[photo by Nick Powell, Antarctic Photo Library]

NEWS

Oh...on 8 January, Leidos was officially offered a 1-year extension for the Antarctic Support Contract...to expire on 30 September 2027. I've found no word on what might be happening with the new contract request for proposals...it was administratively closed on 30 September 2025, a day before the US government shutdown.

Shipping updates...yes, the Polar Star is working on the channel to Winter Quarters Bay...at right, a photo of the crew shared on 17 January on the Polar Star Facebook page. It's the vessel's 50th year of service...I saw both it and the Polar Sea while on a Los Angeles harbor cruise in 1976...but can't find that photo. Otherwise, the tug Rachel towing the barge pier stopped at Pago Pago for a day around the 13th and is now headed to Lyttelton, ETA the 27th. The tanker Stena Polaris after leaving Cape Town, is just north of Ross Island...will they offload using the ice pier? Meanwhile, the cargo vessel Plantijngracht picked up the mobile causeway that the Fairwind Legion delivered to Port Hueneme from Yokosuka/Yokohama, and headed for Lyttelton on the 7th, ETA there: the 27th (16 January gCaptain article about the Plantijngracht's activity). That article notes that this vessel is Dutch-flagged, but no US vessels were technically acceptable to the MSC's procurement activity. Thanks to Robert Bohner for the updates.

Meanwhile...SPoT 2 (the heavy science traverse) made it to Pole, and as of 17 January SPoT 3 is heading south. Will it encounter Colin O'Brady who is reportedly making his way up the Reedy Glacier? He reports that glacier is riddled with crevasses, and he's running short of food. My NGO traverse updates.

The first Herc showed up on 4 November, and crowds of folks began streaming in. That includes 30+ IceCube folks on site as of late November, as this season they'll be drilling holes for 7 new strings with upgraded instrumentation. Here's the IceCube upgrade report from the end of the 2024-25 season. Other science projects will get maintenance and upgrades...the cosray, er, neutron monitor platform will be raised, and a seismic project out of Stonybrook University will again venture into the field to install, monitor for 4 weeks, and remove portable seismic station nodes roughly between Pole and the Transantarctic Mountains. The 4 deploying team members will be supported by Arctic Trucks and will be housed with them at the ALE "tourist camp." Here's an old news article about their 2023-24 work. As for the Pole station itself, there will be extensive ice tunnel work involving the water and sewer systems.

The first South Pole Traverse left town on 5 November, by now it has turned the corner, now headed south at an elevation of 8000 feet. It's bringing not only a lot of fuel, but main cable assemblies for the IceCube Upgrade, snowmobiles, and...two wheel loaders! Photo at left from traverse member Colin Wedwick...and another photo of the loaders at Pole with more info.

Related news elsewhere...the Polar Star left Seattle on 20 November US time...headed for its first stop at Pearl Harbor on its way south. Here's a related Stars and Stripes article. Waiting at McMurdo is...an ice pier, with cracks, and unsuitable for ship offload. It will be used to support the tanker visit before being gotten rid of...replaced by the mobile pontoon causeway. Speaking of...the Ocean Giant was at Naha, Okinawa this week picking it up. NOT! Wrong news.

Other related news...the tourist season hasn't really started yet, but many travelers are making their way to Pole on skis from various parts of the continent. My updated coverage for this season is here.

And the isolation ended! On 28 October a Basler from McMurdo brought new folks and more freshies! The summer season is underway! Right, a photo from Sheryl Seagraves.

24 October...station opening is imminent...perhaps tomorrow! The first transiting aircraft, a Basler, showed up on the 14th...and a later aircraft brought lots of freshies! And earlier this month, the opening of Palmer Station brought the last visit of the Nathaniel B. Palmer.

