Hero Shots

Everyone who makes it to the South Pole - be it by skiing in, or just hitching a flight to work on station - wants a picture with the pole. There are actually two poles - the "ceremonial" candy striped one surrounded by the flags of all nations who signed he Antarctic Treaty, and the real pole, a bare metal rod, which moves relative to the station by about 10m every year. (Actually, it might be more reasonable to say that the station moves relative to the pole, since it - along with the glacier it rests upon - is fairly rapidly slipping off the continent.)

The Hero Picture is a hallmark of Antarctic Travel. Everyone has to pose with the pole, or with their telescope, or something - to prove they were here. I haven't yet done my photo shoot with the pole, but since station close was rapidly approaching, all wakeful members of SPT decided to have a photo shoot on the telescope. We all climbed up on the secondary support (the arm that holds stuff out in front of the large dish), and posed for a group photo. It's hard to tell from a distance, but up close and personal, the 10m really is a big machine.