More South Pole Sites

One view of the 2006 w/o's (more)

Okay, here are the best Pole links I've seen to date...starting with...

2008...of course!
Steffen Richter: is back for his sixth winter, his second with BICEP, and he's got a great blog with lots of pictures...the kite stuff...oh, he's my next door neighbor.
Dana Hrubes: happens to be my other neighbor on the dome side of A1 first floor, as he was in 2005. For his fourth winter, he's here with Chicago this time...working on that famous South Pole Telescope.
New...Keith Vanderlinde: our Canadian PhD cosmologist for the winter, is working with Dana to keep that telescope humming, greased, and properly pointed...and he's got an excellent blog going here...
New...Let's have a Barbecue: is an excellent article that Will Brubaker, one of our power plant folks, put up to describe our Memorial Day celebration. Enjoy!
New...Weeks Heist: is the other engineer, a good guy hired about the same time as me, we both spent a few days together in the Denver office at the end of January. He has an extensive photo album from Pole and all over--including his 2000+ mile Appalachian Trail hike a couple of years ago.
Callee Allen: speaking of neighbors, her desk is next to mine in the computer lab. She's the work order planner/timekeeper...and she is no slouch as a photographer. Check it out!
New...Shaun Meehan: our winterover comms tech, just now shared with me his story of how he ended up here for the winter at the last minute...
Heidi Lim: STILL known as "homeless Heidi." She is back in Medical this year for yet another record--the first woman with FIVE winters...she's got a great blog and she makes great snacks to accompany our watching of the Sunday afternoon cooking TV shows...
Michael Rehm: is here for his third winter, holding down the galley. It is great to finally meet folks like him in person. Now let's see how I do against him in the pool tournament...
Ethan Good: has started his year as the w/o CUSP tech, taking over from Jason, who took over from Dana. In between walking around to all of those farflung science projects and drecting fire team 2, he puts up this blog, and yes, there are vivifying photos too. Ethan G is NOT to be confused with
Ethan Dicks: who is back for another winter with IceCube, his fifth on the ice and his third at Pole.
Tim Hayosh: is a w/o 2008 power plant guy, not to mention one of our many musicians...he quickly saw the advantages of turning a traditional website into this prolific blog. Follow along with his tales and photos from the frozen desert...
Nathan Bahls: is back for another season at Pole with a winter this time. When I met him he was doing IT stuff, this time he was a summer cargoid before reverting to a w/o IT job. A great blog with lots and lots of photo pages.
2007-08

Summer folks, many of whom I met...
Henry Malmgren: present IT manager and 2004 w/o, just got interviewed extensively by Computerworld. Along with a photo gallery from 2004 and now. And of course this got picked up by Slashdot.
Thorsten Stezelberger,: one of the IceCube drillers, has this blog which included my first glimpse of the dome arch demo
Glenn Grant: was back for the summer, filling in again as the aurora science tech, well, he IS gone, now, but we don;t have a winter aurora science tech. Hmmm.... Glenn's site features a blog about his recent fiery experiences aboard the NBP in the Weddell Sea and other adventures from some of his thirteen years on the ice.
BICEP folks from Cal Tech: were back...to prepare things for the third and final year of obs...of course including repeat w/o Steffen Richter, who has put up some new amazing panoramas. Also here for the summer were 2006 w/o Denis Barkats...Yuki Takahashi...(his home page), and Cynthia Chiang who arrived in mid-January for the end of the summer.
the South Pole telescope: is back with its own team blog here with updates and photos, along with other blogs by group members linked from here, including Kathryn Schaffer and Bradford Benson.
Darryn Schneider: 2000 w/o, Aussie, and more recently the IceCube computer guru, was back for the first half of the summer, this site features a great blog and link to his newsletters, not to mention some great history, including what must be the most extensive Wilkes Station history, timeline, and photo collection!
Jeff DeRosa: peripatetic 2006 w/o met guy, decided to come back to do this summer. And document it. What else to expect from this Mount Washington vet. Unfortunately he wasn't joined in the met office by 1977/1986 (and frequent visitor since then) Brad Halter, so winter manager Katie had to fill in for a bit until help arrived.
2007
Brien Barnett: was back again for the third winter in a row...
Sven (Lidström) down under...: Sven was the second Swede to winter at Pole, he's been with IceCube and has documented the second half of the winter here.
Heidi Lim: otherwise known as "homeless Heidi." Well, she had a home in Medical for the third winter in a row. Yes, Heidi has set a record...the first woman with FOUR winters.
Robert Schwarz: well, what did you expect? He was in in his sixth winter, a new record! Follow along, yes there are new pictures and a new guestbook! Have you had your milk today?
Steffen Richter: --that's right, he wintered with BICEP this time. Check out the updated site with photos, panoramas, kiting stuff etc.
Cooking south again...: ...is Michael Rehm...seems that Stephen Colbert wasn't done with him yet.
Laura Rip: was the winterover engineer...stuck with keeping the DDC up to snuff among other things. In her spare time she designed the 2008 Pole marker. Follow along with her blog.
Stauchy Blog: is but one prolific portion of the adventures of Lynette and Jason Stauch...Lynette was the safety person, and Jason was one of the science techs dealing with what used to be in the CUSP lab. They have lots of pictures here too....
2006-07

