Old urban myth. Byrd was referring to an ice-free region of the mainland called the Bunger Hills. I've seen photographs of it in a nice coffee-table book on Antarctica. It is by no means representative of the vast remainder of Antarctica. The aerial reconnaissance is hard to reconstruct; maps of the routes taken are not readily available, and the research was superseded by the following International Geophysical Year. There is no "ice wall," unless you want to call it the beginning of the 2-kilometer thick cap that covers the rest of the continent.
There is no prohibition on private travel. Legal restraints can only be exercised by the government of which the intended travelers are citizens. You can book a tourist visit to The South Pole (the actual pole) by any number of agencies. For reasons of safety and international agreements relating to protected areas, permits may be required. (When presented with these facts, Antarctic mythologists usually retreat into defeatism by not even trying to find out anything.) Since gyrocompasses become ineffective near the poles, it is a very risky flying environment (not to mention having potentially dangerous weather).
Did I mention the Smithsonian? I don't recall doing so. And the existing data speaks for itself. Plenty of people have been to Antarctica. The Byrd claim is overblown; the dry valleys have been known ever since. Plenty of photos. Cold as hell.
So what? There are other accounts, all the same. You prove that any of it is wrong. I also pointed to the 1978 book that has photos of the dry valleys and lakes that Byrd mentioned, by an on-the-spot photographer who was seemingly unhindered by dire prohibitions on where to go. Byrd's claim was true---but only so far as it went. The dry valleys are bleak and cold, and not very representative of the ice sheet that is the rest of the continent.
GPS may be "fully functional" but not highly accurate. The orbital planes are at 55 degrees inclination, which means that anyone at the poles will be seeing them only above the horizon, which leads to relatively poor accuracy compared to latitudes between -55 and +55 degrees. But that's what I have been told while I was in the business of relying on their input for system designs. There are vast areas, but they are all under 2 km of ice.
Sounds like a good plot for a scifi movie: Antarctic explorers find a meltwater cave that leads to a vast, under-ice world where geothermal heat provides the basis for a previously unknown ecosystem where strange lifeforms have evolved, and light is provided by bioluminescent organisms throughout the ice ceiling, which is several hundred feet above the warm surface. :)
Been there, done that. "The Land Unknown" (1957), except it invokes volcanically-heated valleys. Otherwise, try the novel "Projekt Saucer III: Genesis" (1980) by W. A. Harbinson, which involves UFO-flying Nazis. Are you aware of the microbial life found in the deep under-ice Lake Vostok?
There's only no prohibition on private travel around the perimeter and a bit inland. But if you want to go deeper, your government makes it impossible to gain approval. It's a very strange position for a government to take when no government owns the land. I've heard interviews of people who've tried to work with the system and get stonewalled. Then you must wonder why there are no flyover videos or pictures of inner Antarctica. Not saying there's an ice wall and woo-woo going on, but there's something down there they don't want us to see.
There's only no prohibition on private travel around the perimeter and a bit inland. But if you want to go deeper, your government makes it impossible to gain approval.
An extremely good reference is "Antartica" by Eliot Porter (1978, E.P. Dutton) who went there as part of a geological research team to photograph whatever he saw. The dry valleys that Byrd referenced in Operation Highjump are described in Porter's chapter 5. Inland Antarctica is basically ice plains penetrated by towering mountains. Not "impossible" for people to go there (even to the actual South Pole) as tourists or otherwise. Just not easy. Find a more congenial government. Plenty of flyover pictures and photos from space, though not well organized by search engines. I notice that no Antarctic anti-conspiracy organization has chosen to fund a photo satellite for that purpose.
It is an extremely dangerous environment and I don't blame the authorities, such as they are, for heavily screening those who want to risk death by penetrating it. They are on the hook for rescue. Navigational systems (gyrocompass, GPS) crap out near the pole. The weather is both unpredictable and unforgiving. It's not their job to facilitate what we want to see. They are not the ones operating tours. Just spend some time shopping for tours to see what your taste can afford. There are more tours available than people with money to spend on them.
A tour and deep exploration are two different prospects.
"Find a more congenial government." That's the point -- you can't. All governments have colluded on a universal prohibition. Which adds to the oddity of this situation.
Any number of well funded organizations could safely explore the inner terrain of the continent yet they do not or cannot. This issue deserves our skepticism.
My skepticism is directed toward those who claim they want to know, yet do absolutely nothing to confirm or refute the geographic reality, and insist on wallowing in their mythology and imaginary powerlessness. There are research stations across the continent. They publish research. No one resorts to them for information. This is just another branch of the Flat Earth know-nothingism.
Old urban myth. Byrd was referring to an ice-free region of the mainland called the Bunger Hills. I've seen photographs of it in a nice coffee-table book on Antarctica. It is by no means representative of the vast remainder of Antarctica. The aerial reconnaissance is hard to reconstruct; maps of the routes taken are not readily available, and the research was superseded by the following International Geophysical Year. There is no "ice wall," unless you want to call it the beginning of the 2-kilometer thick cap that covers the rest of the continent.
