---

Jeremy Sohlstrom spent four months living in a domed world with few windows, designed to keep out air as cold as -80º. Venturing outside for a scant few minutes would freeze his eyelashes together. Yet a few years later, he did it all over again.

Sohlstrom lived and worked at the geographic South Pole of Antarctica for two, four-month stints - the first in 1999 and then again in 2002.

He recently visited with students at Taylors Falls Elementary to tell them what it was like living literally at the end of the earth. He showed each group of students several slides to give them a good look at what it's like in such a barren, desolate part of the world.

Sohlstrom's home away from home wasn't an igloo, but the slides he showed of the large domed structure at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station look pretty close.

Inside the dome and other buildings surrounding it, he said, are all of the things a city needs to run its operations. The dome contains a fire station, cafeteria and galley, greenhouse, medical building, communications center and fuel storage building.

Sohlstrom said the greenhouse is unique because it has no windows. Artificial light simulating sunlight helps scientists grow vegetables without soil such as lettuce and cucumbers, fruit like tomatoes and even flowers.

The fuel storage building holds tanks full of airplane fuel, which is burned to generate the base's own electricity.

Sohlstrom's job during his first stint at the Pole was as a dishwasher. He worked 10-hour shifts, trying to clear what seemed like a never-ending pile of pots and pans on nearby counters.

"It was a good place to work though - it was always warm," Sohlstrom said. "Some of my friends had to work outside."

His job the second time there wasnt nearly as fun - cleaning toilets as a janitor. Still, Sohlstrom said, it was worth it.

There, far away from civilization, flown-in supplies are vital to supporting up to 200 or more people living at the Pole at any given time.

Cargo plans land between one and five times a day, Sohlstrom said, landing not on wheeled landing gear, but skis. Everything is quickly unloaded and the plan is loaded with outgoing supplies, even the base's garbage, before everything freezes up or the weather changes and the plane can't take off.

During the winter months, no planes can land because of the extreme weather conditions. So the base must be prepared to be totally self-sufficient for several months at a time.

Workers have limited contact with the rest of the world while living at the South Pole. Because it is so remote, there isn't cell phone service there, and use of phones to call home is very limited.

"We had one, ten-minute call a week, so I talked very fast when I called," Sohlstrom said. He was able to use computers in the communication center to stay in touch via email, however.

Sohlstrom was on the base during the summer. Still, he was outside in temperatures of -60º at times. He showed a slide of blowing soap bubbles that immediately froze and shattered on one such cold day. The mildest temps during his time there hovered around 7º.

Everyone had to be very careful to protect their skin against the elements, Sohlstrom said. He wasn't careful enough one day, and he paid for it by suffering frostbite on his toes.

When he wasn't working, Sohlstrom said they did have a little fun, even in the extreme cold.

"One day, our snow plow driver built us a big sledding hill," he said, showing a slide of people going airborne on plastic sleds.

They were also able to go down inside a plane that landed and wrecked about 30 years ago. Because the snow that falls every year never melts, the plane is now nearly completely buried by drifts. A small trap door and tunnel allow access down inside the plane, where the temperature is always about -50º.

They also had special snow bikes and a swing set at the base. Sohlstrom enjoyed seeing different expedition groups come to the base, particularly a Russian group that actually drove vehicles with large inner tube tires over the ice sheet.

There aren't any animals near the base, but he saw penguins, seals and a bird called a skua in a small town on the edge of Antarctica where the plane stops on its journey back to the U.S., Sohlstrom told kids when asked about animals. No polar bears at the South Pole, either, he added.

Sohlstrom's visit ties in with the school's theme of 'Reading is Ice-citing!' for February's "I Love to Read Month."

---