As for other things floating, the barge pier was launched on Saturday morning 25 October in Portland, Oregon...open to the public, per the updated video link on this page. As for larger things floating...there's a deal with Finland and several shipyards to construct up to 11 icebreakers...three by Davies in Galveston, four by Bollinger in Houma, LA...and 4 in Finland. President Trump issued a proclamation authorizing their construction outside of the US. Further details in this 9 October Reuters report, and this 9 October Substack article by Peter Rybski (follow him for more updates). Alas, these are all "Arctic Class" vessels...the Polar Class vessels aren't scheduled to be completed before 2030...a sad tale addressed in this Wikipedia article, which has a number of excellent references.

And perhaps new ski aircraft as well? This 1 October TWZ.com article notes that funds may be reprogrammed to begin developing the plans for new LC-130s.

Spring is coming...at Pole there's a brightening light on the horizon, and the window covers have been removed. And for McMurdo, Winfly began on 19 August...and then stopped for 2 weeks due to a broken C-17 and a delay in getting the needed replacement parts. Flights picked up again on 5 September...not sure when the evolution will finish.

From last summer, but just recently publicized...in 2024 new South Pole Traverse modules were fabricated in Colorado, shipped to McMurdo on sealift, and assembled there in January! (left) More info and photos...

Also...another update from last summer...more photos of the 2025 South Pole Marker!

Another medevac from McMurdo...the second in 6 months. The RNZAF Herc brought out 3 people...one requiring urgent medical care, and two others who also needed medical attention. The evolution was completed on 6 August. Coverage from the New Zealand Defence Force, and from ABC News.

Hope you had a happy Midwinters Day! The folks at Pole sure did...the celebratory dinner and other festivities were held on 20 June (right).

8 June...I've posted the first update to my coverage of the contract rebid...the proposal has been amended, and Leidos has reemphasized that the contract does not fit into their company's strategy. This and future updates here.

On 30 May NSF issued its fiscal 2026 budget request. Lots of cuts to science research, and some interesting discussion about future major construction and maintenance projects at Pole and elsewhere. Here is my link to it and my preliminary review. Perhaps the most surprising bit of info in the budget request is the imminent retirement of the Nathaniel B. Palmer.

Back to news about the US Antarctic program...despite some announcements adding doubt, the new steel barge pier for McMurdo is nearing completion (left--a late June photo)...and there are new updates!

And....the solicitation for the new Antarctic support contract (my coverage) was issued on 9 May. Will it get awarded before the current contract with Leidos expires on 30 September 2026? Or will there even be a need for a contract by then. Stay tuned. The submittal deadline was 28 July, but there have been no updates since then.

The strangest and saddest Antarctic news of late comes from South Africa's SANAE IV station...where one of the nine winterers was accused of physical assault. Here is an 18 March BBC news article, as well as their 21 March article titled "Inside the Antarctic research base: 'entitled men, endless beer'".Hmm. The latest news is that the South African program has no plans now to get people in or out. The station is south of Africa and hard to get to...while it is only 120 miles from Troll station (Norway) which has a summer runway that handles large commercial aircraft, land travel between the stations is rare and difficult, as is flying directly into SANAE which doesn't really have much of an ice airstrip. Most likely if intervention is necessary, a vessel such as South Africa's SA Agulhas II would approach and access the station with helicopters. Currently that vessel isn't scheduled to make the trip to SANAE until December.

News from NSF...for a time they were prevented from sending out news and social media updates, but they've been able to start again. This week they announced this page "NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders" which they updated at least through June.

I must mention my page describing the Antarctic nongovernmental ventures from this past season, as well as announcement about a possible transglobal helicopter venture over both Poles scheduled for early 2026. And a reminder about the FRAM2 circumpolar SpaceX scientific mission, passengers include Australian polar guide Eric Philips, currently scheduled for launch on 31 March South Pole and Australia time per this mission countdown page. Info: the mission website and this Wikipedia article.

