South Pole Traverse

The South Pole Traverse moving down the Leverett Glacier: my dream job.

Conditions:  Temperature 19° (4° with windchill).  Cloudy.  Population = 1100+

I mentioned in a previous post, the cowboys of the Antarctic are the South Pole Traverse (SPoT) team.  Like Scott and Shackleton, they troop slowly in tractors, pulling necessary supplies--particularly fuel--to the South Pole.  The Pole base could not exist without the traverse; planes simply could not carry enough fuel to supply the base.

The eight man crew drives tractors 1031 miles, averaging about 5 miles per hour over 25 12-hour days (it took Amundsen 57 days and Scott 78 to reach the Pole).  The tractors transport diesel fuel in long bladders that drag along the ground. They also pull the team's living quarters.  On the way back, they fill the bladders with air so they drag well and also bring back the waste that needs to be shipped off ice. 

Although I think of this as my dream job (all those books on tape I could listen to!), I don't think I'll be making the team any time soon.  To qualify, you need to be able to fix any mechanical problem that arises en route.  No rescue is possible.  I can't replace a flashlight battery without a struggle.  But I did speak to their woofer every week by satellite phone so I take an unjustified smidgen of credit for their success.

This year, three SPoTs will head south. Below are quotes and pictures from the daily SPoT2 situation reports.

The cowboys getting ready to start.

12/12:   " The weather is challenging us every inch of the way.  It's been snowing the last couple of days in MCM and we departed in the middle of a snow storm. The fresh snow increased the sliding friction of the sleds and slowed us down to a crawl. We were down to 4mph most of the day, which lead to the measly 13 mile day." 

12/13:   The Shear Zone is one of the more challenging sections of our route. Within a 1.5mi distance we cross 33 crevasses. These crevasses have been mitigated by removing the snow bridge covering them with explosives then filled from the bottom up with snow. Making it safe for us to travel across this section of trail. These crevasses are produced by the McMurdo Ice Shelf and the Ross Ice Shelf moving at different speeds and in slightly different directions. The original crossing had become unfeasible to maintain. Therefore, the construction of a new crossing was completed this season.

12/14. On the ice shelf.   Nightly refueling from the fuel bladders.  "Once we got moving this morning it finally started to feel like Traverse. We were able to maintain a steady speed throughout the day, although it was at a slower than desired 5mph. Nobody got stuck. "

12/18/19:   On the ice shelf.  Pulling living quarters. "This morning started sunny but breezy. As we started down the trail the snow snakes started chasing us. Snow snakes are nothing new. I'm not sure exactly how they form but you've probably seen them crossing the road if you've spent anytime driving in winter conditions. They are ribbons of blowing snow that slither along never raising more than a couple inches off the surface. They give you something to watch and are entertaining. I enjoy them but they can be mesmerizing and lead to erratic driving if you let them get to you. They messed with me all day. As the day continued the clouds kept building behind us and before long they started to cover the landscape. At one point there was the smallest patch of sun breaking through, just enough to illuminate the area directly around the tractor. With the rest of the landscape in shade it created a moment of vertigo in which I felt I was not traveling, although I could see my tracks turning. Eventually all ground definition was lost and enough snow was blowing that I lost sight of all flags and was reduced to driving by GPS. Just to mess with me the wind changed making the snow snakes travel in at a slightly different angle. Since I had spent much of the morning staring at them the slight change kept persuading me to drift off course. Finally the light improved enough that I was able to identify how the snakes were messing with me and was able to correct."

12/18:  On the Ice Shelf, cycling across the international dateline (at the flag).  "First day ever of No Pants tractor driving for Justin. All last year he was adamantly against it. Today was the day he broke down and gave No Pants a try. He's now a convert. He can't believe it took him this long to enjoy the benefits. He was in awe of how relaxing, calming and cooling his after drive was."  

12/29: Heading up the Leverett Glacier.   It's a Mario.  "We stopped at LOO today. LOO is the waypoint marker that designates the edge of the continent. We are officially out of international waters and on solid ground. Well sort of, we never really touch solid ground, we just spend our time floating over the top of it on some  solid water. I have always felt like I haven't really been to the continent since I haven't actually touched it. One of these years I may get to traverse to Marble Point near the Dry Valleys and have an opportunity to actually touch rock."

