
all this talk of snow makes me want to take a trip to the antarctic. to do so we'll need a proper vehicle like the snow cruiser. it was designed for one of Admiral Byrd's antarctic expeditions in 1939-40. 55 feet long, weighs 75,000 lb. fully loaded. diesel electric propulsion. equipped with kitchen, machine shop and bunk room. supposedly could exist on it's own and operate for one year before needing to be replenished. designed to carry an airplane on it's back for long distance exploration. unfortunatly it was a failure. it sank too deeply into the snow, had poor traction and didn't have enough power for antarctic conditions. when the expedition returned to the USA the snow cruiser was left behind. rediscovered in 1958 but then left and was recovered with snow and ice. it may still be there or it may have broken off with part of the ice shelf and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
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