Antarctica
December 8th 1997 to February 11th 1998
Diary
December 8, 1997
At 04.00 hrs. in the night we sailed past Bouvet Island, but slept through it. The weather is much better today. The food grows tedious. No matter what is served, there's the same canteen taste about it all. You can only get instant coffee. But the mess service is good, with 2-3 people who really look after us there during meal times; there are 15 of us at table. We saw our first iceberg today at 16.15 hrs. on 57°45'S 02°36'E. It had a sloping side facing south and was covered with penguins, right up to the top. Birds swarm around the ship but we can't recognise any of them apart from the albatross, from its size. Dolphins swim alongside the ship and we've sighted a whale too.
Temperature: -0.5°C
Weather: Light breeze, cloudy patches and snow at 18.00 hrs.
Location: 59°05'S 02°19E' 22.00 hrs
Speed: 13.9 knots, we slowed down due to sporadic icebergs.
December 9, 1997
Last night at 23.00 hrs. the ship stopped due to electrical failure. The engine room control system had broken. At 08.00 in the morning it had been repaired and we set off again. We encountered the first "pancake ice," plates of sea ice that rub together. The ice grew thicker and thicker as the day progressed, but the ship hardly notices. In the afternoon we practised using the GPS equipment and entering the route to Wasa.
Temperature: -1.0°C
Weather: Cloudy but calm
Location: 62°35'S 1°27'E 12.38 hrs
Speed: 13.5 knots
December 10, 1997
At 06.30 hrs. came the morning call: "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" as usual. The ship was shaking from stem to stern. The ice is thicker now and almost continuous. Something is wrong with the ship's heating system and the cabin is freezing cold. We made hundreds of flags to use if we need to unload onto the sea ice. In the afternoon there was a tug-of-war contest which the Nordic team won. The prize was a beautiful cup made from a plastic Coke bottle.
Temperature: -.5°C
Weather: Cloudy in the morning, brighter in the evening. Saw the first sunset for a long time.
Location: 66°44'S 0°05'E 21.50 hrs
Speed: 13.5 knots
December 11, 1997
The ice is still growing thicker. Around us are seals, Emperor penguins, Adelie penguins, porpoises and swarms of birds such as snowy petrels. We take the GPS equipment out quite a lot; the Garmin and Magellan navigational equipment work perfectly here. We are heading through sea ice for most of the route to Sanea, when we will probably find a clear channel by the ice cap to Rampen. We won't be calling at Sanea until on the way back. Rampen is 716 km away as the crow flies. The research vessel Agulhas is just behind us, but we won't wait for it.
Agulhas will go straight to Sanea, while Outiniqua (the icebreaker) will go to Rampen and then to Sanea. Contact with the outside world is becoming unstable because of our location, and because we are continually changing course. But we did receive a fax this morning. The greatest optimists were starting to predict that we would reach Rampen on Friday. At 18.00 hrs. we changed course to 252°. At 20.30 hrs. a thick bar of ice was blocking our way. The skipper tried to ram it a few times, but eventually we got stuck in the ice at 69°33'84"S 1°41'17"W. Then came a sea-based initiation ceremony for those who had never crossed the Antarctic Circle before, a great experience but strictly confidential. We kill time by working with the GPS equipment, entering in coordinates and plotting them onto maps.
Temperature: -0.5°C
Weather: Sunny and bright
Location: 68°46'S 0°00' 12.38 hrs
Speed: 13.5 knots
December 12, 1997
This morning we were stuck in the ice, only 6.5 km from where we got stuck yesterday. It wasn't so serious this time, one of the two Puma helicopters was sent out to find a way out of it. They found a path before noon and we set off. The ship wound its way slowly through the ice, zigzagging by veering alternately to starboard and port.
The Garmin program comes in handy because we can manage to load coordinates into the computer for different expeditions at once. To everyone's surprise we reached Sanae at 19.00 hrs. The South African teams were flown ashore in three trips. The weather forced the last trip to land by the Agulhas research vessel, which reached Sanae 30 minutes after us because the ice forced us close to land sooner than we had planned. It was excellent weather where we were with a panoramic view, until clouds began rolling down from the land. There appeared to be a channel without much ice close to land, so we sailed towards the "Ramp" between giant icebergs in brilliant weather. The penguins stood and watched in curiosity as this monstrosity rolled over the place where they feed.
Temperature: -0.4°C
Weather: Light cloud, breeze
Location: 70°01'S 2°10'W 18.00 hrs
Speed: 15.2 knots
December 13, 1997
At 07.00 today we woke up and sailed on a perfectly smooth sea, past the German research station Georg von Nouemayer. We made good speed and at 21.00 hrs. in the evening we reached the sea ice next to the Ramp. We are still not in telephone contact.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Sunny with a light breeze.
Location: 72°25'S 16°30'W
December 14, 1997
Reached the rim of the ice at the Ramp, a gap in the ice cap which is more convenient for landing and is located in Queen Maud Land at 72°3'9S 16°39'W. Our first day in Antarctica. Most of the day was spent mooring the ship. We went out onto the sea ice with Piet Louwrens to look for cracks and find the best spot. We were lifted off the ship on the landing jetty, followed by two belt vehicles. Drilling into the ice revealed it to be around 180 cm thick. After we found a suspicious crack it was decided to move the ship 300 metres to the east
The Emperor penguins and Adelie penguins watched us and were very curious and tame. Tomas went by copter to open the Wasa research station, and Pelle Kirster and Aant went with him. Then we started unloading. First came one of the two belt vehicles and all the Finns' stuff, plus a few sledges that we had to assemble. We tried to take a nap while the mast was being repositioned, but got little sleep because we had to keep tabs on the radio.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Sunny with a light breeze.
Location: 72°25'S 16°30'W
December 15, 1997
Worked on unloading the ship. Around 02.00 hrs Malin came in and told us "lunch" was served, then we went on unloading afterwards. The containers were unloaded, and finally the trucks towards morning. We unfastened them, connected the batteries and started them up. Because there wasn't enough space to use a regular pump on the front wheels of the green one, Freyr did the trick with a vet's syringe in the valve, which took some time. The trucks went out on the sea ice and the containers were loaded back aboard.
