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'Ice Highway' To Open Earth's Last Frontier

Posted by timothy on from the antarctica-for-the-antarcticans-I-say dept.

JayBonci writes "CNN is carrying a story on an Ice Highway to make it easier to access the South Pole. The 1,020 mile "highway" may be completed as soon as 2006. Because of the nature of the ever-shifting ice, maintenance is going to be difficult to say the least, but it will provide greater access to the region for supplies and scientists."

6 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Next Headline in Yahoo by georgewad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Tourists Put Antarctic Ecosystem in Peril
    How appropriate.

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  2. As the road shifts. by ForestGrump · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because the road is a definate scar across the surface of the ice, it would make it much easier to track movements and discontinuties in the ice; which would otherwise be unseen by the naked eye.

    -Grump

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  3. how usable will this be? by fireduck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the idea, presumably, is to truck supplies overland in antarctica, rather than flying them in with cargo planes. how practical is that? truck needs gas to travel 2000+ miles and then you've got this "stretching road" problem to deal with ("From one summer to the next the crevasse field moved about 1,000 feet north and grew about 100 feet longer."). So, your road needs to be replowed every year to account for the fact that it's now 100 feet away from where you left it?

  4. Errrm. Antarctica last frontier of Earth? by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know, we haven't terraformed the seabed very much. I thought deep water was the real last frontier of earth.

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  5. It's already Trashed by jazman_777 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read a book called "Mind Over Matter" about a couple of guys who crossed Antarctica on foot (a good read, BTW). It's not a walk--they started out with 450-lb sledges they could barely move. When they got to the South Pole, the author commented on how dirty and trashy it looked there. Scientists, tourists (making a quick hop down to the Pole, I reckon).

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    1. Re:It's already Trashed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      I know the book. The author is a complete primadonna jackass and hypocrite. A friend of mine was stationed in Antarctica when this fella came through. His book was all haughty and full of himself with statements like how disappointed he was to come over the crest and see the McMurdo station because of how it seemed to soil the pristine landscape. The truth is he took full advantage of the food and lodging of the bases down there. It wasn't quite the idealistic journey of an explorer as he likes to tell himself it was.

      If you want real, amazing tales of human spirit and exploration, you should read about Scott or Shackleton. I highly recommend the book Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.