I'm standing by a cross erected at the top of Ob Hill at McMurdo Station, a marker in honor of the five explorers who lost their lives as they returned from their trek to the geographic South Pole in 1911-1912. Robert Falcon Scott and his fellow explorers Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Henry Bowers and Edgar Evans froze to death on their return from the pole, after reaching their goal a few weeks behind explorer Roald Amundsen.

Although it's the middle of the night, the sun does not set over McMurdo Station in January.