Readers of Jonathan Last’s email newsletter (you can sign up for it at newsletters.weeklystandard.com!) are already familiar with last week’s amazing exploits at the bottom of the world. It’s winter in Antarctica, which means constant darkness (the next time the sun rises there will be in September), extreme cold (wind chill keeps the temperature around -100 degrees F), and a mix of snow and wind that makes whiteouts a frequent (and terrifying) occurrence even if you have artificial light. It is the most extreme and deadly place on earth.
Because it’s winter, the staff at the American Amundsen-Scott station has been reduced to 48 people. And last week two of them took sick—sick enough that they needed to be moved off-base for medical care.
So the National Science Foundation sent a rescue. Normally, the Antarctic bases are totally cut off during the winter months. But two Twin Otter aircraft were dispatched from Canada and made their way south to Punta Arenas, Argentina. (The Twin Otter is the only aircraft even theoretically capable of surviving the elements.) From there they set off on the 1,000-mile journey to Antarctica. In the snow. In the dark. And with their instruments just this side of useless.
That takes a metric ton of guts.
How much guts? So much that the rescue operation sent two aircraft, in case one of them needed to act as search and rescue in the event that the other one went down.
And it worked! The pilots got to Amundsen-Scott, took a 10-hour layover to rest, and then got their plane and their patients back.
It’s a welcome reminder that there are still people who dare, and accomplish, great things.
