Prudhoe Bay Alaska run by a consortium of oil companies is and has been one of the proving grounds for experimental Snow Vehicles. The Oil companies spend more money in a single year on their operations there than are spent on the South Pole experiment stations collectively in 10 or 20 years, but unlike the South Pole the petrochemical industries get more out of the "North Slope" in a year than have gone into all the developments at the South Pole since the Scott Expedition. It's not quite as cold here, as temperatures run about 30 degrees colder on the south Pole.