The 2015 Pole Marker

Pole marker unveiled 1 January 2015
Bigger and better than ever...the Pole marker unveiled on 1 January 2015 (JG)

passing the flag
The first part of the unveiling ceremony...a group of Polies passing the American flag from the old to the new Pole location (MG).
the end of the Polie line passing the flag
A closer view, part way through the flag passing ceremony (JBP).
the end of the Polie line passing the flag
At the end of the line, surveyor Corey Biddle plants the flag at its new location next to the still-un-unveiled new Pole marker (AD).
Bill Coughran revealing the marker
Station manager Bill Coughran does the unveiling (SR).
Bill, Corey, and the marker
Here are Bill, Corey, and the marker from another angle (MA).
Closeup of the marker
From the photo at left, here is a closeup of the marker. The etching (?) of the Antarctic continent on the glass shows up well against the black background (MA).
first unveiling of the 2014 Pole marker
uncensored view

The marker was first unveiled (well, only to the 2014 winterovers) at the sunrise dinner by its designer and fabricator, Canadian machinist Matt Krahn. Even from this obscured view, the huge size of the marker was evident. Now that 2015 has arrived, we can see the uncensored version at right (RC).

another view of the marker
Another view from another angle, showing a bit more of the lettering (AD).
the assembled Polie crowd behind the marker
Another view of the marker and the assembled crowd. The glass used was from an experiment (MG).
yet another look
One more view...(SS)
Marissa photobombs the scene
This was supposed to be a view of the still-veiled marker before the ceremony began...but it was photobombed by Marissa Goerke (MG), the 2015 w/o CUSP research associate. At age 22, I'm thinking she is probably to be the youngest woman to winter, right? (JBP).

Thanks and credits to...summer cook Jase Grimm (JG), Marissa Goerke (MG), w/o mechanic Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin (JBP), assistant manager Andrea Dixon (AD), IceCube winterover Stephan Richter (SR), Spicecore team member Murat Aydin (MA), 2014 SPT winterover Robert Citron (RC), and comms coordinator/cargo person Sheryl Seagraves (SS) for the photos!