Week 42 at the Pole

basler
NSF/B. Kuo Tiong

A few short weeks ago this scene would have looked quite different. But now the sun is out, full force, and the snow is bright white. The camera was apparently caught in a stare down with a Basler ski-plane that was stranded for a few days at the Pole due to bad weather. The clear blue sky was the backdrop for other airborne objects, too—kites. The last few weeks they’ve been flying kites and snowkiting—using kite power to ski across the snow. The bottom photo shows a demonstration of a parafoil kite, this one capable of carrying its pilot hundreds of kilometers.

skis
NSF/F. Pedreros
skis2
NSF/B. Kuo Tiong
parafoil
NSF/B. Kuo Tiong