Shipping stuff...the last cargo ship to arrive at McMurdo was the Ocean Gladiator, which showed up on 20 February. After offloading cargo, one bit of retrograde was Ivan the Terra Bus, which is on its way to the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch. Ivan had been delivered to McMurdo on the 1994 sealift vessel. Photo at right from Michael Christiansen. After all the cargo operations were completed, the pontoon causeway was picked up and loaded aboard the vessel, which departed on 2 March. Here is a 28 February gCaptain article describing the 2025 sealift operations, which couldn't have come off without the participation of the Polar Star icebreaker...with thanks to Chris Rock. Also, a 14 March Maritime Executive article summarizing this year's sealift activity and depicting Ocean Giant's arrival at Port Hueneme on 12 March.

Yes, summer is over! The last LC-130 left Pole on 15 February, leaving behind 41 winterovers! Er...no. Well, that was the last Herc flight...but it left behind a few summer folks, mostly with Kenn Borek Air (KBA). And when the last KBA flight left Pole heading to Rothera and points Canadian on 28 February, there was a late addition to the winterover crew, which now numbers 42!

A bit behind on updates for various reasons...but let's catch up. First...shipping stuff at McMurdo. In addition to the icebreaker Polar Star, the Ocean Giant showed up on 26 January...its first task was to offload and assist in assembly of the mobile pontoon causeway, before offloading 380 pieces of cargo (left, photo by Marie Morrow, MSC, from this 12 February maritime-executive news article). Immediately after Ocean Giant's departure, the New Zealand Navy vessel Aotearoa arrived from Devonport Naval Base (Auckland's North Shore) after it had stopped at Geelong, Australia where it picked up over a million gallons of diesel fuel for McMurdo (no separate tanker this year). It also delivered cargo for the NZ and US programs (right, photo posted by the New Zealand Defence Force).

McMurdo medevac! In mid-February a 60-year-old contract worker (who was a 20 year ice veteran) suffered a massive heart attack in the galley...full cardiac arrest! After severe medical efforts he was stabilized and prepared for medevac, which happened around 13 February. In hospital in Christchurch, he received two stents and walked out of the hospital days later. Two articles...one from the Wyoming National Guard (which was involved) and another from County 10, a Fremont County (east of Jackson) news site.

Other stuff I'll get to on this page...major IceCube preparations for the Upgrade drilling to happen next summer...and for now, the visit of the Chilean president to Pole, as well as the Navy Seabee deployment to McMurdo and Pole.

And in other icebreaking news, despite the continuing delays in the construction of new icebreakers in the Polar Security Cutter Program first delivery delayed until at least 2030 (13 January National Defense magazine article)...the Coast Guard HAS acquired a "new" icebreaker. The USCGC Storis (left) joined the fleet in January, although months of modifications must happen before it will go into service. The first modification, as evidenced in the photo, was a new paint job. The vessel was formerly the icebreaking offshore supply vessel Aiviq constructed in 2012 for Shell's Alaska offshore work. More information and source of the photo: this 6 January 2025 gCaptain article. Meanwhile, the only US operational heavy icebreaker Polar Star has been sighted at work offshore of McMurdo and can frequently be seen in the USAP webcams.

Some older items of interest (other old news is in the archive):

WIRED magazine has a 2002 feature article (archive)on Jerry Marty, Carlton Walker, and the station construction in the July 2002 issue. Read about the settlement problems...why the place wasn't considered fit for occupancy for the 2002 winter.

Pole land cargo traverses in the works...in October 2002 NSF flew a specially equipped D8 from Christchurch to McMurdo aboard a C17...this equipment was be used to prepare a road south towards the Leverett Glacier, eventually hopefully to Pole. This is to augment the LC-130 flights for station construction cargo as well as for ICE CUBE and forthcoming science projects. More information...

Another new science project...in 2002 a 10-meter submillimeter telescope (up from 8 meters!) that will search for new galaxy clusters and study dark energy. Plans were to attach it to the DSL (dark sector lab) University of Chicago press release. It was originally scheduled to have a ground shield that is larger than the Dome (built by Temcor, the same company that built the dome...). The telescope was completed in 2006-07, and the huge ground shield was eventually cancelled.