12/30:  On the Leverett Glacier with Mt. Beasley in the background.  Note the tandem tractor pull--each set of fuel bladders needs two--and sometimes three--tractors to get it up the steep glacier.  "Woke up in the middle of a cloud. We've had low cloud cover hanging over us the last couple of days. I guess we finally traveled high enough that we were just in the clouds. Driving was from flag to flag for an hour or so. Then we climbed high enough that we left the clouds behind. Then Wham, there was Mt. Beazley welcoming us to the mountains. Mt. Beazley is this massive dome of rock with sides so vertical and shear that the snow cannot find a purchase leaving most of the western side free of ice. We lucked out and the weather has been holding all day. Sunny and wind free which makes it feel much warmer that the 11F the thermometer is reporting." 

New Year's Day: "The temperatures have finally dropped, first negative readings we've seen, allowing us to pick up some speed. By the end of the day, we were forging our way through the outskirts of the Sastrugi National Forest and we were definitely starting to get shook up. Sastrugi is just a fancy name for snow drifts. They can vary in size but they are always rock hard. It's impressive to drive over a drift that was created with only wind and snow with a 60,000 lb tractor and barely leave tread marks. We are now traveling across the Plateau. It's as flat up here as the Ross Ice Shelf was. The ice here is 8000 feet thick. Looking back, the Trans Antarctic Mountains which were so impressive from the Ice Shelf are now merely small features on the horizon. You travel past the Kansas Glacier between Mt Goumani and Teller Peak. You can see the horizon line where the ice of the plateau begins to flow down to the sea. I've always wanted to go and explore over there. Once you have driven a tractor down one glacier, well, you want to drive a tractor down all the glaciers."

1/5/20:  The Hero Shot:  Arrival at the Pole

1/15/20: Heading back from the Pole. One of the crew decided to do the whole route on a snowmobile.  the Tennessee flag was given to him by the governor.   "Chad was tough enough to show up to work another day out in the elements but the weak as snow machine had to take a personal day. Yup, Chad killed one snow machine. On to the second one. We're going to wait to get back down to the ice shelf where it's warmer before diagnosing what's wrong with the first one. It's getting fuel and changing spark plugs didn't fix it. I say put it on plastic and tow the sucker for now. Other than the delay for the downed snow machine we had an uneventful day. "

1/20/20:  Going down the Leverett Glacier.  The tractor in back is preventing the load from running away (tagging). "It was a great morning, cold but the sun was out. [At the top of the glacier], we stopped and rearranged our loads so we could make it down in one shot without having to shuttle loads. Everything went smoothly on the decent. Matt tagged the living modules that I'm pulling down. Next came The Dazzler with the tool shed and reefer tagged by Frobish who had the string of three bladder sets behind him. Francis was able to hold back 302 from running over Fedders. Although I do admit the crew was tempted to do some physics and predict how far 302 would make it down the Leverett on its own if we cut it loose. Don't worry Fabian I'd never let them do that to one of your tractors."   

1/21/20 Two SPoT crews meeting up mid-transit (one coming, one going) in front of Mt. Beazley on the Leverett Glacier. "I think this is my new favorite camping spot on the route. It also worked out that this is where Spot 3 would be ending their day. It gives us a chance to camp together which doesn't happen often and has the added benefit that we can help tag them up the Leverett tomorrow so they don't have to shuttle loads. This should save them at least a half a day. The guys had a chance to swap stories and catch up on news from McMurdo and The Pole." 

1/22/20:  Leverett Glacier.  Tthe living modules being towed. "This morning we said goodbye to Spot 3. But not before we snapped a group photo and helped tandem pull them up the Leverett Glacier. They're on their way to higher elevations and colder temps while we head towards thicker air and t-shirt weather. Suckers."  

1/23/20:  Refueling again "We are across the Asters and onto a nice long stretch of solid stable ice shelf. The Asters or the "Shoals" involves the area where the ice transitions from flowing over land to falling off the continent and floating on top of water. This creates stresses in the ice and leads to the formation of crevasses. Part of the day we drove with our harnesses on just in case. We do cross a number of crevasses in this area but the GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) scans show that they are deep with a significant snow bridge over them that can support our vehicles.  First day on the Ross Ice Shelf and it was gorgeous. Great views of the Transantarctic Mountains and better views of The Dazzler's legs. Yup, the overalls have been tucked away and the shorts are out." 

The team arrived back today (2/3/20) but they didn't post any more pictures after 1/23 (problems with satellite connection.  But here is the route of their trip.