June 14, 2022

Cargo falling from the sky

EGRIP camp members right before leaving camp. Our chef Kevin didn’t make the goodbye-picture, but did (just) make the flight after a quick hand over to our new chef Jeppe.


Drill liquid drums in the air, getting delivered by parachute to camp by Skier 21! An airdrop is truly a spectacle to behold and today we had a perfect view to this training mission conducted by the 109th Airlift Wing here at EGRIP. And we can report that no drums were observed to be leaking after they were all recovered by JJ and Thomas H. using the crane equipped Pistenbully. Also, yesterday’s evening grooming efforts by Chris paid off, our skiway have now been upgraded to receive a greater payload. This upgrade is essential as the we still needs to receive more fuel flights in order to support all the activities planned in and out of camp for the coming 5 weeks. This afternoon and evening Chris continued the grooming work on the skiway and worked to harden the surface of the apron defueling area. We hope this will pave the way for further upgrades.
All day camp has been humming with activity as old and new camp members have continued assembling scientific equipment from the latest flights, as well as digging out science equipment that have been left for almost 3 years. The work in the drill trench is also continuing at pace, and the green balloon in the new ramp has been partly covered in snowblown snow, the beginning of a new roof. In the megatrench there has also been activity, including percolation experiments taking place there using chilled coffee as a percolation fluid.

What we did today:

  1. Skier 21 delivered 32 drums of drill liquid by airdrop.
  2. The two 109th observers departed on Skier 21 after recovering the parachutes used for the airdrop.
  3. Drill liquid drums were recovered after the airdrop by Skier 21 and 848 liters of fuel was received from the skier.
  4. Grooming of the skiway during the evening and hardening of the apron by blown snow during the afternoon.
  5. Unpacking and recovery of various science equipment.
  6. Experiments in megatrench.
  7. Blowing of snow on big green balloon in new ramp to drill trench.
  8. Work of restoring drill trench.

Weather today: Starting overcast but with sunny conditions gradually becoming dominant. Temp. -21°C to -7°C. Wind: 7-17 kt from S. QNH 1000 hPa. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, Bo M. Vinther