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.
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.