Hut Point Hut

So today I finally went into the Hut Point Hut. It is actually called Scott's Hut, not to be confused with Scott's other hut at Cape Crozier. This hut was built for both Scott and Shackleton out of some African hardwood, built in 1904. So it is very impressive that it is still standing with its original construction. The hut is closed mostly all of the time and only a certain amount of tour guides have access to it, so it is limited what time it is actually open to the public.
Luckily there was a special firefighter tour today, given by one of my buddies here on the department. We walked down to Hut Point, just in time to see the Fuel ship leave. The fuel ship has been here for the past week, dumping 5 million gallons of JP-8 and Mo-gas. Which is pretty cool. That supply of fuel is for both here and to be eventually transported to the South Pole as well. The fuel ship was stuck in the ice though, it has been so cold here the past week that the boat actually had ice form around it. So I took this photo of the ice breaker actually towing the fuel ship out of port.


The Supply ship is coming Feb 2nd, rumor has it. The supply ship will affect this base a lot. Here is a photo of the "Restricted Travel" areas. Pretty nuts huh? Basically this is because there will be a ton of loader traffic and moving all sorts of supplies around the base. The are anticipating so much traffic that they are watering the roads down. Yes, that is right...watering the dirt roads. You would be surprised how dry and dusty it is here.





So back to the Hut...We walked down and were let into the hut. The hut hasn't been lived in since 1930 or so. But all of the supplies in it are from the last expedition from Scott. It was funny that Scott wouldn't let Shackleton use this hut when they both were exploring the area. The hut was never intended to be used for people to sleep in, it was more made as a supply depot or at least that is the excuse for the construction. You would see it if you came here, the ceiling is way to tall to really contain heat effectively.
It took a lot of seal blubber to burn to keep it warm. There are still stacks of seal blubber and hay in the hut. Scott made the horrible decision that ponys were better than dogs to take on his adventure. While ponys can pull more weight, they can't walk in the snow...and if food gets scarce they can't eat other horses. Shackleton did this with his dogs who didn't make it. He would take the dead dogs and feed that to his other dogs to keep them alive...it is a harsh continent. So the lesson to take from this that ponys suck and dogs rule (Right Cody and Kobalt? Shout out to you guys!)
But anyway, the inside of the hut was neat. If you feel adventurous go and explore my blog, I visited the other supply hut earlier in the season. It was good to finally see the hut at hut point. I have been meaning to go there for quite sometime. But since work has been so busy, I can't sneak out for it. I hope you all are enjoying your Monday, since I'm sure most of you are reading this while you are at work. Yay for productivity! Anywho, take it easy and see you all soon!




Oh and if you have a free moment read this: http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50O0YC20090125?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0