Naturally we were very excited about starting driving and we took a few spins on the ice. It went well, but there were snow dunes on the ice. In the afternoon we took the skipper of the Outeniqa out for a drive with the first two other men we found, and on the way back they all had a turn at the wheel. Some cassettes and films were taken back to Cape Town for us; the ship is scheduled to arrive there on January 22. We set off heading south at 22.00 hrs. pulling a heavy trailer and a mobile hut on skis along behind us. We went to bed on the Ramp after driving 17 km on the sea ice.
Temperature: -11°C
Weather: Sunny with strong breeze
Location: 72°25'S 16°30'W
December 16, 1997
Drove to Wasa on a floating ice cap (Riser Larsen cap) for the greater part of our 150 km journey. Where the ice cap and the land ice meet there is a risk of big fissures. At 02.00 we woke up to a huge din when one of the Puma copters from the ship landed by us to deliver Tomas, who plans to drive one of the belt vehicles to Wasa.
At 09.00 hrs. Claes woke us up and a lot of work began on hitching the sledges behind us. Around 12.00 hrs. we set off with the belt vehicles, which were towing three sledges and carrying 20 barrels of oil. Their journey was a lot of bother and at 16.00 hrs. it was decided to send Freyr off in one of the trucks pulling the mobile hut on skis, and follow the tracks of the Finnish expedition which had gone on ahead. Jon set off with the second truck at 18.00 hrs. from the belt vehicles, which had made it 3 km from the Ramp and had released one sledge each.
The trucks made good progress on their journey despite the difficult driving conditions and had to keep up speed to float on the surface. The truck with the trailer managed 60 km an hour and the one with the hut 30. After 10 km of driving one of the skis came off under the mobile hut. It didn't take long to mend, but 7 km from Wasa it came off again, so we decided to leave the repairs until the next morning, and left the cabin behind. At 11.15 hrs. we reached Wasa after driving 153 km - Jon set a new land speed record on the Rampen-Wasa route! A warm welcome from the others who had arrived ahead of us by copter.
Temperature: -2°C daytime, -10°C evening.
Weather: Sunny, a little high cloud.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 17, 1997
At Wasa, a Swedish research station at 73°05'S 13°25'W, exactly 15,264 km from Reykjavik. It is located on the Mt. Basen nunatak, a peak standing 300m out of the ice in a mountain range called Vestfjella. A couple of hundred metres from Wasa is a Finnish research station, Aboa; together they form Camp Nordenskjöld. The main building, 17.5 x 7.6 m in surface area, is built on 1.5 m high pillars to keep it free from snowdrifts. It has four rooms, a large kitchen, lounge, shower, sauna and laundry room. Another building nearby houses the diesel generators and workshop. Solar energy and gas are used too. The station was built in the summer of 1988-89, in preparation for the EPICA project. We took out the scientific instruments and loaded them into the trucks. There has been talk of the environmental damage caused by belt-driven vehicles, and perhaps driving on snow-free ground will be prohibited. But soft tyres cause little damage. Special mats are used when fuelling, to prevent even a drop being spilt. I think we could learn a thing or two about pollution.
Woken up at 08.00hrs. At work on fixing up the station. In the afternoon we went to check out the trailer we left behind yesterday. We took two passengers along, because everyone wants to experience a truck drive. After a quick temporary repair to the ski, Epica expedition leader Anders and project leader Pelle joined us on their snowmobiles. We invited them to take a drive and they did 60 to 80 km an hour, and didn't stop until we met the belt vehicles 40 km from Wasa. We took some things from the containers that were needed in Wasa, then drove back there, pulling the mobile hut on skis behind us. Our guests loved the trucks. We were told Freyr had set a new Antarctic speed record at 110 kph. The trucks were put to yet another test in the evening. When a belt vehicle with a water tank for the station couldn't make it up the slope to the site, a Land Cruiser was called in to tow it up. By 23.00 hrs. the belt vehicles arrived at last, and their drivers said they'd never been in such bad driving conditions.
Temperature: -0°C to -10°C
Weather: Sunny, strong breeze in the morning and light breeze in the evening
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 18, 1997
Wasa. Preparations for the return of the belt vehicles to the Ramp. Filled up with diesel and motor fuel, then swapped some jet A1 from the trucks for old Arctic diesel. We put up flagpoles and are now flying the Icelandic flag with the others. Jon went with Pelle to do GPS measurements and almost got stuck in slush at the foot of Mt. Basen. Around dinner time, 4 men went on two belt vehicles to fetch the rest of the stuff down by the Ramp. The Icelandic modified truck expedition has impressed a lot of people here for speed and comfort; the trucks work incredibly well.
Temperature: -0°C to -10°C
Weather: Sunny and calm
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 19, 1997
When we woke up at 08.00 there was something new: snow and a whiteout, so we held a meeting and training sessions for most of the day. In the afternoon we went out and put a 1,000 litre water tank on the trailer, filled it up and drove it up to the station without the slightest trouble, up a very long and steep slope. Transporting the water has been quite a problem so far, since we've had to tow the belt-driven tanker up to the station. We are very impressed by what the trucks are capable of. After dinner Freyr climbed up to the top of high radio mast and managed to put us back into contact with the rest of the world. Now the phone, fax and e-mail work perfectly. We'll be in Wasa for the next few days, over Christmas. Later in the evening we were stacking up the food for our trip south, in sunshine.
Temperature: -3°C
Weather: Snow
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 20, 1997
The belt-vehicles returned from the Ramp at 03.00 in the morning, after fetching the containers that were left there on December 16. There's still a whiteout. We took both trucks on an expedition to Fossilryggen, 40 km away, to mark out a trail through the fissure zone for the group which is leaving for Svea tomorrow. After lunch we loaded the sledges, tankers, etc. Freyr and Claes worked into the night mending a leak on one of the belt vehicles.
Temperature: -5°C
Weather: Snow
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 21, 1997
The day began at 05.30 hrs. when we woke up. After breakfast we continued loading the belt vehicles and watertankers, preparing for the convoy to Svea where part of the team will begin drilling.
