Friday, July 22, 2005

Susan reports from
Moskvina, Tajikistan

Today we boarded an enormous Russian helicopter for a 2 hour flight to our base camp at Moskvina. We flew over gorgeous country with lots of magnificent glaciers. Along the way we saw many small human settlements with yurtsand herds of animals.

We will spend 3 to 4 days here hiking and getting accustomed to the altitude, then we plan to go on to the head of Fedchenko glacier to begin our field work. These acclimation stops are very important; when you go from sea level to about 5500 meters (~18,000 feet) your body needs time to adjust to the lower oxygen concentration and the lower air pressure.