Toby and I have entered pit-digging mode. We excavated and sampled our first snowpit on the Clark in the beginning of the week and then today we went to the Blue Glacier, where we measured the mass balance poles we placed there in 2003 before removing them and digging and sampling another snowpit. We are removing all of the poles we placed in the locations we visited so that we leave the sites the way that we found them. The only items left in the ice when we are done will be markers to show the locations of the cores we collected. Aside from that, in a couple of months, no one will be able to tell we were there. As we were finishing up our pit on the Blue, the weather started to look quite nasty to our south and west. Luckily, however, the helicopter came in from the northeast and we returned safely to the Clark, where the weather was still sunny and blue. Though we had emergency camping gear with us (as we always must when traveling on the ice), we were not looking forward to spending the night on the Blue Glacier if we didn't have to!

The pit digging continues, only for the last couple of sites, Karl and I have gone to dig, as Toby has come down with a sinus infection. On Saturday, we went to the Newall Glacier, and today we went to the Meserve Glacier. These two glaciers are not locations where we are collecting cores, but by getting surface samples, we will be able to compare the chemistry in the snowpack at these sites to the chemistry at the locations where we have cores. This will allow us to tell how the chemistry we find in our cores relates to the chemistry of Dry Valleys snow and ice in general. As usual, the helicopter flights provide great opportunities for Dry Valleys scenery photos.

After a couple of days of not feeling great, Toby left this afternoon to go to McMurdo. We look forward to seeing him again soon! The camp is quite a bit smaller with only four.