My First Really Real Antarctic Day

So for the last couple of days, the weather took a turn for the worse. One of the worst summer storms in years hit the Pole. When it gets stormy here, it doesn't snow, it just gets windy. Really, really windy. And the wind picks up snow and ice and blows it all over the place. The other night we were out working, and when we came out, you could only see about 10 feet in front of you. They were telling people not to walk outside because of the possibility of getting lost. I wish I could capture the feeling of standing on a sled, being pulled behind a snowmobile, and just driving into a wall of white. Pretty insane. The roads were all drifted over, and we had to navigate by flags they stuck in the snow. One by one. I tried to take some video of what it was like that night.

Anyway, they of course couldn't fly any planes in or out in that weather. And for some other reason the satellite connection was down. So for the first time down here, I really started to feel claustrophobic. I realized I was trapped and completely isolated from all civilization, at the least 8 hours from New Zealand (which is, arguably, civilization...) Best not to think about these things...

I took another video of me snowmobiling down here. Also, here are a couple more photos. The the view down one of the holes we drill in the ice, and me at the actual South Pole...