Written 2 December, 2007 3587 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -45 °C Now that we have been here at Site 91 for three days, several of the main tasks here are done, and the list of things to do is becoming shorter. The big event yesterday was finishing the 90 meter ice core (well, 90.40 meters actually). Drilling went so well that the core was finished almost a day early. Mary and Tom also finished the work in the snow pit by measuring the thermal conductivity and grain size, and collecting samples for stereology, stable isotope analyses, and trace chemistry. Atsu and Jan...

Written December 1, 2007 3587 meters above sea level Today was our second day here at Site 91, and we were again fortunate to have excellent weather to continue with our work. The drilling progressed nicely, reaching 59 meters by the end of the day, while Atsu coordinated the shallow drilling and recovered two more 7 meter cores. At sites with very little snowfall (less than 10 cm of snowfall each year) and very low annual temperature (mean annual temperature ~ -50 °C) drilling can be a challenge, particularly in the upper 5 meters. Close to the surface, snow grains metamorphose from very...

Written 29 November 2007 3587 meters above sea level Thanks to the professionalism and dedication of Kjetil and Einar who worked throughout the night, Lasse?s differential gear was replaced and we were on our way to Site 91 by 9:10 am. But it happened again, this time to Chinook. Just as we passed the final 10 km mark to Site 91, she coughed out some weird noises and stopped running. The diagnosis, again, was differential gear failure. As a result we were forced to stop and establish the camp around 4:00 pm. We are just 8.7 km short of the originally planned location, but where we are now became S...

Written November 30 2007 3587 meters above sea level Site 91 is our first major science stop, and today was our first full day here. After a short meeting this morning, everyone picked up where they left off last night. The largest task at the major science stops (Sites 91, 92, 93, 94) is the ice core drilling. This morning, Lou, Stein, Glen and Tom finished setting up the Eclipse drill, and reached 31 meters depth by the end of the day; Atsu and Jan-Gunnar used a hand-powered drill to collect shallow cores; Karsten and Helgard worked on processing radar data and replacing some parts on their systems (and we hop...

Written 28 November, 2007 3541 meters above sea level Early Antarctic explorers may have had problems with their sled dogs, but we are now experiencing the problems of modern times — a broken-down traverse vehicle. Just as the day was coming to an end, with just one or two more hours of driving left, one of our four vehicles, Lasse, showed signs of a problem by means of a flashing red light on an instrument panel. After a through inspection by our super mechanic Kjetil, it turns out that the differential gear (a gear that controls the speed of the wheels when making turns) needs replacing. The front part of Lasse is now covered with a tarp and heated so that maintenance work can be done in the cold of -45 degrees Celsius (air temperature at midni...

Written 27 November, 2007 3542 meters above sea level We started our day quite early today at 7:00am as there was lots of work to be done. Depot 700 is a site where a fuel-caching party left 127 fuel drums last year in preparation for this traverse. We picked up 122 of them and now are fully loaded with all the fuel needed to reach the South Pole, plus some reserves. The air temperature during the daytime hovered at around -20 degrees Celsius under a nice clear sky, which made our job certainly much easier than cold, windy conditions. Science also took place here, with Mary, Lou and Helgard working on a snow pit, and Jan-Gunner and Tom drilling a 12m ice core with a hand auger. ...

Written 26 November, 2007 3542 meters above sea level Today we traveled a further 96.8 km and arrived at Depot 700 (700 km from Troll) at around 19:00. We adopted a little different driving schedule today, starting at 4:00 in the morning instead of driving through the night. The main reason is the chill at night. The thermometer has indicated as low as -43 degrees Celsius during the night! At such low temperatures, we noticed that vehicles were not performing at their best so it has been decided to cover as much distance as possible during the more favourable conditions. Tonight, 'The Cafe at the End of the World' became the venue of the celebration for Torbjorn's birthday. ...

Written 25 November, 2007 3481 meters above sea level Today we covered 70 km toward the next fuel depot (Depot 700); we should reach it tomorrow evening. On these traveling days, those of us not driving spend the time in a variety of ways. Typically, the living (or kitchen) module draws a group of 4 to 6 people who try to get work done while moving, as long as our laptop batteries last. Over the last few days, the traveling surface has been very smooth, and it has been relatively easy to enter data from previous stops, plan what to do at the next stop, read and type. Others keep an eye on the radars, which are always running while we are traveling. Given the long last few travel days, others try to get some rest in the sleeping module. Our colleagues f...

Thursday, 22 November, 2007 3280 meters above sea level Today was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday typically marked by a turkey dinner with family. Einar was well aware of this holiday, and had arranged to have some turkey brought along. Lou coordinated the cooking, and with help from Glen and Tom, managed to prepare an excellent Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat with the turkey, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables, with ice cream, sliced pears and whipped cream for dessert. The leisurely pace of dinner was a welcome change from our typical routine. ...

Thursday, 22 November, 2007 3280 meters above sea level Today was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday typically marked by a turkey dinner with family. Einar was well aware of this holiday, and had arranged to have some turkey brought along. Lou coordinated the cooking, and with help from Glen and Tom, managed to prepare an excellent Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat with the turkey, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables, with ice cream, sliced pears and whipped cream for dessert. The leisurely pace of dinner was a welcome change from our typical routine. ...