I didn’t see the Beetle, but there have been a lot of different vehicles down there. Unless a vehicle has tracks, there are few places to use them anyway.
The Americans built a road with bulldozers from McMurdo to South Pole Station, probably because they built a completely new base building there and flying everything in would have been very expensive ( excessive weight ).
However, like all snow “roads” there, it would have disappeared in the winter, as snow drift covered it. The main requirement for the bulldozers is to fill in the crevasses.
Ground travel on the continent is normally only possible in summer. However, there was a so called explorer recently that wanted to traverse the continent in winter. He had to pull out because he got frostbite.
I never talked to anyone at another base, though some might now. Unless you knew them, probably no point.
You would probably find people on bases by asking on related forums.
I have several questions:
-the so called “Dry Valleys”-Lake Vanda has an unusual property-it is warm at the bottom-does anything live in it?
-THe movement of the ice sheet: Scott and his dead buddys-when will they show up at the edge of the ice sheet?
-in the 1930’s a huge bus-like vehicle was shipped to Antarctica-it was called the “Snow Cruiser”. It did not perform well, so it was abandoned. It was seen again in the 1950’s, but has since disappeared. Does anybody know where it is?
-when Scott’s and Shackleton’s huts finally collapse, what will be done with the remains? Are you allowed to take stuff you find (abandoned) there?
-the East Antarctic Ice sheet was rumored to be moving-it was speculated that it might suddenly flow into the Southern Ocean-is this still a worry?
The dry valleys are called that because there is no snow in them, not because there is no water. The river that flows into Vanda is probably the only flowing river in Antarctica, but easily checked on google, if interested.
Various plant forms ( algae etc ) do live in Vanda. Again, a google search will obtain specifics.
No idea, but I’m sure someone has calculated it. Try google.
No idea about the bus. Where was it?
The huts will not be allowed to collapse. Presrvation work is carried out all the time. The dry air preserves the wood as well.
All the artefacts are historical treasures and if you tried stealing anything, would be in deep doodoo.
The real fear is that the big ice sheets will collapse and allow all the snow trapped behind them to flow into the ocean, raising the sea level significantly. A lot of research is being done on that, though there is sod all that can change any such event.
BTW. all the ice and snow in Antarctica is constantly moving into the ocean, though slowly, at the moment.
There is a theory that in the event of air temperatures warming, it will start to snow in the center again, thus preventing overall sea level rise.
