WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS IDEA, JEFF?  

As many of you know, there's always a story with me.  This one's no different.  So here goes!   

My journey back to Antarctica - this time deep into the continent and to the geographic South Pole - started just after my birthday in July.  Well...actually, it started a couple of years ago.  So let me digress a bit.  Two years ago, I was asked if I had any interest in working for the National Science Foundation as one of their polar docs?  I had been to the Antarctic several times before with Quark Expeditions (plug out of them - they're excellent!  Quark Expeditions) but only onto the peninsula.  It was always aboard ship, and I principally cared for around 100 people.  The worse incident I ever faced was a broken leg.  A simple medical issue for any emergency doc to deal with:  stabilize, reduce back to near normal anatomy, splint, and evacuate - all while treating the pain.  I really enjoyed my trips with Quark, so much so that I've also been to the North Pole with them (actually - Svalbard, Norway, which is as far north as you can get).  Once you're an experienced  "polar doc" the word gets around if you were felt to be competent and a good team player.  However, when I was contacted two years ago, I was wrapped up in some other stuff and felt it wasn't the right time to take on such an adventure.  But when the email offer came this year, just after my birthday, I jumped at the opportunity!  Turning 63 probably had something to do with it too.  As I've aged (alright, gotten old!), I've seen us senior docs get less and less offers to experience the wilder side of emergency medicine.  So - challenge accepted NSF!

But the NSF hasn't always had ownership of the three American bases on the ice covered continent.  It was actually the US Navy that first claimed ownership of the bottom of the earth!  And I am not the first Disney to reach the South Pole neither!

Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) were initially, three separate operations performed by the US Navy onto the continent.  Starting in 1955, well, actually 1839....when Captain Charles Wilkes led the first US Naval Expedition into Antarctic water...the Navy has always been active as far south as possible.  In 1929, Admiral Richard E. Byrd established the first US naval base at Little America I on the Ross Ice Shelf, and also conducted the first fly-over of the geographic South Pole.  He was also instrumental leading the US Navy to be the first to chart the entire antarctic coastline in 1946-47.  The impetus behind the formal establishment of ODF base was the United States involvement in the International Geophysical Year of 1957.  This was an agreement between 40 countries to carry out earth science studies at both poles, and eventually led to the now active International Antarctic Treaty, which was entered into practice and force on 23 June 1961.  Today, the treaty limits all countries from conducting military research or operations on the continent, and established rules of engagement for scientific research - as well as environmental stewardship.  Today, there are over 70 active research bases in Antarctica, with approximately 20 operating year around - 3 belong to the USA.  

On October 31, 1956 at 8:34 pm local, the first aircraft to ever touchdown at the South Pole, skied to a halt atop the 2 mile thick ice sheet, at 90 degrees south, just yards from today's GPS located marker.  Piloted by LCDR Conrad "Gus" Shinn, USN, the R4D-5 Skytrain, named Que Sera Sera, carried 6 naval personnel.  One of them, Petty Officer 2nd Class John Strider became infamous, when he was ordered by Rear Admiral George Dufek to step outside first, thus becoming the 11th person - and first American - to stand at the South Pole; 44 years after the ill-fated Scott Expedition.  He was just 22 years old.  

But the story doesn't stop there my friends!  Typical of the Antarctic, Mother Nature always has the upper hand!  When Shinn decided to take off, he gunned the engines only to be surprised that the plane didn't move.  "We became stuck like if you put your damp hand on the freezer and it sticks," LCDR Shin later wrote.  "We didn't think about that!"  The skis had literally frozen to the ice preventing any movement of the aircraft.  Improvising, Shinn eventually fired all 15 of the lateral rocket engines for extra thrust - and melting of the ice - breaking the plane free for its taxi and takeoff.  Many more flights would follow.  During the austral summer of 1957, the US Navy SeaBees finished the first formal Navy base, establishing a permanent home for America at the South Pole.  Below is an actual picture of the landing, taken from a sister aircraft flying above.  

Today, it's the Air Force and Air National Guard that get us from Christchurch, New Zealand, to McMurdo Station, and then on to the South Pole.  Here's a great informative video about this incredible mission: Air Force C-131 Flights.  You hear them talk about a "Boomerang Flight."  A boomerang flight is one that is cancelled in air by ever changing weather at the pole.  You either "boomerang" back to Christchurch, or back to the Pole.  Here's part two and how I'll actually get to the South Pole: Flights to the South Pole. And yes, they never shutdown the engines because there's a good chance the fluids will freeze!  

The original South Pole station (now referred to as a "Old Pole") was constructed in 1956 from prefabricated 4x8 foot modular panels.  The exterior walls were 4 inches thick, with fiberglass sandwiched between a plywood exterior surface and an aluminum interior surface.  Several other buildings were eventually built - and heat was an ever present problem.  The first group to "winter over" (the period from late March to late October when the sun is below the horizon) was led by Paul Siple (an astronomical scientist) and LTJG John Tuck.  During the late June solstice, the average temperature was -90F.  Siple was noted to have written in his journal, "....even at -60F, I had seen men spitting up blood because the capillaries of the bronchial tract had frosted over."  Today, the "Old Pole" is buried beneath 50 feet of ice, not far from the current structure.  

The station was moved in 1975 to a newly constructed geodesic dome 160 feet wide by 52 high, with two large 46x79 foot steel archways.  One archway served as the entrance, and the other transversed arch led to underground modular buildings that housed maintenance, fuel bladders, power plant, snow melter, other equipment and vehicles.  Individual buildings, within the dome, contained dorms, galley, a recreation center, post office and a small medical unit.  During the winter of 1988, a loud crack was heard in the dome!  Upon investigation, it was discovered that the foundation base ring beams had broken.  The dome was now unstable, but still useable.  

In 1992, the design of a new station began for an 80,000 sq ft building with two floors at a cost of $150 million.  Adjacent to the dome, the facility was officially dedicated on January 12, 2008, which included decommissioning of the old dome.  Every single piece of construction material was flown in; each plane bringing an average 26,000 pounds of cargo with each flight.  The total accumulative weight:  24,000,000 pounds!  The design of the new building was state-of-the-art; there is no other building like it in the world!  Since roughly 8 inches of snow accumulates every year without thawing, the building's architects included rounded corners and edges to reduce snow drifts.  The building faces into the wind with a sloping lower portion of wall.  The angled wall increases the wind speed as it flows under the buildings, and passes above the snow-pack, causing the snow to be scoured away.  This prevents the building from becoming buried!  Wind tunnel testing showed that scouring will continue to occur until the snow level reaches the second floor.  Because snow gradually settles over time under its own weight, the foundations of the building were designed to accommodate substantial differential settling over any one of the wings.  The facility was designed with the primary support columns outboard of the exterior walls so that the entire building can be jacked up a full floor level!  It's a fascinating structure - and I'll have more to say about it in future blogs.  

So, you really aren't the first Disney to reach the South Pole?  Well, I can certainly say, I'm the first DOCTOR Disney.  But no.  You know who beat me here!  In 1956, the US Navy asked the Walt Disney Studios to film the expedition.  For having produced the filming, and designing the emblem of Task Force 43, Walt Disney became an honorary member of the expedition.  But he didn't lay a foot on the continent - that's been left to me!  

To see for yourself, just what it's like at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole base, point to the following webcam and you can check out the current weather and see exactly what my day (remember, 24 hours of light this time of year!!) is going to be like!  South Pole Webcam.  Be forewarned however, there's a catch:  

Next time:

"13 1/2 hours to New Zealand in Economy....."