On 8/13/02 NSF had a meeting with potential contractors and suppliers for a possible fiber optic cable to Dome C. Yes, you read that right (archived news article). Since Pole is way below the horizon for the commercial geosynchronous satellites, one option is to run a cable about 1050 miles to the newly constructed French/Italian Concordia Station at Dome C. (This station is scheduled for full-time occupancy next winter.) The project calls for several years of studies and trials, with the actual stuff involving traverses to get the cable to Pole and Dome C as well as along the route.

Back in mid March 2002 two other iceberg events happened. First, there was another piece of the Thwaites Ice Tongue (75°S-108°W) about 2100 square miles (Guardian article and archived NOAA press release) which got designated B22. And then there was the collapse of another hunk of the Larsen ice shelf east of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Larsen Ice Shelf B disintegrated within the past couple of months, as evidenced by archived photos and animations from the NSIDC in Boulder, which also has links to other coverage. The BBC has an excellent article about both events.

The venerable New South Polar Times mailing list moved to a home on Yahoo, thanks to 2001 w/o science tech Andrea Grant. There have been no posts in the past few years, but the archived posts are here.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) had a major feature on the Pole construction in their December 2000 magazine, including articles by Frank Brier and Jerry Marty. That section is no longer online, although I did archive the original article by Dennis Berry and Forrest Braun (BBFM Engineers, Anchorage) which features the details of foundation design and the jacking systems.

Here is the link to my 1999 Doc Jerri medevac coverage. The spectacular April 2001 medevac flight to Pole is covered here. And my archive of other news, links to press releases, and older media coverage is here.

Other Antarctic news sites...

Explorersweb and its newer offshoot Pythom have been covering exploration news ever since the early 2000's. The sites were originally created by Tom and Tina Sjogren, the "Wearable" expedition folks that trekked to Pole in 2001-02. During the past year the sites have been relaunched...at present (July 2018) it appears that the Pythom.com site is covering primarily space and science news, while Explorers Web continues to cover climbing, water, and polar expeditions, although one needs to use the search bar to locate specific coverage. The Sjogrens are still involved with the site.

Brendon Grunewald's old 70 South news site later evolved into the Polar Conservation Organisation , but that site also seems to have disappeared.

The Antarctic Sun was extremely prolific...until it wasn't...of late. The editor through July 2015 was friend Peter Rejcek, a 2004 Polie winterover. (archive). He's currently a traveling freelancer; some of his work can be found on singularityhub. The more recent editor, also a friend, is Michael Lucibella. Sun archives (which I've collected and may put up someday) run back to 1996-97, the final year when the McMurdo newspaper was a Navy publication, the Antarctic Sun Times. Before then in the old days it went by other names....here is that story.

 NZ Antarctic Philately pages by Steven McLachlan (archive). The news page features many current events through 2006, including many pictures from the various private expeditions at Pole. He also has information on the 99-00 cruises of the Polar Duke south of NZ in support of German and Italian science projects, 98-99 construction of the new base at Dome C...

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) published biweekly newsletters on NGA (private) expeditions, cruises and tourist events. Unfortunately this was discontinued in May 2003, and the archives are no longer available. But they do feature a separate news page for the official Australian program.

The NSF Polar Programs (PLR) page contains links and a search engine. Most recent press releases are also here, scroll to the bottom.

The rest of the story... can now be read online or offline in the newsletter of the Antarctican Society. Highly recommended. Here is the latest contact info as well as the historical background about the group.

Weather information...  has been moved to a separate page.

About the satellites...has also been moved to a separate page.

SPORTS (?!)

