Thanks! Early polar pioneers will find the content of this thread crazy.

I feel obliged to say that while it gets cold over winter, the weather isn’t particularly bad by Antarctic standards; the coast is much worse. In places like McMurdo it can get bad enough that travel between buildings is prohibited, South Pole not so much. I also wintered for SPT which involves one of us going out to the telescope, daily. There were only a couple of days when it was marginal. Even then, winds and low visibility usually means cloud cover and warmer weather (-40 vs -90). The worst days are windy with clear skies.

As for darkness; consider a single day is stretched out over the year. There’s only a two months of astronomical night and the moon is up every couple weeks. You’re correct though, that the station is isolated between mid Feb and late October.