December 23, 1997
Jon went with Pelle to take measurements on the slope up to the Wasa station, to check for fissures there and see whether outflow from the building has any environmental impact. Meanwhile, Freyr made a table for the scientific equipment and another for the computer in the truck, so that Pelle can work on it while travelling. In the afternoon we went to fetch water from the ice at the foot of the mountain. We take a 1,000-litre tank on our trailer, drive there to find the hole that has been cut in the ice, and pump up the water through a 1" tube using the truck's 220 V generator, using the time while we wait to take photographs. The scenery is beautiful: Plogen in the distance, with Basen, the mountain range where the Wasa station is located, towering above us. There is a little belt-driven tractor at the station, equipped with a glycerine-driven pump, which we use to transfer the water from the truck to the tank in the building. Jon is making meatballs from 4 kg of mince, which we'll live on for the next few days; that's Christmas food for the Swedes. We're thinking about making a Christmas tree from plywood, all we need to do is find some green paint. Pelle and Anders put black garbage bags over the windows to try to create a Christmassy atmosphere. Merry Christmas to everyone back home!
Temperature: -5°C
Weather: Low fog in the morning, later sunny and strong breeze
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 27, 1997
The day was spent at work. Jon helped Pelle try to block out interference to the ice sonar. They put the amplifiers outside the truck but that didn't work, nor did turning off the VHF relay or anything else. Freyr made a fixture to fix the Inmarsat-B phone antenna to the mast and had to strengthen the antenna itself so that it can withstand the wind. Another fixture was made for the container we'll be staying in on the plateau. The Finns came over in the evening and Pelle gave a talk on glaciology. There's a lot of bother in Svea, where it's too warm for drilling. We're thinking of moving the EPICA drill as best we can, and drilling at Svea later, because it starts getting colder towards the end of January. We plan to go to Svea on January 1 and up onto the plateau on January 3. It's sure to be cold there.
Temperature: -2°C
Weather: Sunny and calm
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 28, 1997
Jon slogged away helping Pelle to get rid of the interference, without much luck, because one of the re-amplifiers isn't working. They drove around in the truck to test it, switching the equipment on and off, but without any success. Doctor Malte and Professor Aant went up on the roof and managed a fair repair job considering the conditions. But they had trouble melting the tar for the roof in this cold. They came back black all over and I certainly wouldn't fancy meeting the doctor on the operating table in that state. Freyr hung up on the mast for half the day, trying to rig up the Intmarsat-B antenna, and had a lot of bother, because the antenna had to be hoisted up on blocks. The wind was a problem too: the antenna had to be held in place to stop it swinging against the mast, and the mast swung around in the wind too, so he was half-seasick up there. Fortunately that's nothing new. It was quite cold, but eventually the antenna was fixed and functions perfectly. We've been wearing windstopper fleece clothing from Max, which is great in this weather. We're relatively lightly dressed compared with the others and it's very comfortable for this sort of work.
Temperature: -5°C
Weather: Sunny, wind force 6.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 29, 1997
At work preparing to head south. We loaded the sledges and repaired faults, for example we found out that the bridle was broken on the sledge which was supposed to carry the containerized hut we'll be staying in. Claes welded it, so hopefully we won't suddenly find ourselves homeless when we set off. The hut is getting into shape, the snow's been shovelled out and the broken windows boarded over. We used the winch on one of the trucks to tow the sledge into place, until the hut could be lowered onto it in the right position. Radar measurements are going quite badly, because of disturbances to the equipment every time we test it. Radar measurements are made by keeping the truck engine at 1,100-1,200 revs using the manual fuel injection, linking up the 220 V generator and driving off at a predetermined speed, which we try to maintain whatever happens. This can be difficult when driving conditions vary. We're fairly optimistic about getting rid of the disturbance, after putting metal panelling around the instruments. The blue truck looks quite a sight with antenna all over the place; we call it the Albatross because of its wingspan. We received bad news from Svea: the drill isn't functioning any more and they don't know what's wrong. Robert Mulvaney, who built the drill, is with the British drilling team up on the plateau in the direction of Halley. We're trying to contact him for information.
Temperature: 0°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3).
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
December 30, 1997
Preparations for heading south are in full swing, stacking barrels of fuel, loading the sledges, doing truck maintenance and fetching water. We're working until midnight. The food is packed, and so is the food that will be left behind in Wasa. Everything that needs to be kept frozen is lowered into a crevasse on the route up the mountainside. The slope is covered with fissures. We found another crevasse which is 10 metres deep and 1 to 1.5 metres wide, at a temperature of -15°C. Makes an ideal freezer, with plenty of room. The drillers are still stumped about what's wrong, but we've contacted Robert Mulvaney who's at 75°S 10°W and they're trying to solve the problem. It's very important, because drilling forms such a large part of the scientific work.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3), drifting snow.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
New year's eve, December 31 1997
Judging from Robert's information, the fault in the drill is probably not serious. The plan is to send the truck team to Svea as fast as possible because we have plenty of tools which Tomas and Freyr can use to try to repair it. We've been loading spare parts into the trailer. Freyr made yet another climb up the mast, fetched the Inmarsat-M phone antenna and fixed it to the old mobile hut. Everything's ready for the journey south. In the evening we had a fine meal: lobster and white wine as a hors d'oeuvre, fillet of beef and red wine for the main course and kalhua cake, coffee and cognac for dessert. At midnight we went out to let off old distress rockets and flares. It's rather strange letting off New Year fireworks in broad daylight and sunshine. We were fairly sure no one would see us, because the flares are only visible within a 200 km radius. After phoning home we visited the Finns at Aboa during the night. We heard that the Icelandic cross-country skiers were expected to reach the South Pole on New Year's Day. It might prove difficult for us to keep in contact for the next few days, when we're travelling on the plateau. Happy New Year!
Temperature: -4°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3), drifting snow.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 2, 1998
We woke up at 08.30 in the morning when the belt-driven vehicles arrived from Wasa. The crew went to sleep and Freyr and Tomas started fixing the drill. After a lot of bother they managed to take it apart and found out that a bearing had gone rusty and got stuck. They removed the bearing and boiled it in motor oil, then took it to pieces and polished it with steel wool. Then they reassembled everything and lubricated it. This was a 90% repair job in our opinion. We took the Dutchmen and one German out for a drive. In the afternoon we boiled the sonar antenna fixture for the "Albatross" and reinforced it. Meanwhile we started the loading and packing. In the evening it turned out that there was a broken front spring in one of the trucks, but Freyr and Claes managed to make clips and bolt them down to hold it together.
