Each Antarctic summer, tractor trains haul 3,000-gallon fuel bladders on sheets of polyethylene 1,030 miles from McMurdo to the South Pole; the average round trip takes 52 days, but each southbound run replaces roughly 33 LC-130 Hercules flights—meaning much of the fuel that keeps the station alive through winter arrives across the polar plateau at little more than walking pace.

Each Antarctic summer, tractor trains haul 3,000-gallon fuel bladders on sheets of polyethylene 1,030 miles from McMurdo to the South Pole; the average round trip takes 52 days, but each southbound run replaces roughly 33 LC-130 Hercules flights—meaning much of the fuel that keeps the station alive through winter arrives across the polar plateau at little more than walking pace.

The South Pole Traverse trades speed for payload, carrying hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel overland while freeing scarce LC-130 flights for work that needs aircraft.