The South Pole Traverse Makes “Ice Road Truckers” Look Tame

Every year around this time, the U.S.'s Antartic Program needs about 100,000 gallons of fuel to supports its research activities at the South Pole. Traditionally, this fuel was delivered in a series of 40 flights from the McMurdo Station at the edge of the Ross Sea, but of late, that has switched to a single overland convoy to save money, time, and carbon emissions. 

Jackson Hole local Forrest McCarthy, who shot the above video, works as a guide for what's called The South Pole Traverse, and over the course of the nearly month-long, 1,000-mile trip, operates a ground-penetrating vehicle on a lead snowcat, hunting for crevasses that would otherwise send the giant convoy to its doom. 

"The South Pole Traverse (SPoT) takes place during the summer to supply the US Research Station at the South Pole," Forrest wrote us. "Traversing the fuel overland is more efficient than flying it, as it had traditionally been done. It took us 24 days to cover the 1,035 miles from McMurdo Station, where it arrives by ship."

The South Pole Traverse route from McMurdo Station 1,035 miles to the South Pole. Wikimedia photo.

When Forrest detects crevasses that are too wide for the tractors to safely cross, the team lines up explosives around the crevasses, blows up the existing snow bridge that's too weak for vehicles to cross, and fills the gap in with snow with a snowcat to create a more substantial, safe crossing for the armada of giant vehicles.