Well, that summer is long over, but left over from that is...
the South Pole telescope: which had its own team blog here with updates and photos, along with other blogs by group members linked from here.
BICEP: again has a prolific group of web sites, including returning veterans Cynthia Chiang (lots of good captioned pictures), as well as Yuki Takahashi (good pictures here too!)
Glenn Grant: is a science tech friend who has spent lots of time (and winters) on the ice, mostly at Palmer and Mactown. But he spent this past summer at Pole, filling in for Neal in the aurora tech business.
Charles Redell: otherwise known as cookiemonster, was the summer food materials guy, a new Polie who shared this great blog, with lots of photos!
Darryn Schneider: the Aussie 2000 AMANDA w/o and more recent IceCube IT guru, put up this fine 2006-07 diary....
Stephanie Eide: aummer cook, has this excellent eclectic blog with writings and photos that I somehow forgot to mention sooner--sorry Steph!
John Jacobsen: made his sixth summer venture to Pole, again with the IceCube data acquisition team. This is his latest blog with links to the earlier ones as well as his excellent photography.
2006
Brien Barnett: was back for a second winter in a row, this time in the cargo business. He's got a great blog going this winter, as well as a fast-growing gallery including 200+ photos from this winter.
Robert Schwarz: that German astronomer, returned yet again for winter number five, again with QUaD. He revamped his web site address and that means even more pictures. Cheers!
Greg's front porch...: belongs to comms guy Greg Watson. Not to be missed is his video presentation of the grand opening of the Dodgy Bastard bar, photo coverage of the spring Berms golf tournament, and other photos and emails...
Homeless Heidi: otherwise known as Heidi Lim, the physician's assistant here for her third w/o, has only ventured into the blogosphere toward the end of winter, with some prolific journalism. Welcome her!
Bob Melville: that good guy science tech who took over from Dana Hrubes...well, it seems he left some neat pics here....
Michael Rehm: ...another cook with a great blog and a study on what the winter can do to you...
Erik Kawasaki: network engineer, put up this fine blog, for some reason with lots of pictures of food (?) ever do oiled eggs?
Jeff DeRosa: winterover meteorologist and Mt. Washington veteran, had this fine blog with photos...but he's moved on. Here's the new one...
Denis Barkats,: winterover BICEP guy from France, doing a postdoc at Caltech. put up a bilingual blog with lots of pictures of what is going on at DSL and around the station.
Neal Scheibe: the w/o aurora tech, this blog includes, well, Neal succeeded in advancing the art of Pole blogs to a new level. Lots of stories, photos, interaction, and, oh well, this is a family site--well his is too, at least most of the time...since he'll be back next winter.
Ethan Dicks: was back for another winter, this time to deal with IceCube and all those new strings as well as the old ones...string along!
Patrick McClure: was the 2004-05 summer helpdesk guy...he returned for the full 2005-06 summer/winter. He has now posted links to many of those neat WHIFF film festival videos...not to be missed.
A few summer 2005-06 folks...for some reason the BICEP folks were incredibly prolific with words and pictures:
Cynthia Chiang: is the "physics chick" from Berkeley who spent the summer at Pole putting up BICEP and documenting stuff with great photos and video here.
Brian Keating: is another BICEP guy who visited in December. In addition to this main blog, he's got a photo page here.
Evan Bierman: is, yes, ANOTHER BICEP person. An interesting blog documenting the early season installation tribulations, and lots of pictures here.
Neil Miller: a RPSC engineer I worked with, put up this excellent blog...climbing photos...wonder if he let his hair grow back...
Robert Friedman a University of Chicago grad student, came down to work on QUaD...he has a good virtual tour, a discussion of the QUaD telescope, and another identity with photos, one angry South Pole elf.
Off Yonder: is GA Cameron Martindell, with this illustrated blog...from on-the-job snow shoveling to digging out the entrance to that buried aircraft (917) a mile from the end of the skiway...this is the Pole section of his prolific site.

