The Pole Souls

The first part of our group arrived at South Pole on October 30, 1976 on the opening flights. The rest of us showed up sometime during the busy hectic summer. Finally on February 14, 1977 all of the summer folks and airplanes went away and left the 21 of us alone for 9 months. Here is a glimpse of life, science and fun back in the days when the dome was shiny and new, and such modern Pole features as PC's, real-time internet connections, CD's, videos, digital cameras, big crowds, recycling, state-of-the-art astronomy, and female winterovers had never existed... Our story: WHO we are, including a 1999 look at our picture on the library wall How we got there part 1 How we got there part 2...MCMURDO! The USARP Chalet NEW! Great God...the great fire welcomes us to Pole! More early summer scenes--airplanes and those psychologists! Surveying the South Poles The Ceremonial Pole and that silvered ball around the dome It's...cosmic, man Around the dome on the inside Turkey Day Christmas and New Years Jumping out of airplanes over Pole and the air operations continue Old Pole...the cold and dark side of the skiway More secrets from OLD Old Pole The end of summer, visiting 917, cleaning up, and closing the station After closing flight, the reality sets in and we go back to work.... Sunset and life after dark Saturday night at the movies Power and water Club 90 South under the UV lights A winter visit to clean air We ham it up a bit Midwinter's days and a bad break... Scenes of snow, sky and outer space Winter life and times and sounds from the Gastil archives Lee's burger joint The 300 club Here comes the sun and two audio clips from Skylab... Pole people Preparing the skiway Opening flight with audio from comms...and final departure Penguins and chilling out in New Zealand Gary