God what an awful place

When Scott finally arrived at the South Pole [just over 100 years ago], he found a tent left behind by Amundsen with a note chastising him for not arriving first.  He looked around and yelled, 'God what an awful place'

And so too is town.

The annual fuel tanker is off-loading its millions of gallons of petrol fuels - used for transportation across the continent so scientists can study global warming.
Above town there are numerous explosions as the blasters create their annual supply of gravel for use on the icy roads over winter.
Another wave of people has come into town, just as the summer crowd started to thin.  They are the 'winter-overs'; folks who have chosen to live in town during the austal winter.  Temperatures get to -80 and the sun won't make an appearance for several months, but amazingly some people come back year after year for it.