2005
Bill Spindler: Yes, I was at Pole for the 2005 winter...now I've been away a couple months and just got reunited with my computer....hang on!
Bert's South Pole Page: Robert Schwarz was at Pole for winter #4 and soon will return for #5. Last winter he was working on the QUaD telescope project (a new CMBR instrument installed on the DASI mount at MAPO). His site is better than ever, with lots of excellent pictures from all of his time at Pole. This is the updated link .
Steffen Richter: another German here for winter #4, working on AMANDA/IceCube, he updated his site with photos from IceCube and elswhere, including some amazing kite aerial photography (KAP)
Rudy Moore: was one of the AMANDA/IceCube folks, earlier in the winter he taught some of us a Photoshop class, something you probably wish I knew how to use if you've spent much time looking at my photos :) Anyway, he's a good guy and HE has lots of good photos here. But none of his hair...
Mike Ray: was the network engineer who designed the new SOC (station operations center, the new name for comms) in the elevated station; he was down here putting the computer and radio stuff together and doing a bit of guitar in his spare time. He's got a gallery of photos of what he's been doing and seeing...
Dave Bates: inscrutable comms tech, put up his html and photos for all to see along with his blog...what does a summer of life at the South Pole do to your hairline?
Glen Kinoshita: was back at ARO for a second consecutive winter. The new version of his website is an amazing collection of photos and video of life around here...not to be missed. And he showed us Polies some interesting movies in the old library.
Dana Hrubes: was also back from last year, holding down the CUSP lab and his various other science projects, which let him know to let us know when good auroras are up. His site is back too!
Brien Barnett: had a successful summer with the Sun in McMurdo....but at the last minute he succumbed to a winter job opening in the Pole galley. Follow along as he dealt with the ice cream machine, the pots, and the rest of us...lots of multimedia, photos and neat stuff here.
Patrick McClure: was the summer helpdesk guy...he has an illustrated blog which reveals that the IT folks get to have all the fun climbing up on top of the dome...

the 2004 w/o's
Glen Kinoshita: was this year's NOAA tech, dealing with all of those flasks and ozone detectors. He's posted a new picture each day, along with an "ask the beaker" science page and some excellent video!
Andrea Dixon and Peter Rejcek: have named this page Barnacle Bikers from their sojourns on various Pacific islands. News of past and future 2-wheeled trips, commentary, and of course the South Polar Times!
Pete Koson: winter sm, had this page in the UNH alumni magazine.
Troy Wiles: the physician's assistant from Traverse City, Michigan, was featured in journal articles being published by his hometown newspaper, with pictures.
Jules Harnett: a comms engineer from Australia, watched AST/RO in 2004. She has an excellent diary, many photos, and other extras including those issues of the South Polar Times.
Henry Malmgren,: computer guy who wintered in 2002, returned in February to do it again, this time with one of those rooms with a window...in June he redid his site in his "global guy" image! (In 2005 he wintered at Palmer, and in 2006 he is ensconced in Denver.)
Dana Hrubes: was back for another year, this time with a new title of "Cusp Science Research Associate." Great site, not many Polies have also been to Thule (as I have) or the North Pole (as I have not). In addition to the monthly diaries, he has an excellent page on his science projects.
Keros Johnson: was the winter DA--his blog "Frozen Dishes" describes his life with the ice cream machine, movie making, and life in general. Very well done. By the way, he's wintering in McMurdo (in supply) in 2005.
Ethan Dicks: was one of the AMANDA w/o's, continuing his tradition of a detailed journal. There's lots more on his web site including his prolific diaries about how rough life really was at McM during the late 90s winters. Plus he has an excellent illustrated historical glossary featuring all of those buildings at McM that have been torn down over the past few years...
Sarah Kaye: was back, this time to winter as the LAN/WAN specialist. She spent the 99-00, 00-01, and 02-03 summers at Pole in comms and IT (not to mention a winter at McM in 2001). This web site features letters and photos from previous trips...she's also got a mailing list with archives, you can sign up or view them here.
Sean Hufstetler: another IT guy, HAD some good pictures from the year, and stories about his continuing adventures elswhere in Afghanistan and higher places...but now this is a more current blog.

The 2003 w/o's, who left behind pictures, diaries, and video.
Gary Knittel: comms guy with an interest in Jeeps...and a reminder that Tommy Toilet was still around at Pole back then.
Jim Bacon: another one of the comm guys, with some geek stuff, pictures and a blog...(site gone for now)
Moe Madding: was one of the students in Joy Culbertson's HTML class. Of course the result must be a web site. Moe features what may be some of the most amazing Pole video I've seen--an 11½ minute narrated video tour through the new station and down the beer can to the dome! And since then she spent some 2005 winter time at Palmer Station and has more recently been working in China.
Adam Swanson,: another class student, has an interesting montage of art, poetry, and photographs (including some excellent eclipse shots).
Karina Leppik: worked with the AST/RO project...as well as part of the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica program. She's got some great journal entries about the move into the new station and life during the winter
Joy Culbertson: was one of the first 3 cooks to experience working in the new galley. She's got lots of pictures of the place as well as an excellent diary!
Paolo Calisse: the AASTO South Pole Diaries: have been up since 1994, but this year the University of New South Wales w/o is this Italian guy from the University of Rome. This link is Paulo's diary in January 2003, but here you can select his stuff from earlier this season as well as the group who installed "AASTINO" at Dome Concordia. Here is Paolo's older web site which includes the 28 September teleconference with the International Space Station, recorded by Larry Rickard. Paolo has moved on to the UK and is working on the CLOVER project for Atacama, Chile.
Bert's South Pole Page: Robert Schwarz back again! He spent two winters in a row (!) at Pole, 1997 and 1998 (well, with a break) working with the AMANDA project, and he was back for the 99-00 summer. He has an AMAZINGLY extensive collection of pictures including some new ones from this year. This is the link that works...or if not try this one.
Shayne Clausson: was the w/o LAN guy, in his spare (!) time he's been a deejay and otherwise has been documenting stuff. That site is gone, but there are a few articles he wrote for his college alumnni site.
Steffen Richter: is one of the AMANDA (Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array) folks who was back at Pole now for a third winter. HE did it the first time in 1998 and was back for another winter in 2000-01...when he put up some amazing sunrise and medevac pictures plus that infamous medevac video that the FAA hopefully has never seen...
Chris Martin: Chris, AST/RO scientist, was back in 2002-03 for another winter. His site has some good pictures including stuff on his recent move into his new room (with window) as well as an archive of his email newsletters (which you can sign up for)...also some good stuff from his first visit in the 2000-01 millennium summer.
the NOAA CMDL page: with photos, historical and science info, not to mention the webcam.