The 2025 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM 27) was held in Milan, Italy, between 23 June-3 July. Once again I saw absolutely NO American media coverage...one news article I saw indicated that there was only one American delegate, but the official list of participants lists 11 people, 6 on-site and 5 virtual. ?? They didn't actually submit much--only one paper which was an administrative update on the US role as the depositary government for the treaty system. Several papers I found of interest (Word documents): a draft management plan for the wreck of the Endurance in the Weddell Sea; completion and commissioning of the new Vostok station; Scott Base redevelopmment and delays; proposed modernization of Troll Research Station; graffiti on the hangar at Whalers Bay, Deception Island; and a replacement for the German research vessel Polarstern. The home page for the meeting, which links to all the documents, is here. The next meeting is in May 2026 in Hiroshima, Japan.

Nowadays there are a number of commercial marathon/ultramarathon ventures in the Antarctic...most commonly sought out by people who want to complete a marathon on all seven continents. I've updated these listings in July 2022.

• The oldest such event--the Antarctica Marathon is actually held on King George Island, just off the Antarctic Peninsula, and participants get there by starting in Buenos Aires, flying to Ushuaia, and thens by ship to KGI. For 2026 there are again two separate (and sold-out) 2-week package events (and two races) in March, including several days in Buenos Aires. The first such event was on 28 January 1995; two 2024 events also happened in March. There were over 300 participants in both events not including folks stationed on KGI...the first event also included a 50k. The course starts and ends at Bellingshausen Station (the Russian base) and passes several other bases. It is organized by Marathon Tours & Travel in Boston; 2026 event registration ex Buenos Aires cost start at $10,280 per person double occupancy ex Buenos Aires.
  
  
• At Union Glacier (UG), the twentieth Antarctic Ice Marathon, will be held on 13 December 2025 at Union Glacier, for a cost of $22,500 ex Punta Arenas. There's also a half-marathon. In 2024 there were 80 participants...and there were also 50k and 100k events. Richard Donovan, former race director, (Wikipedia article) was the winner of the first such event, the only NGO marathon held at Pole, in January 2002). The 2022 marathon or half could be booked for a mere $19,500 ex PA. This event has been held annually at PH/UG annually beginning in January 2006...but there actually have been nineteen such events through 2024 staged and/or supported by ANI/ALE--(skipping the 2020 pandemic year)--the first one was staged to finish at Pole on 21 January 2002...there were five finishers in that event, and no small amount of controversy (my coverage). The controversy resulted in a hiatus in what had been planned to be an annual event. In 2011, organizer Richard Donovan participated, with a 100 mile run in 24:35:02, and he completed the 100k in 2017 with a time of 21:05:34.
  
  
• Another event, also on King George Island, is the eleventh White Continent Marathon (with a half-marathon and 50k), which has happened since 2012-13 with a pandemic hiatus in 2020-21. Sponsored by Minneapolis-based Marathon Adventures, it includes return flights between PA and KGI and a day of camping on KGI either before or after the race. This year the flight window is 6-13 December, and the schedule includes a second marathon in Punta Arenas. The price starts at $14,350 double occupancy ex PA, including PA hotel nights, camping and meals in Antarctica, some meals in PA, and a Torres Del Paine tour. in 2024 there were 37 total participants.
  
  
• Another one out there is the the Last Desert ship-based ultra; this is one of the racingtheplanet ship-based events, total distances can range between 50-250 km. Their first event was the first "Gobi March" in 2003; the first "Last Desert" (Antarctica) event was in 2006 when 15 runners completed the first ever 100-mile (160 km) race on King George Island, Deception Island, and at Esperanza, the Argentine base located on Hope Bay at the north end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Since then the event has a total of 250 km at six different sites around the Peninsula, selected based on weather conditions. Each stage is a loop of varying length that runners had to complete as many times as they could under the time limit (or until the stage was ended due to weather). In past races, the winning rank was determined on how early one completes 250 km on the various stages. Accommodations will be aboard the M/V Plancius for 10 nights. Oh, one other thing...potential participants must have first completed two of the other 4 Deserts events (Gobi March, the Atacama Crossing, the Sahara / Namib Race or the RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon) before being permitted/invited to participate in the Antarctic events. In the 2024 event there were 53 participants Ex Ushuaia cost not including Ushuaia hotels/food for 2026is $13,900.
  
