(Scroll down to see five new photos.) Translation from voicemail: Hello it’s Chris, Team 3 Below Zero. It is Monday, January 20th. And we thought we would bring you up to speed on the last couple days since we arrived at the South Pole.
So yesterday we had a great opportunity to get a tour of South Pole station. It was quite a privilege to get inside there and see some of the inner workings. And we really enjoyed that opportunity. And then later in the day we actually got to fly back to Union Glacier. Which is the location of where we started, where we initially landed in Antarctica.
It’s about a five and a half hour flight in a Twin Otter airplane that actually covered most of the route that we we’re on. So it was kinda cool to be able to see that. And it was a clear day so we could see really well especially when we were getting close to Union Glacier where you come through this whole chain of mountains. It was really quite spectacular.
How much tp we had when we finished, half a paper towel!
They had a great feast waiting for us. At the front is lewis clark and his guide carl. Behind lewis is juan who biked unsupported to the pole. Across from juan is another ale guide, devon, who had guided two clients who already left.
So at the table you have:
Youngest to the pole
First unsupported unguided bike to the pole
First unsupported unguided american couple to the pole!
And on the way, actually, the Twin Otter can only go about two and a half hours and it needs to be refueled. So it, we stopped kind of in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica where they had cached a bunch of fuel barrels. And you basically stop, and the pilot gets out and pumps, you know, the fuel from these barrels, with a simple kind of mechanical pump thing, into the plane. Then you take off again.
We arrived around 11:30 p.m. and actually, we were greeted by the folks here with a really awesome gourmet dinner for the five of us who were on the plane. A three course meal, complete with champagne. It was really quite awesome.
And then, about 1:30 a.m. in the morning, it was time to go to bed and Marty and I decided since they have showers here we better have our first hot shower, and it turned out there was no hot water. So we had a lukewarm/cold first shower. But it was still, felt pretty good.
So this is how you refuel when flying back from the pole. A bunch of barrels in the middle of antarctica. No one there. Just land and the pilots pump fuel right from the barrel.
Incredible flight back!
In other news Marty and I weighed ourselves today and well. Marty lost about twenty two pounds. I lost about fifteen pounds. And we each had gained about 12 to 15 before the trip so that’s pretty good. We took inventory of our toilet paper, paper towels we were using. We had one quarter of a sheet left. So I think we got there just in time.
We will likely be flying to Chile tomorrow sometime, weather permitting. So that’s exciting. And we’re basically eating like crazy and laying around and try to absorb the full effects of our expedition. So we will send more reflections in next time. Thanks a lot for following along and we’re enjoying ourselves. All right, bye.