Temperature: -5°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 74°35'S 11°13'W
January 3, 1998
Set off at 13:00 hrs. The South Africans from the Sanae station planned to visit us on 2 Puma helicopters to look at the trucks and try them out. The trip takes 5 hours by helicopter both ways. They were going to drop Pelle off to look at the fissures in Kiberg valley on the way, then meet up with us. Our trip went well, but driving conditions varied. Sometimes there was briny snow under ice cover that couldn't hold the weight of the trucks, but most of the time we managed a speed of 30-60 km for the middle part of the trip. After driving half the way, Jon had to return almost all the way to Svea because the South Africans' helicopter had broken down and they'd had to postpone the trip. We had to wait 4 hours for the belt-driven vehicles before we could bed down at the foot of the slope.
Temperature: -7°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 74°46'S 12°24'W
January 4, 1998
We went up Kiberg valley in convoy with the belt-driven vehicles towards the slope. The slope is 5 km long and quite steep, really a pass between the Sivorg and Tottan mountains in the Heimefrontfjell range. The valley is about 30 km long, rising from 1300 m to over 2000 m above sea level up to the South Pole plateau. It was quite easy to ascend the slopes, even with a trailer in tow. We drove at a speed of 40 km for most of the time, but a little slower on a zastruga part halfway along. The top slope was the most difficult and the truck with the trailer had to shift down to middle gear for a while. Once we were up we waited for the belt vehicles for hours. Kiberg valley is amazingly beautiful and the snow up there is totally smooth. The trucks sink 5 cm into it, it's a 4WD paradise and we're thrilled to have made it up here on Icelandic modified trucks.
Temperature: -9°C
Weather: Wind (force 5) and sunny.
Location: 75°'S 11°47'W
January 5, 1998
Started driving along "Highway 75" to 10°W where we measured 10 km strips at intervals of 500 metres on both trucks using the ice sonar and GPS. Suddenly we heard unclear radio messages that the belt-driven vehicles were in trouble. After trying to establish contact Freyr drove down to the convoy, while Jon and Per Holmlund went on with the measurements. Lower down the radio contact improved and it turned out that the front drive on one of the belt-driven vehicles had broken. We removed the drive and took it apart, to find a broken comb and pinion. Things looked bleak: spare parts were over 300 km away, in Wasa. Faced with a delay of several days, we decided finally that two people would go on sledges and fetch the new drive. The trucks would take the necessary drilling equipment using trailers and head for the drilling area ahead of them. Pelle and Jon went on a great measuring expedition in the evening, all over the area south of the camp.
Temperature: -4°C
Weather: Sunny and mild but snowed in the evening.
Location: 75°S 10°20'W
January 6, 1998
We now started re-loading the sledges and our trailer, putting our spare parts on a sledge and some drilling equipment and a large tent in the trailer. We took food supplies to last 7 days, refuelled the trucks and at 14:55 we set off on a 4WD safari on the South Pole plateau. When we had driven some 50 km of the scheduled 158, driving conditions began to worsen considerably and our speed went down to 15-20 km/h. In addition we were having trouble with dirt in the diesel. We had taken old fuel in Svea which seemed to contain a lot of water, and we alternately had to change and clean the filters. The crew on the belt-driven vehicles had the same problems and were worried because they only had four spare filters whereas we had twelve. We arrived at the drilling site at 23:00 hrs., location 76°S and 8°03'W. This site had been decided at the last minute, bearing in mind the British and German drilling crews. It was absolutely untouched wilderness wherever we looked except for our tracks in the north. We contacted the Aboa station by HF and asked them to forward the message to our colleagues on the belt-driven vehicles that we had arrived and all was well. We put the large drilling tent up (10x4 m), which took through the night until 4 o'clock.
Temperature: -17°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny.
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 7, 1998
Up at 12.00. The five of us were happy with conditions in the drilling tent where we were sleeping and set up a kitchen, dining room, etc. We even constructed a shelf system with cardboard boxes: high morale and model cooperation. We dug three holes to drill into, take measurements and store samples, and we drilled on and on until we had accidentally dropped a screwdriver down a 16-metre hole. We tried various methods to get the screwdriver up. We unscrewed a loudspeaker from one of the trucks and tried to fish the screwdriver out with the magnet, but it didn't work. A sad group of drillers went to sleep on that night at 24:00 hrs. and in -22°. And it's cold to dig a hole and obey the call of nature.
Temperature: -22°C
Weather: NW breeze (force 3) and sunny.
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 8, 1998
Up at 8:00 hrs. Freyr drove to mark out the corners of a 20x20 km square and the blue truck was used as a platform for the measuring equipment. It was a slow trip. Driving conditions seemed to have worsened in the sunny, calm weather so the average speed was only 5 km/h. The others started drilling a new 20-metre hole instead of the one with the screwdriver in. Freyr returned having driven 34 km, even though his speedometer showed 60 km. The difference is accounted for by spinning. We finished the hole at 22:00 hrs. We praised our fine conditions in the tent and didn't miss the living quarters or the heat on the sledges. The belt-driven vehicles arrived around midnight when we had put up signs in our tracks saying "Do not disturb". Freyr ran out immediately when the vehicles arrived, since January 8 is his wife Kristjana's birthday. He spent a few minutes adjusting the antenna of the Inmarsat-M telephone and when he finally got in touch it was 5 past midnight, but his beloved forgave him. We heard some amazing stories from Tomas and Martin's trip to fetch the drive. Shortly after leaving the vehicles they hit low fog and could see nothing apart from the tracks beside the sledges. They arrived in Wasa after driving for 10 hours. There they slept for a few hours and got ready to return with the drive. Tapio, the Finnish team leader, wanted them to wait because a storm was expected.
