# The South Pole Traverse **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-south-pole-traverse/677708 "2014-01-02T16:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-south-pole-traverse/677708/1 "2014-01-02T16:30:44Z")
There is an ice highway from McMurdo to the South pole (1600km) which takes 40 days (!!!) for the convoy to arrive. I was wondering how it was possible for tractors to take 40 days to go that far, thats only 40km a day, and they stop at night, so thats only 4km an hour on average. Then I saw what they are towing… > **[The South Pole Traverse Arrives](https://www.jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2013/01/the-south-pole-traverse-arrives/)** > > Although much of the food, fuel, and supplies in Antarctica is transported via air, there’s still a good amount that needs to be hauled by ground. Additionally, various field camps need a hea… They drag portacabins behind them to sleep in, plus massive bladders of fuel, repair sheds, huge amounts of cargo. I have nothing to say except this is profoundly awesome, and have any of the Antarctic dopers been involved in this? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-south-pole-traverse/677708/2 "2014-01-02T18:10:19Z")
Semi related, a woman set the world record for (tri)cycling to the south pole in 9 days, beating two men who used more conventional fat bikes [http://www.icetrikes.co/community/ice-blog/world-record-set](http://www.icetrikes.co/community/ice-blog/world-record-set) Brian