I saw a HEAD sticking out of the Antarctic ice… and it led me to an abandoned Soviet base hidden deep beneath the surface
A daring explorer has discovered an abandoned Soviet base deep beneath the surface of Antarctica after spotting a head poking out of the ice.
Chris Brown, 62, shared his terrifying ordeal as he traveled to the southernmost continent with his son, Mika, 28, after the pair were 'stuck' in -28°C conditions when their aeroplane Broken.
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The father of two children from Harrogate, North Yorkshireregularly shares discoveries from his wild adventures social media and has gone viral since the terrifying ordeal was revealed last week.
The clip shared online has left social media users stunned as Chris revealed an entire building is buried in it Antarctica.
And the only clue to this unique find was a gigantic bust of the first Russian leader Vladimir Lenin, standing out of the snow and ice in the most remote part of Antarctica known as the Pole of Inaccessibility.
The image is positioned towards Moscowbut it hasn't always been that way, Chris explains.
“The bust of Lenin stands on a wooden base. The rest of the building is not visible because it is under the ice,” he said.
“When the Russians put it there, they positioned his face so he was looking at Moscow.
“But apparently some American explorers who visited the site a few years after it was abandoned by the Russians turned the site around so it faced Washington.
“Not long after, the Russians sent an expedition back and turned the expedition around to face Moscow again.”
In the video uploaded to TikTokChris shared a slideshow of images of the discovery.
He notes that the bust was found during the couple's trip to the historic Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility in January 2023.
He also shows a photo of the 'unburied' version of the artefact, leaving viewers shocked.
“I didn't expect it to be buried THIS way,” one person said.
Someone else added: “There's a whole building under the bust????” [sic].
The statue stands on top of an old Soviet meteorological research station built in 1958.
The lower three-quarters are now completely buried under ice and snow.
Some features of the bust remain a mystery.
He added: “When we got there we had pretty good weather. It was only -30°C, while the average temperature at that location is -58°C, so we spent quite a bit of time looking at it.
“And on top of the wooden plinth there's a cable that's attached with a screw at the very top, and similarly there's a screw on the front and on the side and they're all connected together with cables.
“I was wondering what this is, since it came out of the height of the Cold War and the Russians were probably fed up with the Americans taking it back to Washington all the time.
“I wondered what those cables were, and what would have happened if we had tried to open that wooden box.”
Chris has embarked on a quest to become the first person to visit all seven of the world's land-based Poles of Inaccessibility and has almost succeeded in reaching five of the Poles so far.
That includes being the first person ever to use the African Pole – with only locations in the Arctic and Eurasia (Northwest China) other.
He set himself the monumental task after meeting other explorers at the regular South Pole in 2016, including the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.
Chris also met Hamish Hardingthe billionaire who died last year during the Titan submarine's voyage to the wreck of the Titanic.
Elsewhere, one of only three rare submarines in the world disappeared during an underwater hunt on the “Doomsday Glacier” in Antarctica.
The 23ft vehicle, worth £3million, was exploring the treacherous icy terrain when it disappeared without a trace earlier this month.
And Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to travel to Antarctica together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko amid tensions with the West.
The tyrant agreed to the icy escape after watching Russian polar explorers open a new wintering complex at the Vostok station last month during a video call with Europe's longest-serving president.
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