"It was negative forty-five degrees Fahrenheit at the South Pole on the morning of November 4th, 2023, when I departed Williams Field, a runway of compacted snow sitting on around ten feet of sea ice. I was one of fourteen passengers on a Basler propeller ski-plane, one of the few aircraft that can safely land and take off in the extreme temperatures typical of the beginning of the austral summer."
"I found myself distracted by the thought of the fragile cookie cutters and baker's scale I'd stowed in my duffel, now buried beneath a pile of deep-field survival bags, which are required on Antarctic flights, like life rafts on boats. Between the required earplugs and the deafening roar of the engine, talk was limited."
"I stared down, the jagged contours of the Transantarctic Mountains beneath me, the soot-black rock peeking out from immense snowdrifts. Just over a sharp ridge that the belly of the plane seemed to graze, the vast expanse of the Beardmore Glacier spread before us."
In November 2023, the author traveled to the South Pole aboard a Basler ski-plane in negative forty-five degree Fahrenheit temperatures. As one of fourteen passengers, the author carried fragile baking equipment including cookie cutters and a baker's scale, carefully packed among mandatory survival gear. During the flight from Williams Field, the author observed the Transantarctic Mountains and the legendary Beardmore Glacier, geographical features central to Antarctic exploration history. The author had extensively studied Antarctic exploration literature, including Apsley Cherry-Garrard's historical account, preparing for this journey to conduct baking experiments in the extreme polar environment.
#antarctic-exploration #extreme-weather-baking #south-pole-expedition #polar-environment #adventure-travel
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]