May 23, 2015

Doing traverses never becomes routine

Pistenbully train stuck.

Already last night we got a warning that the chosen spot for camp had some very soft and troublesome snow. Several vehicles had to be either dragged into camp or came at a limping speed. This morning, one Pistenbully train got stuck right at start, then with assistance of the other Pistenbully, the train got going. In the meantime, the Pistenbully that assisted the first one got stuck. It took a third vehicle to get all going. Some 5 km later the snow improved, and we continued. Later in the day, the same happened: Two vehicles stuck and freed by a third one. Still, we drove 50 km, and we are getting closer to our goal at EGRIP.
Everybody is fine, and the snowmobile teams who spend full days outside, do appreciate the luxury of a heated dome at the end of the day.

What we have done today:

1. Service on vehicles. Inspection of dome.
2. Flexmobils left at 8.40, and main train followed at 9.00. At 18.30 we all had arrived at 3. Waypoint 24 (76.18 N, 41.15W) 2764 m altitude. 155 km from EGRIP (301 km from NEEM site).
3. During the day reconfiguring sleds several times.
4. Measurement of radar and GPS en-route.
5. Snow sampling en-route.

Weather: Beautiful day. Temp. -16°C to -30°C, 2-5 m/s from SW. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

Solution.