January 10, 1998
We sleep in two containers which take six people each, they make very comfortable living quarters with kitchen facilities, a toilet and a shower. They are towed on sledges by the Hoglund belt vehicles, which also tow the fuel and scientific equipment. We also have a trailer with 44" tyres to use for transportation. The temperature here can go down to -50°C. Average temperature is around -25°C, and although the very dry air means we do not feel it that badly, dry skin can be a problem, especially on the hands and feet. Jon went off to take measurements with Pelle and Knud, planning to use the ice sonar and precision GSP equipment. They followed the tracks that Freyr's truck had made a few days before. Driving along it was all right, but once they left the track it proved impossible to maintain an even speed, which is essential for ice sonar and snow radar measurements. So they decided to turn back and use the belt-driven vehicles instead. All afternoon was spent transferring the equipment from the truck into the belt-driven vehicle and then making trial drives. Claes, the driver, said they couldn't manage more than 25 km per hour because of the difficult conditions (the belt-driven vehicle had been completely emptied except for two barrels of fuel). The snow is very tough for both driving and walking. There is a surface crust which sometimes breaks and sometimes doesn't, but when it does the snow underneath is like sugar and impossible to get a grip on. Walking is very difficult, you break the crust and slip around with every step you take, and the altitude soon causes breathlessness and fatigue. Freyr worked with the deep drill all day, and by 19:00 hrs. had gone to a depth of 24.9 metres.
Temperature: -14°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 11, 1998
South Pole veterans say that if a piece of equipment can possibly break down, it will. Pelle went to do some measurements on the belt-driven vehicle towing a generator along behind it to exclude interference, which had been a problem both on the belt-driven vehicles and the trucks with the 220 V dynamos inside them. Soon afterwards he returned because of equipment failure: something went bang and nothing would work afterwards. Around midday the cable supporting the drill became damaged and had to be shortened, which took hours. Then we heard that the hydraulic steering on one of the belt-driven vehicles had broken. Freyr worked on the drill and spliced the cable, while Jon worked on the vehicles and other equipment.
Temperature: -20°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3)
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 12, 1998
The day was spent using the deep drill. We drilled down to 70 metres, which was quite a struggle because the drill was always filling up with snow and ice and jamming up. The steering wheel on one of the belt-driven vehicles does not work. We changed the pump, but nothing happened. It turned out that the reels inside the wheel connecting it to the pump were broken. In the evening we discussed what to do and a lot of suggestions were made. Pelle's radar isn't working yet and he grows gloomier every day because so much depends on it. We heard news from Svea that team leader Anders and photographer Johann were having a rough time, the bins that had been tied together and secured had overturned and all kinds of garbage had blown around all over the place. So off they went to Mother Nature's rescue and chased the garbage around the whole valley on a snowmobile. Martin installed a weather station, but it isn't functioning properly and we need information from Europe to get it up and running.
Temperature: -14°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny.
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 13, 1998
Jon, Freyr and Aant formed a team to use the small drill. It's the same kind of drill we've often used on Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland for Glacier Research Society projects. The scientists were pleased that we are used drilling, and Freyr was put on scientific tasks: weighing, measuring and packing samples and writing reports, while Jon and Aant drilled for all they were worth. At a depth of 16.2 metres the drill got completely stuck. We pulled and struggled and ended up heating 20 litres of antifreeze (50/50 mixture) which we poured down through a hose. Then we took the belt-driven vehicle over and pulled the drill with the crane. After 20 minutes there was a loud bang and the strap on the crane broke. By then the drill was looser and we kept on at it until it came up, much to everyone's delight. Before evening we sawed plastic tubes into suitable lengths for the reefer container. Tomas spent all day making two wedges from one of Dr. Malte's surgical tongs and inserted them into the steering pump reel, then glued everything together with epoxy. We were optimistic about this repair.
Temperature: -18°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 14, 1998
At last we had somewhere to go. Jon, Freyr and Aant on the drilling team were assigned the task of driving 14 km from the camp to drill a 13-metre borehole for samples. We drove along old tracks and managed 40 km per hour. It was precarious, though, because if you left the tracks the truck sank down to the frame. We made a quick, efficient 13.3-metre borehole, boxed the samples and took them back to the ice research lab camp. When we arrived Malte and Tomas had been busy cooking.
Menu: Hors d'oeuvres: Lobster fried in garlic. Main course: Fried South African beef with gravy á la Malte, onions and potatoes. Dessert: Ice cream with rum and raisins. Drinks to order. The deep drills reached a depth of 100 metres this evening. The pump in the belt-driven vehicle still doesn't work, but tomorrow we'll find out whether the repair didn't hold or whether there is air in the system.
Temperature: -18°C
Weather: Breeze (force 5) and sunny
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 15, 1998
Last night the temperature was -34°C. The thermometer inside our mobile hut is broken and we turn off the heating at night so it doesn't steam up like a sauna. It's cold to get up in the mornings when the temperature is zero inside and it's very humid too. Staying in a tent would really be better.
The drilling team's task for the day was to drill at a new site. After waiting for the thermometer we set off. Once we've drilled a hole we insert a thermometer to a depth of ten metres and leave it there overnight, which gives us an approximation of the mean temperature over the year. Driving conditions have improved somewhat, perhaps because of how cold it was last night, and we managed to maintain 20 km per hour in fresh tracks. Then we drilled a ten-metre borehole in fine weather. Freyr measures the density of the samples, while Lars from the Norwegian team measures their conductivity when we bring them back to the camp. Pelle's radar still isn't functioning and the repair to the steering pump seems to have broken. It sprayed out hydraulic fluid to begin with, then went dead. The deep drill has reached a depth of 117 metres and the team using it are delighted.
Temperature: -22°C
Weather: Breeze (force 4) and sunny
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 17, 1998
Off we went to drill as usual: it's routine now. We planned to have a champagne toast to celebrate drilling 100 metres in total with the small drill, because we only had 1.5 metres left when we started. Unfortunately all the champagne was finished so we took along three beer cans instead. We drank a toast to 100 metres but the beer kept freezing, you couldn't manage more than two sips out of each can. After drilling today we had finished a total of 112 metres. Our e-mail has been down, probably the server in Gothenburg. We tried to send text and photos to Iceland and Sweden all day, but had no luck and we seem to have lost all computer contact. There was a lot of messing around with the belt-driven vehicle, which was playing up, and in the end the steering wheel shaft broke.
