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Date: 12/17/03
Latitude: 82.01 degrees South
Longitude: 96.76 degrees East
Temperature:−22°C(−8°F)
Wind speed: 15 knots
Wind Chill:−35°C(−31°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 11,680
Kilometers traveled: 909

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

We finished up cleaning the AGO4 site, packed up the trains and prepared for travel. Lynn and James changed the oil on one of the CATs before lunch and by 14:00 we were on our way. Both trains are now incredibly heavy due to all the extra fuel barrels we are carrying. As a result of all the extra weight we were bogged down in soft snow more than ten times in the first ten miles. After several hours and much, much shoveling we decided to call it a night. Matt and John drove the CATs ahead to see if the terrain improved, it did after about 10 miles. Maybe tomorrow we will shuttle loads until we get out of this deep soft sugary snow.

 

Date: 12/18/03
Latitude: 82.05 degrees South
Longitude: 99.61 degrees East
Temperature:−23°C(−9°F)
Wind speed: 12 knots
Wind Chill:−35°C(−31°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 11,450
Kilometers traveled: 934

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

This morning we decided not to shuttle loads straight away; instead, we tried driving down the tracks that Matt and John had created last night. The result was no different from yesterday; the snow is so deep and the sastrugi are so large that we barely made it one mile in three hours! Eventually, the dozer cat became completely stuck and we had to call in the forked CAT to pull it out. After this we used both CATs in tandem to pull each train for several miles. The improved surface up ahead turned out to be short lived and the conditions worsened steadily. So, after lunch we unhitched the fuel sled and began shuttling loads. The sastrugi in this area are so large (upto 1m) and the snow is so deep and sugary that we even had a few sticky moments while we were shuttling. By the end of the day we had made a little progress and we plan to continue shuttling loads tomorrow.