The 2002 w/o's attempted (with difficulty) to fill the internet with neat stuff...

Sean Kelly and Holly Troy: old friends, originally created the "South Pole Dudes" web site together. Sean was a comm tech, and Holly was a computer guy who didn't winter. Holly rebuilt the site, which now includes pictures from his more recent summers at McM (the Pole stuff is the "2001" stuff from him and Kathrin)
Kris Perry: met guy, had an excellent 2002 which has disappeared, as has his 2004 w/o site :(
Katrin Hafner: the 2002 winter sm, started this page, so far with some fine photos of the ropes course stuff in Colorado...
Henry Malmgren,: w/o lan/wan guy, created this page with dispatches and photos on his winter as a stop on his "world tour" which continued as he ventured around the world...and back to Pole in February 2004 for another winter. He also shared newsletters from Pole on this Yahoo group page
Jon Berry: another comm tech. This is the link you want to see--a new site with more postcards, commentary...videos...did I say videos? Here is his older JPL page with diary and photos from the first part of the winter.
Judith Spanberger: was the construction materials person, and in her spare time she reported for the Antarctic Sun. This detailed account of her winter is a feature article in the 2/2/03 edition, it features many of Jon Berry's photographs.

The 2001 w/os, who experienced the first ever winter medevac and lived to tell the tales....

South Pole Charlie: Kaminski, long-time NASA astronomer at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, was the 1999 CARA infrared telescope (SPIREX) operator. He ran the DASI telescope for the 2001 winter. More recently he's been hired by Raytheon as a science coordinator in Denver...which includes trips south where I finally met him in person in 2005. His updated website has the original version of Jerri Nielsen's best-selling tale, which he wrote in real time, plus new diary entries and photos from the 2001 winter.
Allan Baker: the Sonoma State (CA) physics guy and Raytheon cryogenics tech, has this page on his exploits, including that Foucault Pendulum project. Now he's a full-time RPSC guy keeping track of the polie science techs.
Mary Hogan: was first at Pole as a heavy equipment operator in 1978. She since became a registered nurse and wintered in 2001 where she of course became involved with the Dr. Shemenski medevac. This page gives her story.
John Bird,: ARO guy, and his wife Jennifer have several neat pages of photos...including a unique shot of the dome from a kite flown directly above it!
Jerry Macala: the winter manager, has this unusual page of medevac pictures and fine beer. Aah...
Steffen Richter: wintered for the second time in 2000-01...witnessing (and filming) the first winter medevac in darkness and -95°F temps...he was back in 2002-03.
Jeff Kietzmann,: comms guy, has worked at many parts of the world almost as bleak and isolated as Pole...including Palmer where he spent a couple of austral summers, and McMurdo where he wintered in 2002! He's got some interesting tales, photos and poetry...not to mention his fascinating savethedome.com web site....
Stephen Hudson: was one of two folks working on the one-year SPARCLE (South Pole Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud LIDAR Experiment) project, in a hut at the edge of the Clean Air sector near ARO. Here's his real home page which features some recent pictures from Yukon and NWT.
Mike Town: another SPARCLE guy, has perhaps the most imaginative site I've found. Some of the stuff you see here isn't real, for what you don't see here you have to use your own imagination...
Dana Hrubes: one of the science techs, has a monthly journal with pictures, plus links to all of the science projects he dealt with. Dana's also been to the North Pole, and he's got some great pictures and stories from that end of the world too. (Dana was back for the 2004 and 2005 winters.
Andrea Grant: the other w/o science tech...this is the new address of her Pole page. She has frequent great diary entries and pictures, complete with photos of all of those trash cans in the science building and documentation about what to put in them!
Marc Hellwig: another of the German AMANDA folks, has created a new site, with lots of photos of people and places, finally put his site back. He also has some excellent photos of the station and the science from a previous AMANDA summer. He created the original station virtual tour map that appeared on the Pole official home page (oh well, that is gone), a version is still available here on the UCI AMANDA II site.

Winter 2000...folks who finished up the winter as part of the largest crew in history...

