Antarctica 2018: Chapter 15: The South Pole Traverse arrives

Link to Chapter 14: Two pictures to sum it all up.
Link to Chapter 13: Visual tour of South Pole Station.
Link to Chapter 12: What is LANDIT, and why does it need the South Pole?
Link to Chapter 11: Work at the South Pole.
Link to Chapter 10: Thank you, friends.
Link to Chapter 9: At the bottom of the world
Link to Chapter 8: Onward, Southward!
Link to Chapter 7: Exploring McMurdo Station
Link to Chapter 6: Touchdown Antarctica
Link to Chapter 5: Flight Day!
Link to Chapter 4: ECWs
Link to Chapter 3: Christchurch!
Link to Chapter 2: Auckland
Link to Chapter 1: From Hawaii to Antarctica

The southernmost highway in the world isn’t in Australia, or New Zealand, or even Chile. It’s a thousand-mile road that’s rebuilt every summer, and it connects McMurdo Station with South Pole Station. Every summer, three to four caravans of trucks, bulldozers and motorized CATs pulling massive sleds filled with supplies make, and drive, the road to South Pole, an activity that is called the South Pole Traverse.

We got updates, periodically, about the progress of the traverse towards us. That’s because the traverse (or SPT) itself is fairly new. Prior to SPT, Pole got all its supplies, as well as the jet fuel that powers the Station, from LC-130s. That’s right — over two hundred flights a year, sometimes as many as eight flights a day, would fly down from McMurdo, and the cargo planes, engorged with fuel, would fill up bladder tanks at Pole, and then take off. Obviously, bad weather and delayed planes meant a whole lot more in those days, possibly even disrupting a season. These days, we don’t need as many planes flying between Mac and Pole… thanks to SPT.

The “proof of concept” traverse occurred in 2006, and in 2009, the first “operational” traverse occurred, bringing over 100 tons of equipment to Pole per traverse. Compacting the snow for a thousand miles, filling in dangerous crevasses, all while pulling 100 tons, is no small feat. Today, SPT is the backbone of Polar operations. So it was pretty cool to wake up one Tuesday morning and look out of the galley and see a new decoration in the background. As if to announce their presence, the Traverse parked itself in the most conspicuous spot it possibly could: right behind the Ceremonial South Pole.

Picture from the vantage point of the NOAA Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO): The clump of buildings to the left is South Pole Station. The clump to the right is the motorized component of the South Pole Traverse. In the foreground, three of the five sleds that the Traverse pulled across Antarctica can be seen.

One of the sleds dragged by SPT. There were five such sleds as part of the first Traverse (there will be three this season). Each sled carries an unbelievable 20,000 gallons, or 140,000 pounds, of jet fuel.

Yep, you can’t miss ‘em: Left: the Ceremonial South Pole prior to the Traverse arrival, as seen from the galley, and Top: the Traverse posted up right behind the Ceremonial South Pole flags shortly thereafter.

A closer view of the Traverse, in the background of the flags at the Ceremonial South Pole, with yours truly. The SnoCATs, as well as living quarters for the Traverse operators (the corrugated shack-looking buildings) can be seen.