Temperature: -22°C
Weather: Strong breeze (force 5), snow and cloudy
Location: 76°'S 8°03'W
January 18, 1998
Next stop is Svea, so we spent the day gathering up our stuff and taking down the drilling tent, which is a huge operation. We loaded the trailer with equipment destined for Wasa, refuelled the trucks and checked them. The blue one needed 500 ml of lubricant and the belt driving the 220-volt dynamo had to be tightened, while the green one needed a little hydraulic fluid. Claes and Tomas worked on the belt-driven vehicle for most of the day. They welded the ratchet on the axle of the pump, tore the steering mechanism apart and welded the wheel shaft together. After blood, sweat and tears the vehicle finally started acting properly, which was a great relief to them. Our spares and other equipment will be sent by sledge to Svea, where we can collect them if we return to 76°S. There's talk of doing some measurements with the ice sonar if it can be made to function properly. We're leaving two barrels of fuel behind here for that purpose, and another eight at 75°S 10°W.
Temperature: -31°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 76°'S 8°03'W
January 19, 1998
It went on getting colder, autumn is rapidly approaching. During the night the temperature went down to -37°C. Most of us have fairly big beards which freeze quickly and pull hard if you try to stop smiling.
We continued packing and loading the sledges and trucks until noon. Around 15:00 hrs. the convoy of belt-driven vehicles set off, but the truck team stayed behind because the thermometer in the borehole didn't show what we expected and had to be left down there for longer. We've kept the HF radio and Inmarsat mini-M, which functions pretty well up here, even though all the satellite communications experts said it wouldn't. The crystals in the ice pit had grown to quite a size, they looked like eiderdown and sparkled in all colours of the rainbow in the evening sun. We went out to the last borehole to fetch the thermometer, and at 22:00 hrs. we said goodbye to our drilling site in the wilderness, with some regret. We took radar measurements on the way back and overtook the convoy at 02:00 hrs. Driving conditions improved steadily and towards the end we were doing up to 60 km/h. At 04:00 hrs. we reached "Highway 75" (75°S 10°W) and went to bed there in the trucks.
Temperature: -33°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 76°S 8°03'W
January 20, 1998
We woke up when the convoy arrived at 09:00 hrs., then moved into the mobile hut to sleep some more. Claes and Tomas had slept in the hut on the way and started piling up a fuel dump for us if we go back with the ice sonar and for other expeditions too. When we woke up at noon the mound was 5 metres high with room for a vehicle on it and 20-30 barrels. We stacked the barrels on the mound and left 21 barrels of Jet A1 there. Then we refuelled the trucks and reloaded the belt-driven vehicles yet again, to compensate for the weight of the fuel we'd left behind. The convoy left at 17:30 hrs. but we stayed an extra hour taking GPS measurements, then soon caught up with them. On the way we made a few stops, read (Halldor Laxness) and listened to music (Mark Knopfler). In between we drove in bursts and overtook the convoy. Kiberg valley looked beautiful in the midnight sun. Once we were down past the valley we stopped taking measurements and left the belt-driven vehicles behind, at 03:00 hrs. Then we drove to Svea at up to 70 km/h, but when we approached the station the storm had left a zastruga surface and our speed went down to 30 km. We arrived at 05:00 hrs. and went to sleep in the trucks.
Temperature: -32°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 75°S 10°W
January 21, 1998
Woke up in the trucks after a good sleep. Anders and Johann welcomed us and we greeted the Dutch team. The belt-driven convoy arrived at 08:00 hrs. Most of them were fast asleep, because there was no chance of sleeping in the mobile huts on skis on the way. Everything inside went flying all over the place. We started unloading and pitched the drilling tent.
Temperature: -16°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 74°35'S 11°13'W
January 22, 1998
While we were getting the drilling started it emerged that the front suspension on the green truck had broken again. It was sitting fairly well so we took it out, removed part of the coil and strapped the other two parts together with wire. Since the coil was quite a lot shorter than it should have been, we made an iron brace to mount above it, and now the suspension should start working again. In the evening we played golf, Jon taught Freyr the rudiments of the game.
Temperature: -15°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 74°35'S 11°13'W
January 23, 1998
Left Svea and the drilling team, via Fossilryggen for Wasa. We were disturbed from our sleep by the South Africans calling us up over the radio. They'd just arrived in the Puma helicopter from Sanae to take a look at the trucks. This meant that people could be flown back to Wasa while copter team leader John Hetting and their head of transportation went part of the way with us by truck. They loved the trucks, especially how comfortable and quiet they are, and they saw the potential for quick transportation of personnel. We managed to show them a bit of speed near Svea, but later on we had to cruise at 20 km/h because of the zastruga. The helicopter landed beside us around noon and they went back to Sanae, pleased with what they'd seen. The fact that they'd flown a helicopter for three hours to see us shows just how interested people are in this new means of polar transport. People from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Holland, Germany and South Africa have all tried them out. We continued to Wasa, making slow progress because of the zastruga. When we reached Fossilryggen, Knut and Aant were exhausted on their snowmobiles. After a short rest we continued and driving conditions improved, so we managed up to 100 km/h. We reached Wasa at 23:45 hrs. after 23 days out in the wilds. The left suspension on the green truck is in three parts now. Those coils never break back in Iceland, maybe they can't withstand the cold.
Temperature: -16°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: En route from Svea to Wasa
January 24, 1998
Relaxation, did little. Fetched some water and climbed the antenna to adjust it. Tonight we've invited the Finns over to have something nice for dinner.
Temperature: -16°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 25, 1998
It emerged that one of the rear suspension coils on the "Albatross" truck is broken in two places. We removed the intact rear coil from the green truck and fitted it on the blue one. Now we have two rear coils that are broken in two places and a front one that has been patched. West of Basen there is a great gulch in the side of the mountain, and we went to explore it. Freyr donned a rope and gathered up all kinds of ice-climbing equipment. The Finns had set up a cable for lowering people into the gulch. Freyr, Tomas and Johann lowered themselves down with three Finns and found a fantasy landscape of ice and cliffs. There were overhanging snowdrifts on the west side with icicles many metres long.
