Chilean president Boric (with black beard to the right of the Pole marker) and other members of the delegation.
Chilean government photo from this 9 January 2025 Wikinews article (link to usage license).
Gabriel Boric, the President of Chile, made a historic trip to Antarctica 2-4 January, including several hours at Pole on the 4th! The trip was a part of "Operation Polar Star III"the Chilean initiative to reaffirm Chile's claim to Antarctic sovereignty, which had been in the planning stages for the previous year. The group included Chile's Defense and Environment ministers, the 3 chiefs of staff of the armed forces, and the director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (Inach) Gino Casassa.
The trip began when President Boric and some of his entourage flew to Punta Arenas on a Chilean Air Force Boeing 767...they then flew to Union Glacier (site of Chile's summer Union Glacier scientific station, co-located with ALE's camp) aboard a Gulfstream G-IV jet (left. a view of the jet and some of the party at Union Glacier, from this afterburner.com.pl page). That page depicts detailed routes of both the presidential party and the Black Hawk helicopters from Chile to Pole (larger view of routes). [I've seen references that the president flew to Union Glacier aboard a military C-130, and that BAS was involved. ??] The trip to and from Pole included 2 Chilean Black Hawk helicopters and two Twin Otters.
Below: two views of one of the helicopters landing at Pole:
by Andrea Dixon,
and by IceCuber Ilya Bodo.And more photos by Ilya Bodo:
One of the helicopters on deck near the skiway with the Chilean
Albrecht Karle (pointing) explains IceCube to the Chilean presidentThe group spent about 2 hours at Pole, after which they returned to Punta Arenas via Union Glacier.
Several news articles about President Boric's trip, with photos: from the BBC, from UPI, from CNN, and from the Chilean government website.
