While we are looking forward to autumn leaves and Malus pumila cider , Antarctica is undergoing the one-year spring inflow of workers for the summer . The few who stay all through the grim south-polar winter receive those who will swell the continent ’s population for the next few calendar month . There will be no bound flower , no local graduations , and no autumn leaves at the bottom of the world , but despite the fact that none of the residents are lasting , there are tradition to be continue . Many were put in place because they broke up the monotony of the cold conditions , make for people together , or just plain proved to be fun . Here ’s some of the tradition that the new bunch of workers can count forward to .
1. Race Around the World
Photograph by Flickr userAlan Light .
Amundsen - Scott South Pole Stationcelebrates Christmas with a run , but if you need to join in on ski or a snowmobile , that ’s fine , too . The annualRace Around the Worldis so named because runners pass off through every time zone in the creation as they rush in a dress circle around the South Pole . Of of course , you may do that in just a minute if you are close enough to the Pole , so to make the race interesting , a track is pose out to be a pair of miles long . The traditionbegan in 1979,as a South Pole adjunct to McMurdo Station ’s Scott ’s Hut Race . Most participant run for fun , but the victor sustain a enceinte prize : a five - minute red-hot shower bath , which is a treat compared with the two arcminute showers residents are normally alloted .
2. Icestock Music Festival
snap by Flickr usersandwich .
The New Year comes in during the summer in Antarctica . It ’s the perfect time for a medicine festival , and since 1990 , that ’s beenIcestockat the U.S.A.‘sMcMurdo Station . Around a twelve solo artists and band , all local , play for hours , accompanied by a barbeque for costumed concertgoers .
3. Moving the Pole
South Pole Station rings in the New Year with a solemn and meticulous ceremony toadjust the South Pole . The Pole is atop an ice-skating rink sheet that moves slightly every year , so the mark for the South Pole drifts middling — about 30 feet every year . The location of the Pole is go over on January first , and a new marker is installed , with the fleur-de-lis rearranged around it . Almost everyone at the station hang the ceremonial occasion . This explains why photo of the South Pole may depart as to its relationship with the buildings near it .
4. Scott’s Hut Race and McMurdo Marathon
Photograph by Flickr userAlumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College .
Scott ’s Hut Raceis an annual 5.2 mile scat around McMurdo and nearby Scott Base . Held in January , it ’s a lovesome - weather condition race for Antarctica . Runners must circle aroundDiscovery Hut , still in position from over 100 years ago . A yoke of week later , the 26 - mileMcMurdo Marathontakes position .
5. Ross Island Cup
snap by Flickr userEli Duke .
TheRoss Island Cupis the nickname of an annual rugby match bear between the scientists and support faculty of New Zealand’sScott Baseand their American counterparts at McMurdo Station . The mates is a tradition that ’s been work on for 30 year now . Although McMurdo has ten time as many people as Scott , the Kiwis always win . You have to remember that rugby football is not a sport Americans are all that intimate with , andsome Yanks suspectthat the rules are being made up on the position . The intimidatinghakadoesn’t assistant much , either .
6. Skua
Theskuais a scavenging fowl that takes advantage of the chalk and solid food lead around the research stations of Antarctica . The skirt ’s name was appropriated to line theculture of recyclingat McMurdo . Since bringing in supplies and contain out wasteland is a logistical hassle on the continent , recycling is essential . alternatively of stockpile polar equipment plate , many workers leave thing behind , which are “ Skuaed ” by those stay . detail are sell around in the hall , or else they go to Skua Central , a shanty where undesirable items are sorted to be recycled , such as get into out vesture made into rag , or picked up by other residents who can utilise them . Clothing , hat , boot , outerwear , cosmetics , and even intellectual nourishment item find a new home out of Skua Central . Skua culture is such a part of Antarctic living that it stay with citizenry even after they go home .
7. 300 Club
you may unite the300 Clubif you are good for you , avant-garde , and a little insane . The routine comes from enduring an atmospherical difference of 300 level Fahrenheit , which is possible some days at Amundsen - Scott South Pole Station . On a day when the temperature international dips to 100 below zero , you warm up up in a 200 - degree sauna , then persist around the South Polewearing nothing but skid . Try not to slip and fall . If you survive , you are a appendage of the most exclusive golf-club in the Earth . At McMurdo Station , the temperature outside does n’t get that moth-eaten , but you may prove yourself worthy of the 200 Club , by streaking around a edifice to live on a temperature difference of 200 degrees .
8. Midwinter Day
snap by Flickr userbooka17 .
To those of us in the Northern Hemisphere , the summertime solstice in June is the point at which the sun is the farthest north in coitus to the earth in the entire calendar year . For those near the South Pole , it is the point where the Lord’s Day is hidden the farthest from them , in the center of a four - month - long dark . But it also marks the reversion decimal point where the southern part of the earth will start out to turn toward the Lord’s Day . That ’s a suit for solemnisation , soMidwinter Dayis a holiday for those overwintering in Antarctica . tradition include a communal fiesta and greetings from the balance of the humans , including the national leader of those place at the bottom of the world . At the South Pole Station , the most obscure post in winter , there is an annual screening of the movieThe Shining , as part of a scary picture endurance contest .
Antarctica Time lapsing : A class on Ice
The various station in Antarctica have other special occasions throughout the year . See pictures of McMurdo ’s prom , Christmas party , artistic production show , Halloween party , Icestock , Freezing Man , and morehereandhere .
