In the same building was a pool table, which occupied much of the Russians time when they weren't working. We never quite figured out the rules to their version of the game; all the balls were the same color, and it appeared that any ball could be used to hit any other ball into any hole. One man kept going until he couldn't get anything else in, and then the table went back to his opponent.
The radio room at Vostok, where we could sometimes get in touch with McMurdo.
This is a view from the back of the generator shed. Inside this building was an extremely hot sauna ... too hot. Much of the area around the outside of the main buildings contained discarded vehicles and other broken equipment that could not be taken off of the ice sheet simply for lack of any way to get it there. While the U.S. program still flies into Vostok on a fairly regular basis it has been many years since the Russians could support aircraft flights of their own into the station. Nevertheless, each year that the station is occupied, a group traverses with a supply convoy, overland from Mirny station, several hundreds of km away on the coast. The traverse vehicles are so heavy, and the route has been travelled for so many years, that it can be seen in satellite imagery.
This WWII era tank is still in working order and used around the station. However, the huge treads and weight of the vehicle leave immense ruts in the surface. We often found our skidoos trapped in these deep ruts ... like a bobsled run ... as we tried to navigate our way around the station, to and from our worksite.