Date: Sunday, March 6th 2005
Time: 10:30 pm
Location: S 54.78676 W 69.56073
Temperature: 10°C 50°F
Wind speed: 10 mph8.7 knots
Wind chill:
Altitude: 300m
Weather: Sunny and Clear

Today we got an early start; we packed light and hiked up to 600m elevation with the camera equipment, drilling gear, and sampling apparatus. The weather was very kind, as we did not get a drop of rain or flake of snow all day. We filmed the drilling and recovery of a reconnaissance core, collected a few surface snow samples and then hiked back down to the 300m camp.

We encountered some serious crevasse fields on the way up that required a lot of doubling back in order to find a safe route, luckily we packed light! This kind of travel does not sound like much fun, but the sheer magnitude of this place is truly awe-inspiring. The drilling site was spectacular, situated at the base of a large icefall and flanked either side by towering snow-capped peaks (one of which was Mount Darwin) that sent deep rumbling echoes down the valley every five minutes or so (as a result of the frequent avalanches).

Tomorrow we plan to move the 300m camp back down to the old base camp site. It will probably take us at least a few days to get all the gear back down. As I finish writing this day’s log, the temperature is dropping and some rain is starting to fall, what will tomorrow’s weather bring?

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