Marshmallow roast
Philip K Swartz - 1960-61 - South Pole Station - Antarcticans Database Project more

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Marshmallow roast

Someone found a case of marshmallows, and only a marshmallow roast would do. Here’s Peterson roasting.
Fire was a great worry in the station, both with lack of water to fight it, and the closed nature of the station meant ventilation and smoke would be a terrible problem. And we couldn’t even get paper to burn outside.
The station was provided with a set of single-use encryption pads, primarily so a secure private message could be sent such as a death in a family, etc. With the signing of the Antarctic Treaty (prohibiting secret military equipment/supplies) we received an encrypted message that took a long hard effort to decode, telling us to use a knife and scrape the label “Secret” off the cover of this pad! This message itself (and our work sheets) had to be destroyed by burning, and we tried that outside only to have them blow away in a high wind. Presumably they’re still down there somewhere waiting to be found.



Pictures from Philip K Swartz, overwinter, South Pole, 60-61