The Russian Vostok complex has been put into operation in Antarctica

You know, a lot of claims have been credited to Admiral Byrd about that expedition, even a supposed diary entry. But I have had an extremely hard time with accreditation for these claims. No concrete proof, just a bunch of random statements, that repeat other random statements. Can you lead me towards anything substantiated? Thank if you can 👍reply to: hoobah

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Naftalin

Interesting! Why only 10 months a year? Is this due to the weather or maintenance work?

I'm just wondering if the stilts are so thin so that the cold doesn't get into the building so easily? And adjustable so you can compensate for ice movements?

Most stations operate in the summer and have just a maintenance crew in the winter. There was this Navy guy I remember taking there for the maintenance crew 4 times and I asked him why does he do it over and over. He told me it is mainly just one big party with a little work and back then women had very few places they could go to get their "combat time" and that was one of them, so the ratio was extremely good for men that went there.

One big party is on the ball , I watched a documentary about loading up a American Base with supplies for the winter and the frigging amount of booze that was shown was staggering , they must be walking around hammered 24/7 ,

They put the Irish and Scots to shame with their boozing and that's saying something

originally posted by: CarlLaFong
a reply to: RussianTroll

It's getting pretty crowded down there.

Hope it doesn't capsize, like Guam.

Interesting - Vostok is relatively close to Old Pole Station. I thought remember Eric Hecker mentioning something about Old Pole being securely locked up. Vostok looks a lot like Ice Cube Neutrino and NSF. I'm guessing these similarly styled buildings being placed all over Antarctica isn't a coincidence. Everyone is probably doing it with the secondary objective of designing habitats that can withstand harsh conditions that Earth (or our neighbors near and far) dishes out. Hecker mentioned the DOMS in the ice, a dual-purpose energy transmitting device and earthquake generator wrapped in one.
He covers a lot of it in his Shawn Ryan interview.

originally posted by: Naftalin
a reply to: RussianTroll

Interesting! Why only 10 months a year? Is this due to the weather or maintenance work?

I'm just wondering if the stilts are so thin so that the cold doesn't get into the building so easily? And adjustable so you can compensate for ice movements?

Well, the main reason because of the polar night. It's just a lot more difficult and potentially dangerous to do some of the exploration activities done at the South Pole when it's pitch black outside. It's also much more difficult to get there (or back). Remember, the darkness is further compounded by extreme wind and extreme cold also which contributes to these difficulties. The company I work for had job opportunities for over-winter (our summer) assignments. These were primarily maintenance contracts for the military. I talked with some of the people who had been down there on over-winter assignments and they generally liked them, but they said it takes kind of a special breed.

The jobs basically entailed keeping the various bases up and operational and making repairs while all the researchers were gone during the polar night. It's a pretty harsh environment down there during the polar night. Most researchers arrive by ship, and some by aircraft, but ship and aircraft operations in Antarctica are far too dangerous to be conducted both at night and during the heavy ice season. So, they all just leave as the research season begins to end, and a small group of maintenance and engineering staff remain behind to endure the polar winter.