Darryn Schneider: wintered watching the AMANDA project...and he was back on the ice for some of the past few summers so I finally was able to meet him. This is a fresh 2006 incarnation of his web site, which also includes the story of his 1996 winter at Casey and other historical stuff about Wilkes.
Cheryl Humme: one of the 2000 w/o cooks, published her fine collection of photos and commentary from the winter.
Robo Doc Thompson: left Pole quickly to recover from surgery in ChCh for a ruptured disc...something he suffered from for 8 months. He described his pain earlier on his CBS News site, fragments of which are still on line. And a year later, here he discusses the Pole medical jinx.
Kelly Kaletsky: w/o met guy on leave from Dayton, Ohio and his real job at the EPA office there...this is the current address of his web site. Here's a press release about his return from the ice.
Gene Davidson: an Australian, ran the new DASI interferometer, the latest and greatest CARA project to look at the cosmic ray background radiation (CMBR). He did a good monthly diary with lots of pictures...

Winter 1999... a year that put Pole in the public eye...

Lisa Beal: was an IT person at Pole in 1999 when all of the Doc Jerri stuff went down, and she includes her excellent review and commentary on the "Icebound" made-for-TV movie. She also features a couple of excellent presentations on the history of women on the ice, and links to older PolarPals stuff. Lisa also spent time on the research vessels.
Fiddlin' Tom Carlson: the 1999 w/o comms coordinator, except that these days that position is called Senior Electrical/Systems/Engineer....he once had a web site which is gone...this is a page about Scott's Revenge doing bluegrass. Here is another photo of Tom in comms...
Joel's Web Page: Joel Michalski was the NOAA leader for the 1999 winter. He kept up a fascinating diary including lots of photos of the place as was in 1999. His web site is gone, but the diary pages and photos have been archived here, some may still work. He got national news coverage during the airdrop, this is the link to several pages of his photos and commentary on the NOAA web site.
Charlie Kaminski: an astronomer from Hawaii, spent his first winter as the 1999 CARA infrared telescope (SPIREX) operator...and regaling the world with the "Adventures of South Pole Charlie" which he calls "a perhaps different version of "Icebound."
Mike Masterman: was the 1999 w/o occupant of that corner office in the science building, the one with the windows. Not his first winter. Before he became sm, which stands for Site Manager these days, here is what he was doing in 1995 as a cmbr beaker (his article from the New South Polar Times)...and here is what he is up to nowadays.

Winter 1998...ok let's keep going!

Jon Conrad: was the 98 w/o electrician, but that wasn't his only trip to Pole. He has some interesting w/o photos here, and he was back for the summer 99-00 .
Steffen Richter: was one of the two Germans working on AMANDA...along with Robert Schwarz.
Robert Schwarz: was back for his second winter in a row...this is his newly relocated 1997-98 page with lots of pictures.

Other good people and places...

