May 1, 2023

Crew exchange at EGRIP

The 7 new EGRIP camp members having disembarked Skier 12 at EGRIP, while retro-cargo is staged and ready to load behind the aircraft.

Having a ski-equipped Hercules (today Skier 12) at EGRIP is always a special occasion for camp. It is beautiful to watch the plane land and take off on skis on the ice sheet, especially when everything works out smoothly and the skier gets airborne in the first attempt using just 2/3 of the skiway.
Having a plane in camp is also a time for goodbyes and hellos, as camp crew is exchanged. This time around Aslak, JC, JP and Vasileios left EGRIP after an intense 5 days of hard work opening camp, while we welcomed Bruno, Emma, Grant, Iben, Nicholas, Nico and Romain to EGRIP.
We still have a few camp opening tasks to do, but otherwise the focus will now move to getting the ice core drill trench and ice core logging area operational, so the deep drilling can proceed from the bottom of the bore hole some 2.4 km below the surface we are standing on!
Skier 12 also delivered cargo for camp as well as for the Greendrill project that will be using EGRIP as a hub later this month, and we shipped out a pallet with two Weatherports with the skier. After the departure the cargo pallet for camp was broken down so the cargo could be stored at appropriate locations in camp.

What we did today:

1. Received Skier 12 with 7 new camp members and cargo for camp as well as the Greendrill project.
2. Welcomed, briefed and quartered the 7 new camp members.
3. Said goodbye to 4 camp members leaving on Skier 12 together with retro-cargo.
4. Moved camp cargo pallet from apron to camp and broke it down.
5. Moved Greendrill cargo pallets to staging position next to apron.
6. Repaired and mounted snowblower on Pistenbully.
7. Assessed state of drill trench, seems to be in a good shape after last year’s excavation work.

Weather today: Clear blue skies.Temp. -32°C to -21°C. Wind: 8-14 kt from WNW. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, Bo M. Vinther