Polar Exploration

Right now, here in sub-polar Rochester, NY, the temperature is –1° Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of –21°. The snow is coming down rather steadily and heavily. Yes, its a nasty night outside. But consider the early polar explorers. They spent an entire winter at the northern and southern edges of our planet, when the high temperature all winter was –40°, so that when spring came, and the temperature on a good day might go up to –15°, they could march out onto the frigid white ice and discover something. Spending a night in a tent where the outside temperature was –70° was a common activity. And they knew nothing of wind-chill. These men had only animal skins as clothing and tents, not our modern fabrics. And in the name of science and exploration, many of these men lost fingers, toes, limbs, or their lives. I would call them crazy, but those are my standards of the early 21st century; in the 19th and early 20th century, these men were heros. And now that I recall Robert E. Peary’s December 1898 march northward, through daytime temperatures of –50° and –60° to secure a remote outpost from a rival, I don’t feel so cold. (By the way, Peary lost 7 toes to frostbite because of this unnecessary march).