European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page in the stars and stripes sunday. January 26. 1989 Dit failed tin can ii evidence of the i Nereo no presence of Man in Ante Deshle Antarctica visiting Antarctica unforgettable sights and tales to Tell by Richard Boudreaux associated press and a is had lived then would we have had tales so Robert f. Scott. 1912s Cott s last regret is a poignant epitaph or lha eight american tourists and two chilean crewmen who died nearly 74 years later in a chartered aircraft across Antarctica irom the site of his own tragedy. The British Navy Captain wrote those words in his diary As he and three fellow explorers Lay dying in a tent trapped by a snowstorm to Miles irom their Ross Island base. Scott had reached the South pole Only to discover the norwegian Flag planted by Roald Amundsen who had beaten him Here by 35 Days. Today Tho Pioneer age of Polar exploration is Over. The continent is becoming More accessible but its killer instincts still Lurk. Each Austral summer a growing crowd of scientists settlers sightseers Mountain climbers and other adventurers risk Antarctica s severity for a glimpse of its Beauly and a tale to Tell Back Home. This reporter was drawn to the Antarctic for a Chance to write about it. I spent four Days at the chilean air Force s it. Marsh base in october t984 As part of the first charter tourist group to have overnight accommodations in Antarctica. Like 300 or so tourists who or i stayed there since mine was a round trip. The Aero petrel airline s 13ttl charter flight to that same chilean base on King George Island was not so Lucky. Tho eight american travellers on Board had packed tuxedos Tor new year s eve. It was to be their first night on the Only continent none had Ever visited. The 20 air Force families who live Here year round had invited Thorn to a formal dinner under the Midnight Sun. Another sign it seemed thai Antarctica was becoming civilized. 8ul untamed elements intervened. A fog Bank the Pilot would have avoided elsewhere forced him to abort a Landing approach to the base. In Antarctica there Ere no alternate airfields so he had to try again. The twin engine Cessna crashed into a glacial Hillside on another Island a few Miles away and no one survived tragedy after tragedy in Antarctica is a matter of such unpredictable peril. Ships strengthened to resist ice Are trapped and crushed by it anyway. Tractors plunge through and sink in frigid Waters. Four decades of Antarctic duly have wrecked 51 american aircraft and Many a building at a . Base is named for one of the victims. Scientific stations Are vulnerable to tire like the latal 1982 Winter blazes at the soviet Union s Vostok outpost the coldest spot on Earth. Nobody seems to count deaths in Antarctica. But most of them happened in a single 1979 crash when air new zealand s flight to the end of the world struck the my. Erebus Volcano on Ross Island killing All 257 sightseers aboard. What lures people to ills forsaken continent the coldest dries and windiest of All is a mixture of motives for Well to do globetrotters it s the Only place led to see. For scientists it s a Pristine Laboratory the closest thing on Earth to conditions on other planets. For the Volunteer settlers spending two years at i. Marsh base. It s a challenging family experience that supports Chile s territorial claims. But above All it s the unforgettable sights the penguins leaping ashore feet first the Frozen motion of timeless glaciers the Mountain peaks visible 100 Miles away. The Stark Beauty of this place is remarked Catherine Miller an american tourist in our party. I feel so privileged Nail to Landing on i he Moon this is it thirteen Antarctic trealy nations employ several thousand people at 36 year round scientific stations most of them clustered in groups around the continent s edges Teayara to be folded this year by three newcomers Bra ii. India and the Greenpeace foundation. According to a 1980 British study. 31,000 tourists adventurers and other visitors had Down Over sailed past or set foot on Antarctica mince 1956. An average of 1,240 per year. This month three British explorers Are retracing Scott s footsteps from Ross Island to the pole. Three expeditions Are climbing the 16,664-foot Vinson Massif Antarctica s highest Peak. As the number of such visits grows so does the risk of accidents and the concern by scientists hat their Lime and resources will be diverted to costly search and Rescue missions. Antarctica is such a hostile environment that one can expect a lot More casualties said Peter j. Anderson assistant director of Ohio stale University s Institute for Polar studies. Just think of Ait those flights to a land As big As the United slates and Mexico with just 30 air traffic stations and no refuelling Sites oiling an Antarctic treaty Resolution limiting logistical help to non scientific pursuits the . National science foundation has refused to help individuals reach the an Tarcic to Fly hang gliders Rise snowmobiles or film commercials for ski Wear and car batteries. A spilt the latest Accident however the chilean government is promoting three Antarctic charter hours to its air base in March. There is talk in Australia of resuming sight seeing overflights suspended irom there and new zealand after the 197s disaster. It seems certain that More and More travellers will be lured to Antarctica ust As Moat who have seen the place would jump at any Chance to go Back. And if they live they shall have tales to Tell
