Michael Field of Fairfax Media in Australia/New Zealand has the story of a group of scientists traversing Antarctica that were surprised to discover a Soviet artifact left behind at the most remote location on the most remote continent – A large plastic bust of Lenin.
In the middle of no-where – literally the point on Antarctica furthest from the sea – an imposing bust of revolutionary Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin peers out onto the polar emptiness.
The Inaccessibility Pole marks the point on Antarctica that is furthest from the ocean. At 3,718 metres above sea-level it is in the Australian zone and seldom visited.
The (Norwegian-US) Scientific Traverse this week made it to the Inaccessibility Pole for New Year’s Day and found a one time Soviet Union base buried under the ice. The group’s website says Soviet scientists first visited the Pole in December 1958 and built a small cabin there. After several weeks they left, putting the bust of Lenin on top of the chimney facing Moscow.
“Today the bust is clearly visible from many kilometres away, and remains as they left it on the chimney, although the cabin itself is buried under the snow,” the explorers say.
The current expedition plans to leave something more substantial in the form of an automatic weather station. They will also drill a 90 metre ice core.
One of the drillers, Lou Albershardt, told an US website that they took six weeks to reach the pole, noticing Lenin from a long way out.
They all speculated on what the bust might have been made out of; marble or concrete.
“You wouldn’t believe it. He’s plastic.”
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