  
• A new promotion in 2015 was the Antarctic portion of the Triple 7 Quest--which actually promised seven marathons on seven continents in seven days (!). Needless to say, Mother Antarctica intervened...their flight to the KGI marathon site on 14 February boomeranged 20 minutes before landing, and the participants didn't make it there until the 16th...the race was the next day. The last listed event was for January 2023 called the Triple 8 Quest (adding Auckland)..don't know if that race series happened...the event is apparently now defunct.
  
  
• There is another active another "7 marathons in 7 days" package venture out there--the World Marathon Challenge. It is back post-COVID ...the races happen at Ultima Oasis camp (near Novo), Cape Town, Perth, Dubai, Madrid, Fortaleza (Brazil) and Miami between 31 January and 6 February. Participants need to be in Cape Town by 228 January 2026. The cost of $49,500 includes all flights except to Cape Town and from Miami, and some food and accommodations. It first happened in January 2015, with 12 full and half marathon participants. There was no event in2024, but in 2023 there were 47 participants, 30 from the US. This is organized by Runbuk, who also manage the Antarctic Ice Marathon (above) as well as other races in the Arctic and around the world.
  
  
• The apparently defunct Maraton Antartica (archived site), organized by a Chilean company, was to be its second year in 2014. That event was to have been on 28 February, but apparently it didn't happen, nor, apparently, did the one scheduled for 1 March 2015, which still appears on the website archive. It was also to be on KGI, including full and half marathons and a 10k--the next one is on 1 March 2015. The announced price was US$3,400 ex PA, including the flight to KGI, the same-day race, and a same-day return to PA. They were planning on a maximum of 60 registrants; as of late November there were only 5. In 2013 there were about 20 participants in the 3 events, most of whom were from Chile (there were 2 Australians, no North Americans). That race was on 28 February, the day after the aborted White Continent Marathon...and it was also cut short by weather, with no marathon finisher.
  
  

As for nongovernmental visitors to Pole, the 2011-12 season was the biggest ever for Pole, as it had been the centennial year of Amundsen's and Scott's arrival at what has been called an "awful place." But folks continue to show up. There are two principal tourist operators--flights from Punta Arenas to Union Glacier and beyond are operated by Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) (which has now fully assimilated Adventure Network International/ANI). ALE continues to be actively booking tourists. The other operation is based out of the airstrip at Novo (Novolazarevskaya), a Russian base which is served by flights from Cape Town. It has been operated by Antarctic Logistics Centre International (ALCI), which did not in itself offer tour services, but rather worked with other tour agencies such as White Desert, which has established a tourist destination "Whichaway Camp" near Novo (no, nowhere near the Whichaway Nunataks) with penguin colonies and mountains nearby. TAC also operates its "Oasis" guesthouse--the only hard-roofed commercial base on the Antarctic continent, about 10 miles from Novo at Schirmacher Oasis. TAC does not do bookings directly...one option for a stay at the Oasis Guesthouse is offered by Icetrek...€30,000 ex Cape Town. Novo is a 3000m blue ice runway originally built by ANI near the Russian Novolazarevskaya base, in the past it was known as Blue One, and on some maps you may see it designated as "White Desert." Perhaps the most serious travel agent booking Pole trips is the Chicago-based company Polar Explorers...they are booking trips to Pole via PA/Union Glacier starting at around US$51,250 ex PA.

My updated records of the nongovernmental expeditions (skiers/hikers/kiters/drivers/sledders etc...) back to 1995 is here. Remember, this website is the only one that has been continuously covering them since 1999 so I have all the archived links.

For now, go here for the 1999-2000 ventures. Note that the 1999-2000 Russian "Millennium Expedition" (skydiving/ballooning) is covered on a separate page.