At the bottom were shallow fissures with water flowing in them. Right inside the gulch was a narrow gully with the best skating rink you could imagine on it. Jon took photos from the edge and the proportions were breathtaking, the men down there looked the size of insects. Freyr and the others climbed up with the help of ice pegs. Fish and white wine for dinner.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 26, 1998
Jon helped Pelle with the radar and Freyr fixed together the broken coils with fencing material and 8 mm bolts, then swapped them for the ones under the trailer. The trailer suspension coils on the green truck need dealing with next.
They're a little shorter and take a smaller payload, so they need fitting with blocks to raise the truck to the same height as before. After looking everywhere we found some suitable material; there's not really much of a selection around here. Finally we found a metal plate that could be bent round in a circle. We had to bend it against the hook on one of the sledges, which cost us blood, sweat and tears. Dinner consisted of salmonella special with ice cream for desert. Then a sauna and we went off to Aboa for the evening movie, a Norwegian spy film with Finnish subtitles.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 27, 1998
Freyr kept on repairing the suspension and welded the iron plates together using three batteries and some jump leads. It worked, and by the afternoon the elevation blocks were ready and the coils were controllable. Great blocks, but heavier than the aluminium ones from the Toyota agent. They were mounted on the green truck along with the coils from the trailer, and sat well. Jon and a Finnish technician helped Pelle with the radar and all their toil has paid off at last, because the ice sonar is more or less functional now. We Icelanders did the cooking today, porridge for breakfast, mushroom soup and rye crackers for lunch, and for dinner a 4 kg loin of beef, probably the rear drive of a '97 model South African bull. Coated potatoes and jam to go with it, which the Swedes thought was a peculiar combination but liked it all the same.
Temperature: -10°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 28, 1998
Jon helped Pelle with the radar and they did quite a lot of successful measurements. Freyr changed the oil filters and gave the green truck a thorough oil check. We also went to fetch water taking the trailer with the reassembled suspension, and it worked well. A tonne of water on the trailer and the coils stood the strain. You can't help feeling a bit homesick when things quieten down like this, it's a long time to spend away from your nearest and dearest. It will surely get worse when we board the ship and there's nothing left to do but wait to get home. The plan now is to return to the drilling site on the plateau on February 1 and make some ice sonar measurements there. Five of us using two trucks and we'll be quick about it, five to seven days.
Temperature: -9°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 29, 1998
Freyr made a quick trip with Malin just south of Fossilryggen to find a zastruga. That was easy enough, but then they had to dig a 1.5 metre pit with a smooth vertical wall from which they took samples at intervals of 4 cm down and 10 cm across. Absolute hygiene is vital and Malin wore a special suit with a face-mask and filter apparatus. Freyr had to stay downwind with the truck to eliminate any distorting impact. The snow samples were stored in sterilized cans and special bags. After that they dug across to the other wall from the other side until only a 5 cm strip was left standing. The sun shone through it to reveal the strata, a brilliant sight. Jon made thousands of measurements with Pelle.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 30, 1998
The convoy of belt-driven vehicles arrived at the new drilling site at 08:00 hrs. and the team went straight to bed. The drilling site is about 10 km south of Wasa. They were exhausted after driving over all the zastrugas, especially Martijn who had slipped on the ice and broken one of his ribs in Svea. Freyr fetched water because we expected the team to need to take showers and wash their clothes. At 14:00 hrs. we woke them up and started pitching the drilling tent and positioning the drill. The mobile hut on skis that we'd stayed in was a total mess: cupboards and drawers had broken off in all the commotion and it looked like a building site inside there. The steering-wheel of one of the vehicles had broken yet again. We changed the 220 V system in the blue truck. It had been running a lot and the voltage was low and intermittent. When the group was reunited we held a big fish dinner.
Temperature: -7°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and cloudy
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
January 31, 1998
Early in the morning Freyr went to the drilling site with Johann and Aant for their day's work. On the way back to Wasa the suspension on the green truck starting playing around and it turned out that the front coil was broken for the third time, with little hope of repair any more. It's far too short now and looks cracked right through. Pelle's radar isn't functioning properly and there's talk of cancelling the trip to the plateau. Tonight there's a conference. Aboa is the venue and the topic is research on Queen Maud Land over the past ten years. Our fuel consumption seems to be down to less than 30 litres per 100 km on the smooth, hard terrain around here at Basen.
Temperature: -7°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and cloudy
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 1, 1998
We started by overhauling the blue truck, changing the oil filter and fuel filter. The engine oil is fine so that doesn't need changing, but we checked all the boxes and oiled them where necessary. After lunch we tried to connect Pelle's radar to the green truck and decided we should swap over the 220 V systems, because the one in the green truck seems to cause less disturbance. Then Jon went with Pelle to do some ice sonar and snow radar measurements. They drove back and forth in a rectangle 20 km N/S and 10 W/E with 1.8 km intervals. GPS measurements need making too, and then we have to drive them to specific spots at specific latitudes and longitudes to find pipes that were stuck into the snow on earlier expeditions. A GPS receiver is mounted on each one and we go to them all in turn, then back to remove the receivers, which have to stand for at least an hour. Pipes can be hard to find in the snow plains, but they have to be found because they reveal the creep velocity of the ice. Knut from Norway is in charge of the GPS measurements. Freyr is making yet another attempt to mend the coil on the green truck.
Temperature: -5°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 2, 1998
Jon, Pelle and Knut set off for Svea and got about half-way. On the way a front suspension spring on the blue truck broke, which wouldn't have been surprising with all that zastruga terrain, except that in fact it broke where the surface was perfectly smooth. We measured both routes using the ice sonar and snow radar with the aim of finding the GSP coordinates mid-way to Svea, but we couldn't find the pipe which should have marked it. That day, Freyr was working at the Wasa station.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 3, 1998
We took a suspension spring from the green truck and fitted it in the blue one. Jon, Pelle and Knut then went to take some measurements east of Baden in low fog. Freyr continued to work on the suspensions, reassembling the spring from the blue truck with spoked electrical clamps and installing it in the green one. The green truck is becoming rather low, but things are working out fine since the big Land Cruiser shock absorbers are so resilient. We've been driving more slowly to protect the springs, doing only 60-70 km per hour instead of 100 or more. All the same, we still manage faster speeds than the motorized sledges and all the other vehicles around here.
