Ends of the Earth

Long gone now are the days of dangerous expeditions, S. A. Andrée's attempt to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon, or Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Though I fully intend to see the top of the world, reaching the North Pole is no longer the great feat it once was. There's cell service, you're flown up in a toasty plane to a landing strip on the ice sixty kilometers from the pole (cleared seasonally - and as the ice allows - by a bulldozer), and visitors are lodged at Camp Borneo, complete with heated tents, cots, and regular trips in aging Soviet helicopters straight to 90° N.

Of course, the six feet of ice over the pole is constantly shifting, so you're never able to stand there for very long. The bulldozer that clears the runway fell through the ice this year, and in an NPR article last week (still looking for the link), I listened to a woman who, while recording, fell into a crack in the ice - cracks which constantly dis- and reappear. If the runway breaks up, nobody leaves.

At the other end of the world, NASA released their new map of Antarctica yesterday, comprised of over 1,000 true-color satellite photos. Still, the South Pole remains a slightly more challenging destination than its opposite, if only for monetary reasons (tours to the actual pole average US$35,000 - $50,000), but getting there is still quite possible. There are tours around the fringes of the continent as well (by helicopter, coast-hugging ships, or some combination of the two), and, of course, the Ice Marathon.

Having every square meter of a place mapped out from the air doesn't mean it's given up all its secrets. Liquid lakes are still being found beneath the ice (the most famous of which is the massive Lake Vostok), which have given rise to much speculation over the possibility of life in the water, and - given their similar environments - on Europa.

Last week, I was reminded by a coworker that within 15 years, the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro could be gone. If I put off trips to the poles long enough, it will be as simple as a boat ride, or a nice hike with a light jacket, to make it to the ends of the earth.