Ice Tunnels

One of the more fascinating locations here at the SP is the ice tunnel.  The ice tunnel(s) are carved out mazes about 30-50 feet under the elevated station.  Within them lies the access points to the Rodriguez Wells (RodWells) that provide our water and deposit locations for human waste.  They also remain at a consistent -60F throughout the year.  Currently during the winter season, this is often warmer than the outside temperature.  When I took my tour of the tunnels a month or so ago, the ice that had frosted on my neck gaiter and hat from my breath actually started to melt during the walk through the tunnel!  Likely this was because of my body heat from walking with an extra twenty pounds of gear, but I think that it serves a neat point about how warm it can feel relative to the outside and the arches under the station.

While they obviously serve a significant purpose to our lifeline, they double as a place for winter Polies to showcase objects that created a story or event during their season.  During Jason's first winter at the South Pole in 2012, the last container of vanilla ice cream on station was made into a shrine (I believe Anthony Bourdain's video on his tour of the Pole will show this tub of ice cream too).  Apparently the station manager that year got everybody together for an all-hands meeting to discuss how somebody on station "stole" the last tub of vanilla ice cream and ate it without permission.  Thus, it has become a shrine.

This year we have not decided on our "official" shrine (if there even is such a thing), but we have made a contribution, complete with a small ritual during the induction of the shrine.  As most would know, Buzz Aldrin had visited the station in the summer and was medevaced to New Zealand to seek medical treatment.  At one point, he had left behind a tissue.  As you can probably gather at this point, Buzz Aldrin's tissue has now made it into the shrines of the ice tunnels.

Buzz Aldrin's tissue enshrined at the South Pole.  Photo by Brett Baddorf as mine was a bit grainy.

Small gags like the shrines are commonplace at USAP stations.  I remember there being items like toast hidden at Palmer Station as a joke about how "toasty" people can get during a winter on the ice.  Nevertheless, the ice tunnels remain probably one of the more spoken about items of the station.  They do serve a real purpose for us, but the fun quirks that we add to them help make the winter season more entertaining.  I wonder if the Polies of '12 will feel famous for their ice cream making Bourdain's TV show or if Buzz Aldrin even knows about his enshrined tissue.