cubby of a room. Since the walls are made of canvas its basically like sharing a room with 9 other people - you can hear everything (hence the single-malt scotch on the dresser).My buddy and fueling comrade, Andrew, got an opportunity to ride in an Otter and snap South Pole Station photos. Here's three of his pics.The new station on the upper right and the famous S. Pole dome on the lower left.On the return flight back to McMurdo I snapped few more shots of the Transantarctic Mountain Range. 
Baby New Year and Father Time ring in the New Year. 
