South Pole Travers

Okay, before I create any confusion, no I am not going to the South Pole. However, today I got to work with the SPT team as they make their preparations to head south. A few years back, Ric Campbell got this great idea that instead of flying all the supplies to SP (South Pole) that they should create a road there and drive it. So after many years of mapping a route through the crevasse filled areas, they arrived at a "safe" route. Although there has been 3-4 attempts, only one was successful. The project was on hold last season, but they are kicking it off again and I got to join in on the magic. The plan is to have eight people drag twelve 3,000 gallon fuel bags to the pole. This round trip endeavor over the semi established route will take an estimated three months and the crew will return with Pole trash and Pole pooh. Not only will the team need to take the fuel, but they will also have to take all their own living supplies to be fully self sufficient during their journey.

While I worked with the crew I learned a lot about what will take place and I took some pictures. So here is some education on the SPT.

Above you see large tanks that will be used to fuel the pulling equipment not to mention the heating and generator as well. I'm not sure how big each tank is, but as you can tell, there is a ladder going up the side of each one. Each tank is mounted on large skis and connected together to create a long "pony parade." I believe there are a total of 8 of these tanks that will be used.
I really liked this little rig. This read vehicle is a Pisten Bully. I get to drive these around town and out on the sea ice. Attached to the front of the vehicle is a long boom with a sonar head. Bill will be driving this thing in the lead. The idea is that the sonar will pick up any crevasses before they are driven over with the equipment If a Crevasse is found, they use a hot water drill to drill a hole through the snow bridge. They will lower explosives and blow the bridge up. They then take their heavy equipment and fill in the crevasse until it is safe to cross.
NOTE: A crevasse is a large crack in the ice shelf cased by the snow and ice moving and flexing as it passes over the surface below. Wind then covers the crack with a snow bridge and hides the danger below. Often skiers or mountain climbers start crossing a snow bridge not knowing it is there until it gives way and they plummet to the bottom sometimes hundreds of feet below.
In the back ground you can see a huge tractor looking thing, this is a Case Quad Track. It has a 14L engine and is quite the workhorse as it pulls a load of up to 150,000lbs. That is a lot of weight.
In the picture above you and see the Case Quad Track in front of this giant sled. The sled has two 3,000 gallon fuel bags on it. I got to help strap these puppies on as the Fuelies (the fuel people) filled them with gas. Three of these sleds will be chained to the boom you see in the front of the picture meaning one Quad Track can pull 18,000 gallons of gas. The only issue is that in some spots they have built "bridges" across crevasses and they are worried that these sleds may slide off. However they are working on this issue to prevent dumping a few tons of gas into our nice clean snow.
The picture above is where I spent most of the day working. This is the food trailer. The door to the left is frozen foods while the door to the right is dry goods. I lugged 4 pallets of frozen food and 1 van load of dry goods into this trailer. I have pictures of all the food stacked up but I can show you those another time. I can say that these people will not go hungry!
This is the inside of the living quarters. Straight ahead is a bedroom with four bunks, and directly behind me are another four. You can see the sink, but running water is created from a 5 gallon pail under the sink with a pump in it. Water is created by shoveling snow into a box on the front of the utility sled. The box holds about 50 gallons of water and has a heating coil in it. The snow shoveled in quickly melts and is pumped to the showers and bathroom. The water can also be lugged from the utility sled to the living quarters to use in the sink. I don't know what happens to the waste water, but my guess is that it goes directly to the ice below.

I hope this was as interesting to you as it was for me. Tomorrow is the big Halloween party and my costume is all ready (I made it my self). I leave Monday for WAIS so I may not talk to anyone for a couple weeks. Take care and go Red Sox!