Weather: Snow in the evening
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 4, 1998
Jon, Pelle and Ebbe from the Finnish team drove the 220 km to Svea in cloudy weather. The surface looked smooth but actually it wasn't, there were zastrugas all the way. We could see Mt. Hemafront bathed in sunshine 170 km away as we ascended the ice cap above Fossilryggen. Here you can see over vast distances if nothing is blocking the view, because there's no dust or pollution in the air. For example, all the landmarks around Schaffenbergbotten come into sight when it's still 70 km away. We were given a warm welcome by the Dutch team in Svea and they invited us to dinner. But there wasn't room for us to sleep indoors, so Pelle and Ebbe slept in a tent, and Jon in the truck. Freyr went with Knut to take some GSP measurements down on the cape in the direction of Rampen and the marker poles were easy to find. They came back around 15:00 hrs and Freyr worked at the Wasa station, fetched water and shuttled people to and from the drilling site. Knut and Freyr took care of dinner, an improvised stew.
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 5, 1998
Hospitable as ever, the Dutchmen invited us to breakfast. After fixing the radar we said our farewells; the belt-driven vehicles will come to collect them on February 10. On the way back we saw all the snow dunes that we couldn't see yesterday, until we'd gone 40 km past Mt. Fossilryggen when the visibility became similar again. There wasn't a shadow to be seen on the surface and it looked completely smooth, but it wasn't. Freyr worked at loading the sledges. The mobile hut on skis which broke down on the way from Rampen was dismantled and put into a 20-foot container, along with an old sledge and iron junk to fill it up. Tonight Tomas and Claes will make their first trip down to Rampen on the belt-driven vehicles, carrying the expedition team's luggage.
Temperature: -15°C
Weather: Gentle breeze (force 1) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 6, 1998
Jon drove crews to the drilling site and brought them back, took care of lunch and helped Pelle with dinner. Checked the truck and filled the tanks. Freyr fetched some water, then went for a filming session with Johann who is making a documentary. A lot of driving needs to be done to and from the drilling site, and the trucks are very suitable for that job. Then he checked and lubricated the Terry (belt-drive vehicle) and filled the generator tank with diesel; there's always plenty of work at a station like this. Pelle and Jon cooked a tasty seafood soup for dinner. Coffee and brandy afterwards. The team with belt-driven vehicles is doing fine, but news came that there's no sea ice by Rampen anymore, so the ship might have trouble docking by the ice rim.
Temperature: -10°C
Weather: Calm and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 7, 1998
Freyr and Aant set off with the small drill on the green truck and set a new record: it only took them an hour and a half to make a 10-metre core sample. These were two 10-metre boreholes, at 6.5 km northwest and southeast from the deep borehole, to help compare samples with Pelle's snow radar measurements. Jon took some radar measurements with Pelle and broke one of the front suspension springs while driving slowly and on a very smooth surface. One of the places he went was "The Plough," a beautiful mountain visible from Wasa at 20 km away.
Temperature: -10°C
Weather: Breeze (force 5) , sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 8, 1998
The spring from the blue vehicle was patched up with electrical clamps. Then we set off to take some radar measurements with new aerials, sensitive and ugly things. This involved measuring a 50 x 50 m square which we drove right across at 50 cm intervals. It was quite tough to keep a straight line, the best technique was to treat it like a swing in a game of golf: straight on and right through before turning. Freyr fixed a smashed door-lock on the Terry, which is a Finnish belt-driven vehicle with the same sort of steering as the Ferguson that Icelandic hydrologists used to drive, and is difficult to control with no load on the trailer. Freyr carved out a wooden sign which said "Reykjavik 15,265 km", to add to the huge signpost in Wasa showing the distance to various places where other expeditions have come from. When Freyr went to fetch the team from the drilling site, the left front spring broke for the fourth time. This was our tenth broken spring in all.
Temperature: -12°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) , patchy cloud
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 9, 1998
We rebuilt the spring yet again and replaced a worn dowel on the blue truck. It was a fairly easy job, so we had time to put up the road sign, which had fallen down in a mighty storm while we were up on the Amundsen ice field, and mount our sign for Reykjavik. Freyr went to fetch water, driving in low fog by GSP right down to the ice edge to look for the water hole. He stopped at the point on the GSP coordinates and after five minutes of looking around it turned out that the hole was 20 metres away. After quickly pumping 1,000 litres into the tank, the truck headed straight back to the research station. Jon and Knut took care of the cooking today. It was on the light side.
Temperature: -12°C
Weather: Low fog
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 10, 1998
We woke up in a storm and and snowdrifts were piling up here and there. Freyr went for a picnic with Malin over Fossilryggen ridge where she measured the conductivity of the zastrugas. The third attempt was successful, after the equipment had frozen and stopped functioning. We loaded the data straight into our IBM computer on the site and it went fine. All the data was saved. Her measurements contribute to the EPICA project by giving an idea of the extent to which snow ridges can alter the size of annual strata in the ice core samples. Aant and Freyr did the cooking and dinner was leftovers and whatever we could find. It turned out that the ice fissure we were using as pantry (a naturally refrigerated store) was snowed over, so it wasn't easy to reach the food at a depth of 10 metres. Jon went out to take measurements all over the place with Pelle and Knut. The low fog made it difficult to find the aluminium poles that are used for GSP measurements. We also checked out a landing strip on the edge of the ice.
There's been a lot of speculation about how to get out of here. The sea ice has disappeared and it's not certain that the ship can reach the shore here. If not, we'll be helicoptered aboard and will have to wait for the Aquilas to come and lift our equipment off the ice with its enormous crane. If that doesn't work out we'll probably have to take everything down to the German station at Nouemayer and load it from there.
Temperature: -9.6°C
Weather: Low fog and strong wind (force 6)
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W
February 11, 1998
Freyr went out with Knut to take their last GSP measurements, from four poles around the drilling site. Jon took the wings off the "Albatross" truck and packed Pelle's ice sonar antennae. There's a lot of work and stress ahead packing all the instruments and putting the Wasa station in order. No one will probably come here for the next two years, so everything has to be secured and shutters made for the mobile huts, which will be left behind.
Temperature: -8°C
Weather: Breeze (force 3) and sunny
Location: 73°05'S 13°25'W