Even in the most extreme environment, redundant actions can generate a sense of rudimentary routine. After driving the Tucker Sno-Cat roughly a kilometer away from our field camp, Darren McAulay and I climb out of the cab and stand back to observe an engineer and a scientist do their thing: Joel Steinkraus and Zhongwen Zhan are making adjustments to the PEG. Again.

Watching these experts tinker with equipment at the bottom of the world is fascinating — for a little while at least. After 10 minutes of filming and photographing their repetitive movements, my attention drifts to the horizon, towards the Ellsworth mountains. I notice Darren is gazing in that direction too.