The South Pole...S

Did you know that there are multiple "South Poles"? It's kind of confusing. First, there is the ceremonial South Pole, which can be seen from the windows of the galley (dining hall) in South Pole Station.

Then there is the geographic South Pole, which can be seen out a different window from the galley. This pole shifts slightly each year since we are on a moving ice sheet. Each New Year's Day, as I understand it (I will post about it when the time comes!), there is a ceremony that everyone here participates in wherein the new geographic pole is marked with a new marker that was designed by the previous year's winter-over crew. (About 40 people spend the winter at South Pole each year; fewer people have done this than have climbed Mount Everest. Seems like it would be an amazing experience.)

There's also a geomagnetic South Pole, which is hundreds of miles away and all wonky. I don't even understand that.

So on my first day off (I have Sundays off this month; things will shift as my job responsibilities rotate; more on that later) a bunch of us bundled up (it was about -40F, with a windchill of about -60...so, cold!) and went out to visit the two poles that are right here at the station. The pole in the ground is the actual geographic South Pole as it was on January 1, 2014.

This shows the Pole marker with the elevated station that we all live in in the background.

And then we walked over to the ceremonial Pole. I don't have any pictures other than this because at this point my camera froze. It started working again about an hour after I came back inside and it thawed out! Will have to keep my outdoor photo opps short and sweet, I guess!