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. ...

Tuesday, 20 Nov 2007 3177 meters above sea level. After a late arrival last night, we slept for an extra hour or two to get ready for the day ahead. We are now at Site I, which is our first stop where we do more than a few hours of science; in fact we plan to spend a full day and a half here. Today gave everyone a chance to work on the traveling conditions in the modules, vehicles and science gear. In particular, Helgard and Karsten took the opportunity to fix radar antennas that had been acting up in the last few days; Atsu worked at getting a measurement of the firn temperature at 10 meters depth; Stian replaced the power supply in one of the UAVs; Mary made measurements of the physical properties on the top 2 meters of the firn, and Glen, Tom, Lou a...

Submitted: Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 Position: -72.7116, 3.7829 Altitude: 2786m Air temperature (22:20 local time): -27.2 degrees C Today we made another good progress distance wise, covering nearly 70 km. And the science is in full swing too! Helgard and Karsten have been collecting data since the start of the traverse using their radar equipments but today Glen and Mary started making their measurements as well. Glen is interested in the evolution of topographical features on the ice sheet and made surface roughness measurements. Mary, with helping hands of Tom and Lou, collected two 50 cm snow core...

Submitted Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 Altitude: 2400m Air temperature (23:00 local time): -21 degrees C It was the long awaited day for us all, the departure of our traverse from Troll Station. At 10:10, the traverse train started rolling under a beautiful Antarctic blue sky. Emotion of team members were a mix of the excitement of embarking on a journey we have been preparing for more than 2 years, and sentimentality, to say good bye to people of Troll station who were so generous and provided us with all the helping hands we needed. Today we gained almost 1200m in altitude, from ~1250m at Troll to 2400m at the camp site. At some of steep climbs we had to get through today, one vehicle was caught in soft snow and needed a towing support by another one....