Antarctic Links by Mark Tell: By far the most comprehensive list of Antarctic links I've found is here...Mark wintered at Davis in 2001, he's got an excellent diary, plus he's got links to other Davis folks' journals. A rather old site, but still an excellent link collection.
AASTO: This was that webcam page for the joint Australia-US CARA consortium that runs the AASTO (Automated Astrophysical Site-Testing Lab) among other things. It was a prototype for a future remotely-controlled unmanned plateau observatory. They completed that phase, the AASTO module and telescope mount were moved in January 2004 over near ARO for use by the Vulcan South project which searched for extrasolar planets. Dana Hrubes worked with this project during the 2004 and 2005 wintes. The project was ended in December 2005. This page does include other good stuff including their diary pages from Pole and Dome C for the past 10 years or so. The older AASTO/JACARA page is here, it includes lots of pictures and stories from earlier seasons. Charlie Kaminski watched this project in 1999 in his spare time.
Adventure Network International: invented nongovernmental air travel to the ice--they had to buy their own DC4 in 1987 to demonstrate that year that large wheeled aircraft could land at Patriot Hills. Today they have newer bigger aircraft and you can go too...if the price is right.
Allen Cull: wintered at Palmer in 1979, and he's got some great historical photos, sitreps, and familiar names from the old days at Palmer when they had a BIG glacier. Here you can find out what Dick Wolak and Mike Pavlak ('75 and '78 Pole sm's) REALLY did when they ventured over to Old Palmer! Allen also was a cargoid at McM and Pole in the 80's. So far he's got the record for the "oldest" Antarctic web site I've found, and he's recently added more pictures.
Antarctic Art...: For many years NSF has supported the "Artists and Writers Program" which gives these people the opportunity to create works of art based on the unique Antarctic environment. One of the painters, Lucia deLeiris, has made 3 trips to both sides of the continent, she has many amazing watercolors of the birds, animals, and scenery. Back before the NSF program, Navy artist and officer Standish Backus accompanied Admiral Byrd to the ice in DF-I (1955-56) as an officer, while Robert Charles Haun went along as the Staff Artist of Task Force 43. The Naval Historical Center has put together an expanded web site featuring the DF-1 works of these two men, including lots of sketches and studies (as well as the DF-1 operations summary). Pole has been visited as well--early in the 1960-61 season Arthur Beaumont showed up and did some watercolor work (outdoors, with antifreeze). A bit later, during the 1995-96 season, Kim Stanley Robinson showed up to explore all of those subterranean tunnels that he described in his book Antarctica. Here is the NSF page which describes the program and lists all of the participants with links where available...
Antarctic Connection: Tom and Gloria Hutchings have worked on the ice and at Pole more than once; I met Hutch (not the first time) at Pole during the 2005-06 summer. This site is an excellent online souvenir shop, with many unique and interesting Pole/Antarctic gifts as well as recent news, an extensive page of links to other sites, message boards, and excellent customer service.
Antarctic Philately: Pole person Scott Smith is a major contributor to this site. There's a lot more than stamps here--the site includes an extremely thorough history of Antarctica in general and the American pre-IGY presence in particular.
Antarctic Stations: this is a list by country of over 230 Antarctic stations past and present, with location and historical status. The home page of this Austrian site features many many historical, scientific and tourist links to important Antarctic (and Arctic) places (starting with Pole, of course!) Wanna fly to the Falkland Islands for the weekend? Find out how here!
Astronomy...physics...(updated links): Sooner or later I knew someone would come along and write a good history of some of the science. Here's a 2004 refereed paper by B. T, Indermuehle, Michael Burton, and S. T. Maddison titled "The history of astrophysics in Antarctica" (1.7 mb) and accompanying table of telescopes (27 mb). One source site is this Australian JACARA reference page.
Updated! Beer: is a good thing to have at Pole, sometimes the supply chain works well and sometimes...well...home brewing has been going on for awhile, here is an interesting article by 1996 w/o Jason Dorpinghaus, with some of the finer points of the art.
BOOKS!: I was actually going to do an Antarctic books page once upon a time, but Billy-Ace Baker has put together a much better one--many pages actually, with much detail and commentary. Yes, he actually HAS all of these (but there are a few he hasn't read yet)...here's his home page
CARA: The Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA) WAS the multiproject consortium that operatedmost of the science stuff located across the skiway, from 1990 to 2002. This page is the beginning of their "Virtual Tour" of Pole which features lots of maps, pictures, and links to the science projects
CDR Jim Waldron: was the OIC of the VX-6 detachment that wintered at LA5 in 1956-57. This is a link to where you can read his CDrom book about the experience, including early Deep Freeze days, lots of stories and photos of his winter, and his flights to Pole and elsewhere. Or you can purchase the CD with the complete color photo gallery from this page.
Chris Bero's Frozen Planet: Chris wintered in 1996 running the IR telescope at CARA, and put up quite an impressive web site for 1996...or today for that matter. Have a look at his pictures and email journals. Where is he now? (updated) yes there is life after Pole
Cool Antarctica: Paul Ward wintered with BAS at Signy...that means he was there for TWO years 1985-87. Since then he's created this excellent site with extensive historical information, photos, links, diaries from recent w/o's, not to mention stuff to buy...
Educational sites: I occasionally get asked for recommendations. While I'm prejudiced enough to think all of the links on this page are educational, what follows is a list of sites which are more specifically relevant to kids, lesson plans and K-12 interests. Some of these are older sites and all of the links may not work... "Live from Antarctica 2 from NASA; Scholastic.com lesson plans; Stuff from the Information Please almanac/encyclopedia site; Enchanted Learning Antarctic animal printouts; Antarctic Projects from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Matthew Lazzara's journal from the 2002-03 season with the UW-Madison automated weather station team;
Ferraro Choi: and Associates is one of the design firms that worked on the new station. Here are a couple of construction photos, but the floor plans and most of the better pictures are gone.
