TWO decades after the US stopped taking supplies to the South Pole overland, American explorers are once again trying to find an easy route to the pole in preparation for building a new station there.
The current station at the South Pole is cramped and water and electricity are in short supply. It was originally built on top of the ice. Now it is buried, covered by 21 years of snowfall. The weight of the snow is making the station structurally unsound.
The National Science Foundation, which runs the US Antarctic research programme, has ambitious plans for a new South Pole station that would take eight years to build at a cost of $200 million.
But before work can start, the NSF has to find a way to transport the buildings and other components - expected to weigh some 7500 tonnes - to the pole. The materials would first be ...
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