Expedition Diary

Saturday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 18:30:00 +0100

The wind picked up slowly during the night and eventually hit force 9 in the morning. For most of the day we have had a severe gale, and even a storm in the afternoon with windspeeds exceeding 25 m/s. That means all the snow we had a week ago has been swept clean from the hills and mountain sides and neatly deposited in long dunes on the leeward side of buildings, containers and vehicles. We will most certainly have some shoveling to do tomorrow – but today was just as certainly a day for indoor activities! The station medical doctor and Kjetil gave us instructions on the use of the medical equipment that we will be taking on the traverse. The sewing machine has been busy throughout the day too. As on the early expeditions, repairs and adjustments are crucial before heading out on a long journey.

Image: The station building being whipped by the drifting snow (click to enlarge).

Friday, with puzzle answer

Stein Tronstad — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:48:51 +0100

Some of the crevasses can be over 10 meters wide and more than 50 meters deep, and we certainly don’t want to hit those! To be able to detect the crevasses before it is too late, the lead vehicle will push a crevasse detecting radar on a 12 meter forward boom. The Norwegian Polar Institute has developed this system to be able to navigate safely through hazardous areas. As the radar moves ahead in front of the vehicle, the driver can watch a monitor and see the structures of the ice down to 30 meters below the surface. When something dubious appears on the screen, the driver can slow down and move slowly forwards until the width of the crevasse is determined and the driver can decide whether it is safe to cross or not.

Image: Kjetil inspects the crevasse radar boom after some modifications. (Click to enlarge.)

Polar Puzzle answer

Below is the Polar Puzzle of the Week* for week 1, and the answer is below it. A new Polar Puzzle for week 2 is on our web page – click on the Education button to see it!

Patty Penguin and Peter Penguin were racing, but it was no contest. Patty beat Peter by 10 meters on a 100-meter course. Peter suggested that for the second race, Patty should start 10 meters behind the starting line. Peter figured that would give him a fair chance, since she had won the first race by 10 meters. Who won the second race, and by how much?

Answer:
Patty won again, by one meter. Patty can run 100 meters in the same time that Peter runs 90. In the second race they are tied at 90 meters, and Patty gets to the 100-meter mark one meter ahead of Peter.

* Adapted from A.F. Salny, The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day book, 1989.

Thursday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:55:00 +0100

A few times a week expedition members soak themselves in the warm waters of Troll’s own outdoor tub. It is quite an experience to watch the sunset while seated comfortably with the body steeped in water heated to 39 degrees C and the head braving the Antarctic evening with frosted hair and red ears.

A milestone was reached today when the loading of the first sledge was completed. The cargo, towering 5 meters above the ground, is mostly thin air at this stage: 100 empty, insulated ice core boxes. During the coming weeks they will be filled with ice cores containing unique climate information reaching back 1000 years in time.

Image: Lou and Mary enjoying a simmering soak and freezing air.

Wednesday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:41:09 +0100

Later on, we will exercise our skills in real crevasses close to Troll, to make sure that we are well prepared for cracked-up ice en route. On the traverse, all four vehicles will carry protection and rescue equipment, to allow safe movement on the ground in hazard areas and to be prepared for any contingencies.

Later in the day we also tried on the down parkas and bibs that will be our heaviest low temperature clothing. We tried them on indoors and rapidly proceeded to overheat. Someone said “I hope it gets really cold on the plateau.”

Rest assured, your wishes will be granted!

Image: Einar scales the “Great Ice Wall” of Troll Station (click to enlarge).

Tuesday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Work began on the assembly of the second UAV, testing continued on snow permeability and conductivity instrumentation, and the winch for the main ice core drill was inspected. We have a number of ice core drills along; some are for coring several meters into the snow and firn, others with motors for drilling tens of meters, and the main motorized drill for drilling deeper. All of the shallow and intermediate drills were checked for completeness. Benches were made for the science hut.

Although much remains to be done before we depart on the traverse, it is great to see the pieces coming together!

Image: Stian installing instruments and caring for his little baby, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. (Click to enlarge.)

Monday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:05:00 +0100

The construction of the science hut on one of the traverse sleds was completed, 10 labels (and many staples) were put on each of our eighty ice core boxes, some of the food boxes were packed, and electronics for snow property measurements were tested. In the evening we had a group discussion of the packing plan for the traverse vehicles, to help make the science measurements and daily living go smoothly once we are on the traverse. We then celebrated Einar’s birthday with singing and a delicious birthday cake, while Glen showed slides from his overwintering at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station 25 years ago.

