![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillThere's an interesting article about it in the New York Times blog here.
We're coming up on the 100th anniversaries of some famous expeditions to the South Pole and apparently some companies are selling tours of various sorts--be flown to the south pole on that day, be flown to within a few miles of the South Pole and ski in, some people are going to ski the exact route, some people are going to *race* each other along those routes. Not my thing, but whatever.
I certainly understand the desire to climb a mountain, the desire to canoe a river, the desire to go to the wilderness to seek the silence that fills up the heart.
There are, however, two things that people should keep in mind about these particular expeditions.
One, the South Pole is not a playground. It is not even a normal wilderness. It is "a place that wants you dead."
Yes, we have better equipment than the early explorers, yes, that includes GPS, satellite phones and rescue planes--but that may not matter. You can get weather at the south pole that makes it completely impossible that any plane can come for you and that bad weather can last for days.
You could die, like Robert Scott died, freezing by inches in your tent only a few miles from the supplies that could save your life.
If you're not okay with that, don't go.
Two, there is a scientific outpost at the South Pole, the Amundsen Scott Research Station. The scientists are there to work. Their work is more important than your play, no matter how much you paid. Do not interfere with it. Do not expect them to entertain you; do not expect them to make you comfortable; do not expect them to keep you safe. And, by all that you consider important in your life, do not get into trouble somewhere they might have to squander their slim resources, intended for doing science, to haul your skylarking ass to safety.
Die somewhere where it's not their problem.
If you're not okay with that, don't go.
Aside from that, it's a free country, if you feel like spending 40K to go to the South Pole, (shrug) knock yourselves out.
We're coming up on the 100th anniversaries of some famous expeditions to the South Pole and apparently some companies are selling tours of various sorts--be flown to the south pole on that day, be flown to within a few miles of the South Pole and ski in, some people are going to ski the exact route, some people are going to *race* each other along those routes. Not my thing, but whatever.
I certainly understand the desire to climb a mountain, the desire to canoe a river, the desire to go to the wilderness to seek the silence that fills up the heart.
There are, however, two things that people should keep in mind about these particular expeditions.
One, the South Pole is not a playground. It is not even a normal wilderness. It is "a place that wants you dead."
Yes, we have better equipment than the early explorers, yes, that includes GPS, satellite phones and rescue planes--but that may not matter. You can get weather at the south pole that makes it completely impossible that any plane can come for you and that bad weather can last for days.
You could die, like Robert Scott died, freezing by inches in your tent only a few miles from the supplies that could save your life.
If you're not okay with that, don't go.
Two, there is a scientific outpost at the South Pole, the Amundsen Scott Research Station. The scientists are there to work. Their work is more important than your play, no matter how much you paid. Do not interfere with it. Do not expect them to entertain you; do not expect them to make you comfortable; do not expect them to keep you safe. And, by all that you consider important in your life, do not get into trouble somewhere they might have to squander their slim resources, intended for doing science, to haul your skylarking ass to safety.
Die somewhere where it's not their problem.
If you're not okay with that, don't go.
Aside from that, it's a free country, if you feel like spending 40K to go to the South Pole, (shrug) knock yourselves out.
