Today I finally made it to the Pole!
We had an easy C-130 ride from McMurdo, which lasted about 3 hours. The C130 is very noisy, so you have to wear earplugs the whole time. The view was great; we flew low over the Transantarctic mountains, up some huge glaciers, to the polar plateau. There are some videos posted here:
On the C130, getting ready to leave
Flying low over the Transantarctic mountains (1)
Flying low over the Transantarctic mountains (2)
Look for the shadow of the airplane in those mountain shots!
Sorry about the shaky video of the Pole arrival… I wasn’t sure the camera was on, and it was a bit cold! -35F or so… I wasn’t sure the camera was going to survive for long. 🙂
Update 11/20: I finally downloaded some photos from my camera. Below are two from the C130 ride – one of me in my seat, and the other of the seating area to give you an idea of what it looks like – we’re all in our cold weather gear, sitting in those nice comfy red web seats… not exactly first class, but much better than walking!
The Pole is high (9500ft or so, with a higher pressure altitude) and very dry (2% humidity), so I’m taking it easy the rest of today, getting acclimated. Tomorrow I’ll head out to the telescope… we plan to start warming the receiver and pull it down off the telescope to start working on it.
Stay warm!