Image: Celebrating Einar's birthday with Hårek's home-made marzipan cake.

Sunday, Troll Station and Sofietoppen

Stein Tronstad — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Norway shifted back to winter time at 3 am, while Troll Station swithced to GMT to align itself with all the other stations in the DROMLAN air network, in order to ease the coordination of the summer flight operations.

We spent part of the day adding new material to the education page of our website, doing the first tests of the deep radar system, and working on the UAV. The weather in the afternoon was again beautiful, and we all went on a hike up Sopfietoppen, a mountain next to the station. The vistas of Troll and the surrounding glaciers are breathtaking!

Image: Returning down to Troll Station from Nonshøgda and Sofietoppen (click to enlarge).

Saturday, Troll Station

Stein Tronstad — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:46:25 +0200

We discussed the timing and logistics of the tasks, and planned coordination of our activities. After that, the day hummed by, with activities including mounting antennas and fuel tanks on the UAV, setting up radar equipment, mounting the science hut on the sled, updating the web site, and using remote sensing data to examine details of the traverse route. We celebrated the day by taking a “family portrait” of our team.

Image: The whole team finally together at Troll Station, the starting point of our traverse. (Click to enlarge.)

Friday, CPT-Troll

Stein Tronstad — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0200

We arrived at Troll Station at 6:00 am, just in time for breakfast. After resting, we spent the day locating our cargo and settling into our comfortable lodging at Troll.

Image: The new arrivals at Troll Airfield line up for immigration procedures (or hot dogs?)

Thursday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:50:00 +0200

So, this is our last day to run errands and do any last-minute activities in town. Jan-Gunnar headed out to purchase a pair of headphones for his ipod, and Glen went searching for a place to fix a screw on his extra pair of glasses.

After these tasks were finished, Tom and Glen headed for Table Mountain. They took a taxi to the base of the mountain, found a trail, and started hiking, up. An hour later, and 2000 feet higher, they were on top (in spite of being told that it was a 2.5 hour hike up). They took the gondola down, found a taxi back to town, and arrived back at the hotel in time for the 5:30 pm group meeting and walk to dinner.

After dinner we all packed up our things, piled into a shuttle bus, and headed to the airport. By 9:30 we were all settled into the cargo hold of a C-130 and ready to head south at 10:00 pm.

Image: Glen and Tom at the top of Table Mountain, overlooking Cape Town.

Wednesday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0200

(There was some possibility that we would fly to Troll Station early Thursday morning; because of bad weather forecasts for Troll, this did not happen). So, we spent our time walking through the Cape Town botanical gardens and seeking out the best places in town to eat chocolate ice cream (for both lunch and dinner).

Image: Flowers at the Cape Town botanical gardens.

Tuesday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:20:00 +0200

Image: Sorting personal gear and science cargo for our flight to Troll Station on Wednesday.

All of our gear was weighted, sorted, inventoried, and stacked for loading on the C-130 for our flight to Troll Station scheduled to leave tomorrow night.

After lunch, we split into teams to 1) visit a drug store to pick up more sunscreen, soap, and toothpaste; 2) go to a bank to get US dollars to buy T-shirts, post cards, etc., when we arrive at the South Pole station; 3) finalize the cargo manifest; and 4) make sure our local expeditor purchased the correct rope and air compressor parts that we require before leaving Cape Town.

Monday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:45:00 +0200

There are only three others left; the journalists who will join us at Troll in mid-November, just before we leave Troll for the start of the traverse.

Image: Members of the traverse team meeting to discuss what needs to be done in Cape Town before we fly south to Troll in two days.

After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, we had our first group meeting in Cape Town. The feeling among everybody here is one of excitement and anticipation. Everything looks to be in order: all of the expedition cargo is either here or at Troll; WE are all either here or at Troll!; all of our personal clothing and equipment arrived with us here without incident; the weather forecast for a Wednesday flight to Troll looks perfect; and everybody is healthy and in high spirits.

As part of our group meeting this morning, everybody reported on how each of the tasks they were responsible for were progressing, and on what else needed to be done before our flight to Troll. Then we each identified what we could do to help and then split into teams to get the work done. These tasks included purchasing 150 meters of 6 mm diameter static-load rope to be used with our radar systems, and making sure we have the equipment required to pressurize air tanks used by our Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Sunday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:45:00 +0200

Image: Six members of the team in Cape Town, posing under a sign that says it is 6131 km to the South Pole.

Saturday, Cape Town

Stein Tronstad — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0200