New! GARBAGE!: Well, sort of. Since the early 1990's the program has been removing all trash and waste from the continent. Some of it (the food waste and similar junk) is kept frozen intil it is incinerated), but the good stuff like vehicles, old computers, furniture etc., is auctioned off by the salvage contractor each year near Port Hueneme. Watch this space for the next auction schedule.
Gary Brougham: Gary wintered in 1971, he has outdone me with what is the "earliest" w/o web page I've found. He's got some pictures of the place which he changes out from time to time...latest includes the Peter Snow Miller preparing the dome foundations
Glenn Grant: has wintered several times at McMurdo and Palmer, he was back at Palmer for part of the 2003 winter, and again for the 2003-04 summer. Yes, he's visited Pole, and he's created this fantastic literary work, including some great commentary on Doc Betty, medevacs and other events... Palmer... Faraday... those shrinks...
Green Flashes: Andrew Young has compiled more information than anyone might have imagined! He has lots of technical data, photos, animated GIF simulations, and references to what can be seen (so I'm told) from skylab around 21 March and 21 September if it isn't cloudy. Plus some links to Pole sunset pictures by Rodney Marks and others...
(updated) Greg Forte: has some good pictures from his early 99-00 summer visit to deal with SPASE...
ICECUBE: is the next generation of AMANDA, a massive one-cubic-kilometer neutrino detector project costing upwards of $250 million and managed by the UW folks in Madison, Wisconsin. The first of perhaps 80 detector strings was installed in 2004-05.
Images of Antarctica: is friend Seth White's web site. He wintered at McMurdo in 2002-03 as the science tech, and went back in the 2003-04 summer with the Biospherical radiometer project. The 2003-04 trip included a visit to Pole, and this as well as the rest of the web site is filled with a detailed journal and lots of good pictures. In May 2004 he spent two weeks at Palmer, in August 2004 he was at Summit! With camera. Such a job! He returned to Summit briefly (wow! a 2-day visit!) in May 2005, and has since returned to Thule as well as McMurdo with UNAVCO...he spent the first half of the 2006-07 summer there...
Jackie Ronne: of course wintered with her husband Finn at East Base on Stonington Island in 1947. This site has lots of pictures, tales, books, and photos of her visit to Pole on 7 December 1971. She was the eighth woman to visit Pole, and half of the first husband-wife team.
Jason Dorpinghaus: the 1996 materials guy, has this interesting article on beer brewing (complete with recipes) from Brew Your Own magazine.
Photographer Joan Myers: had a grant to go everywhere and take pictures...she has an extensive journal, this is the start of her visit to Pole in November 2002.
Jake Angelo: traveled to McMurdo and Pole in 2002-03 to review the telemedicine equipment...he has an excellent page of pictures here.
Jarvis Belinne: was a 1992 w/o science tech...he's got a few interesting pictures including Doc Betty sorting the midwinter mail, and a unique way to greet the opening flight!
John Jacobsen: has some pictures from the 99-00 season, as well as photos he and Kurt Woschnagg took of AMANDA in January 1997
Joint Arctic Weather Stations (JAWS): were set up by the US and Canada in the late 1940's at such places as Alert, Eureka... these and the early Arctic ice stations, complete with Jamesways, predated the IGY Antarctic program. and many of the Arctic participants later went south. This MSN community has many pictures, messages, and historical information on the message boards.
Juan Reyes: has been on the ice before, but he was at Pole for the first time for the 99-00 summer. His wife back home, Janet Phillips, was the first female Pole sm in 1994, and that story is here too. Janet is a mechanical engineer, she spent 91-92 killing the gremlins that I left behind in the power plant glycol systems.
Keith Dreher: wintered in McM with the Navy in the 80's, and came back again in the 90's, most recently for the 1998 winter with ASA. Among other things, his photo collection includes the formal NSFA decommissioning ceremony at Building 165 in February 1998, and also the Antarctic oil color works of artist David Rosenthal.
Kuno Lechner: is an experienced cameraman who ventured to Pole for the millennium summer (99-00) to document the AMANDA project...among other things he created interactive panoramas of Pole, McMurdo and ChCh. They are found on this page under the heading "South Pole Panoramas." Warning, large files (and they may make you dizzy).
Kym Newberry: was at Mawson for the 2002-03 summer working with a penguin study group--his second trip there, the first winter was 2000. He has fine illustrated collections of illustrated email dispatches from Australia's oldest mainland station, which was originally established during the 53-54 season.
Marc Pomeroy: was at McM for the 99-00 summer, but he's also logged a bunch of time on the research vessels, and he wintered at Palmer in 1997. An older site, but it is well worth checking out his virtual tour of Palmer Station and the interactive boating map!
Marty Lyons: was a comms/computer guy during the 1991-92 summer. What is Marty doing nowadays? Among other things he made a FOURTH (unsuccessful) attempt to get to the North Pole in 2002...hopefully he'll get this new website going soon.
Mike Savage: wintered in 1980 with only 16 others including his future wife. In addition to the group picture outside the front door, this page has links to other members of the group and many other amazing historical pictures. Here's his page with a 1982 shot from D-59 of the tail of 321, before it was dug out and salvaged.
NASA Mike: Mike Comberiate has been involved with Pole comms for many years. I worked with him when we built the comms utilidor and moved antennas in 1989. A few years ago Mike and other SPTR (SP TDRS satellite Relay folks went to the NORTH Pole and made the first phone call from there to the dome...featured on NPR. Here's a "picture" from the funny papers . (Here is his old site which may still be up.)
Updated link... New South Polar Times: Okay, the original site is gone, this is a link to one of those archive sites. Yes, they've saved everything. The Pole stuff here is mostly several years old but still amazing reading! The most recent stuff is from the marine tech on the Gould during the 1998-99 austral summer. BUT there is also an incredible online book by Marty Sponholz who wintered at Plateau in 1966. The preface was written by Rob Flint who wintered at Vostok in 1974. (The NSPT email list is no longer at this location, it has been moved to a home on Yahoo HERE).
