Geographic South Pole

Every day on my way to the ARO building (ARO stands for Atmospheric Research Observatory, in case I hadn’t mentioned that yet) where I work, I pass the Geographic South Pole. And not just in a distance, no, it is about 1 meter away from the path where I walk on. So I made it a habit to walk around it (and therefore around the world!) at least once a day. The South Pole marker is moved every January 1st because it is fixed in packed snow, not rock or soil. The snow moves over the course of the year (which is why the station is built on stilts), and so the marker moves with it. At the moment it is off by roughly a few meters, I think, and will be newly placed in a few weeks, just on the other side of the walking path to ARO.

It’s funny, the first time I passed the Pole, I stopped and just looked. Got closer and looked some more, and just could not believe that I was at 90°S. Now I walk by and smile at the Pole, like we are old friends and I just came by to say hi. Which is what I do, I mean come by and say hi. At least in my mind, but I think it is kind of cool that I can actually really do that…

Below you see some pictures of the Geographic South Pole (and I point that out so precisely since there is also a Ceremonial South Pole which will be a different post sometime), the Pole marker (which was handcrafted by one of the guys in the smithy here at South Pole), and me next to it. It is true, I am really here! Pay special attention to my clothing: no down jacket, because it would be to warm, but bunny boots, wind-fly pants, face mask, hat and ski goggles. And no, I did not do any pole dancing. Not yet anyway. :)