the south pole is hard to reach. unlike the north pole, which is covered by the sea and flat sea-ice, the south pole is on a mountainous continent. this continent is called antarctica. it is covered by thick ice (more than a mile thick in the centre). the south pole is very high up, and is very windy. it is far from places where people live, and ships going there often have to find their way through thick sea ice. once ashore, land-travelling explorers have to travel more than a thousand miles to get to the pole. they must cross a floating ice shelf, then up onto the ice-covered land, up steep mountain glaciers covered in broken, twisted ice slowly sliding to the sea, and across a high level land ("plateau") covered in ice and swept by strong freezing winds.