NOAA CMDL: has current ozone information and links to the Pole weather archives
NOAA Photo Archive: Included here is the Antarctic section of a MASSIVE library of photos from various times and places, including many interesting Peninsula and sub-Antarctic island places that I have visited (or wanted to)! The photos are not all captioned, but there are many from Pole w/o's Fred Walton (1968), and John Bortniak (1979)
Old Hutmans Association (!): is an organization for former Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) employees...a great many of whom have worked on the ice and at Pole...from IGY up to, well, now. Check out the list of names and photos! This frame is an article from their Spring 2004 newsletter, the home page is here.
Only the lonely: The Pole w/o experience has long been studied by professional and amateur psychologists and others, in part as a step toward figuring out who should winter over, or fly to Mars. This site from UC Santa Cruz tries to get inside 1996 w/o Chris Bero's head.
Paul Siple: Two excellent biographies of the first Pole SSL...the polar philately site features one originally published in the Ice Cap News, and this page from the Weather Doctor site is another. Both describe his life from the "boy scout with Byrd" days at Little America up through his death in 1968.
Pete Furtado: wintered in 1985 in the cargo department, and I worked with him during the later 80's. Some fine photos from that era bring back memories of the place and people!
Polar Philately: This is the introduction page to the Polar Philately Mailing List, which includes some interesting photos and historical information, as well as a link to the list itself. The site is no longer being updated but it has some excellent links and information.
R/V Polar Duke Farewell Tribute: A look back at one of the more pleasant ways to visit Antarctica between 1985 and 1997, with stories, logs, and pictures from some of the more interesting cruises. I made 11 crossings to or from Palmer on this fine vessel. Too bad it couldn't come all the way to Pole!
RADARSAT: 1997 satellite photo images, released in October 1999, from all over the continent. Also "movies" simulating trips by Scott, Byrd and others. This page is presented by NASA (Goddard), the data comes from a Canadian Space Agency satellite, here's the CSA RADARSAT-1 Antarctic main page with the composite photo map of the entire continent and links to many other images. (My copy of the marked-up Pole map released by NSF in 1997 is here)
Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC): in Denver is the NSF support contractor. In addition to the employment pages, the site features science project information, an excellent photo library, other links, and the Antarctic Sun newspaper archives.
Robert Williscroft: a 1982 w/o NOAA guy, has this page of photos on his website, including the fuel bladder fire...and he recently started adding a slide show with new photos.
70 South: A comprehensive site by Brendon Grunewald in Munich...Interactive and updated daily with the latest news and information on and about Antarctica.
Scott Smith Old Pole: Scott wintered at McM, has been at Pole for many summers including 2003-04. This January 1997 page describes a venture to remove hazardous stuff and old fuel from Old Pole. That place is very easy to get lost in; Scott assured me that he used a better map than the one on his site!!
Simon Hart: Simon was from Leeds in the UK. He ran the SPASE array during winter 1996. The "South Pole Air Shower Experiment" is a search for cosmic rays; the original array was a bunch of wooden boxes built in front of the fuel arch in 1987-8. The current project is over in the Dark Sector
Steve Warren: was (and still is) a professor at the University of Washington when he wintered in 1992 studying climatology; this is a short diary from that winter, including tales of airdrop and midwinter camping. Not his first trip to the ice; his 1988 visit is pictured on an Australian postage stamp, one of few Polies to be so honored. More recently in 2000-01 he visited Pole as a PI on the SPARCLE project (here's Stephen Hudson's SPARCLE photo page)
Teachers Experiencing Antarctica: (and the Arctic). This program was run by Rice University and NSF. Until 2005 it sent teachers to the ice to assist in science projects and relate their experiences via diaries and email with classrooms back home. Many of these folks spent time at Pole. This site is an archive, the replacement program "ARMADA," run by the University of Rhode Island, is more global but has a few Antarctic and Arctic projects.
Todd Cardiff: has a unique perspective from the construction side. He was an ironworker/welder who spent the 1996-97 summer piecing the VIPER structure together despite many steel fabrication problems. Now he's in law school...
Tony Hansen: spent time in the Dry Valleys during 2002-03, 2001-02, and 2000-01, and was at Pole for the 96-97 through 98-99 seasons, taking data on pollution inside the garage arch and other places where people work...he has some interesting diaries and streaming videos of...offloading the beer into the old now demo'd freshie shack, among other things. Things have changed, in 1977 we had to get up at 0530 to put it upstairs in the pool room...
Travels with Oso con Migo: Al Oxton never worked at Pole, but he's a friend and good guy anyway! Drill down and find out what really happened at Black Island in the mid 90's (bear with me). What's he up to now? Here's his most recent newsletter...
Updated links...Welcome to the Ice: Robert Holmes worked with AWS's from 1992 thru 1999-2000 so he's been all over the continent. This site hasn't been updated much since then, and more recently he lost his website, but this link is to an archive saved by the Web Archive Project. Not every link works but still it is an amazing resource with news, trivia, reference works , and old stories/links from real OAE's!.
VXE-6: as a squadron was decommissioned in 1999, but there are lots of alumni who have been flying in those 130's and other older aircraft since IGY. They have several good places for amazing pictures from the REAL old days and lots of sea stories...there is Dave Riley's Antarctic Newseum with many strange stories right off the home page. And then there is Billy-Ace Penguin Baker who wintered 4 times, his page features the links to the Polar Times and the OAE mailing list (also on the web) for very salty stuff...well, I was in the Navy for 4 years and can recommend it. And then there are Joe Hawkins' pages which feature many great old ice pictures...check out the OAE section!
William Arens: wintered in 1996 as the CUSP guy, along with Chris Bero. This site has some good photos and facts, not to mention his mohawk picture and his documentation of the October 1996 hammer incident at McMurdo...

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