Centennial Preparations

The 100 year anniversary of human exploration at the South Pole is tomorrow and the station is abuzz with activity trying to get everything ready for the big day!

The Prime Minister of Norway arrived yesterday and tomorrow he will be giving a speech at the Pole, as well as hosting a reception for the Norwegians that skied in from the coast. Everyone on station will be having a special dinner and I'm sure toasts will abound. There will also be an attempt to have a live broadcast back to Norway the day after tomorrow in the early AM.

In IT, we've been doing some preparations over the past couple of weeks, including running cables, setting up computers and audio equipment in remote buildings and conducting lots of testing. This is happily not your ordinary job!

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Running ethernet and power from in under the station...

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...to the "Centennial Shack" which will house equipment for the Prime Minister of Norway's live broadcast

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Using the South Pole shuttle van to move equipment to the new (albeit temporary) Centennial Shack and the Visitor Center

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This Visitor Center was constructed for the hundreds of tourists that are expected to arrive

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Setting up computers so tourists can watch a documentary about the South Pole

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A sweet little stove to help warm the tourists

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In the Centennial Shack, Daniel getting the indoor equipment set up for our outdoor audio tests

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Loving the ice crystals on the window of the Centennial Shack

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Placing speakers into their enclosures. Once on, these speakers actually stayed warm in -26F temps!

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A post-South Pole singing debut picture after I serenaded Rhiannon with Moon River as part of our audio tests