There is no prohibition on private travel. Legal restraints can only be exercised by the government of which the intended travelers are citizens. You can book a tourist visit to The South Pole (the actual pole) by any number of agencies. For reasons of safety and international agreements relating to protected areas, permits may be required. (When presented with these facts, Antarctic mythologists usually retreat into defeatism by not even trying to find out anything.) Since gyrocompasses become ineffective near the poles, it is a very risky flying environment (not to mention having potentially dangerous weather).
Here is an interesting account of the Byrd expedition (Operation Highjump), which was both more and less than one is led to believe. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/operation-highjump-18223476/
Smithsonian is your source?
You realize they hid or destroyed thousands of giant skeletons, right?
Did I mention the Smithsonian? I don't recall doing so. And the existing data speaks for itself. Plenty of people have been to Antarctica. The Byrd claim is overblown; the dry valleys have been known ever since. Plenty of photos. Cold as hell.
You quoted it, dumb ass.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/operation-highjump-18223476/
So what? There are other accounts, all the same. You prove that any of it is wrong. I also pointed to the 1978 book that has photos of the dry valleys and lakes that Byrd mentioned, by an on-the-spot photographer who was seemingly unhindered by dire prohibitions on where to go. Byrd's claim was true---but only so far as it went. The dry valleys are bleak and cold, and not very representative of the ice sheet that is the rest of the continent.
Prove it
https://www.jasoncolavito.com/newspaper-accounts-of-giants.html
I've never seen you ratioed before. Lol
I get it a lot really lol
GPS is fully functional at poles. Otherwise, I agree that some vast warm area at any pole is a pretty ridiculous myth.
GPS may be "fully functional" but not highly accurate. The orbital planes are at 55 degrees inclination, which means that anyone at the poles will be seeing them only above the horizon, which leads to relatively poor accuracy compared to latitudes between -55 and +55 degrees. But that's what I have been told while I was in the business of relying on their input for system designs. There are vast areas, but they are all under 2 km of ice.
Sounds like a good plot for a scifi movie: Antarctic explorers find a meltwater cave that leads to a vast, under-ice world where geothermal heat provides the basis for a previously unknown ecosystem where strange lifeforms have evolved, and light is provided by bioluminescent organisms throughout the ice ceiling, which is several hundred feet above the warm surface. :)
Been there, done that. "The Land Unknown" (1957), except it invokes volcanically-heated valleys. Otherwise, try the novel "Projekt Saucer III: Genesis" (1980) by W. A. Harbinson, which involves UFO-flying Nazis. Are you aware of the microbial life found in the deep under-ice Lake Vostok?
There's only no prohibition on private travel around the perimeter and a bit inland. But if you want to go deeper, your government makes it impossible to gain approval. It's a very strange position for a government to take when no government owns the land. I've heard interviews of people who've tried to work with the system and get stonewalled. Then you must wonder why there are no flyover videos or pictures of inner Antarctica. Not saying there's an ice wall and woo-woo going on, but there's something down there they don't want us to see.
👍 correct...And why?
Well we k o w there are pyramids... Soo what else
Nunataks.
An extremely good reference is "Antartica" by Eliot Porter (1978, E.P. Dutton) who went there as part of a geological research team to photograph whatever he saw. The dry valleys that Byrd referenced in Operation Highjump are described in Porter's chapter 5. Inland Antarctica is basically ice plains penetrated by towering mountains. Not "impossible" for people to go there (even to the actual South Pole) as tourists or otherwise. Just not easy. Find a more congenial government. Plenty of flyover pictures and photos from space, though not well organized by search engines. I notice that no Antarctic anti-conspiracy organization has chosen to fund a photo satellite for that purpose.
It is an extremely dangerous environment and I don't blame the authorities, such as they are, for heavily screening those who want to risk death by penetrating it. They are on the hook for rescue. Navigational systems (gyrocompass, GPS) crap out near the pole. The weather is both unpredictable and unforgiving. It's not their job to facilitate what we want to see. They are not the ones operating tours. Just spend some time shopping for tours to see what your taste can afford. There are more tours available than people with money to spend on them.
A tour and deep exploration are two different prospects.
"Find a more congenial government." That's the point -- you can't. All governments have colluded on a universal prohibition. Which adds to the oddity of this situation.
Any number of well funded organizations could safely explore the inner terrain of the continent yet they do not or cannot. This issue deserves our skepticism.
My skepticism is directed toward those who claim they want to know, yet do absolutely nothing to confirm or refute the geographic reality, and insist on wallowing in their mythology and imaginary powerlessness. There are research stations across the continent. They publish research. No one resorts to them for information. This is just another branch of the Flat Earth know-nothingism.