Expedition Panoramas: Patriot Hills

Click and drag in the image above. Operated by Adventure Network International (see Links & Books), Patriot Hills is a fully equipped camp in Antarctica's interior 600 miles from the South Pole. Two Twin Otters and a Cessna link the camp with distant points on the continent. Clients who come here are flown in on a Hercules C-130 or Ilyushin-76 from Punta Arenas, Chile, and most go on to either the South Pole or to Vinson Base Camp on the West side of the Ellsworth mountains. A large dining/kitchen tent serves as a central meeting place for clients and camp personnel. The food is tasty, and the camp staff—a camp manager, doctor, meteorologist, radio specialist, two cooks, several snow mobile mechanics, and a few others—hail from all over the world.