Out with the old

Science team 1 is gone, science team 2 is in - let the calibration begin.

Yesterday was a calm, but stressful day (for science team 1 at least). Their flight was delayed out of Kanger due to fog on Summit and then the cloud ceiling was too low for them to land, so the plane circled for an hour. We were sure they would boomerang back to Kanger, but the Air National Guard pilots came in really shallow, popped out of the cloud at about 200 feet and then landed. 

Science team 1 were leaving with the ice cores from another team, so the plane wasn't heated (they call it a cold deck). They fly back at -20 C.

Science team 2 (Christoph, Jethro, and Nils) are here and are having a low activity day to get used to the altitude, so we are going to wander around looking at the boxes our equipment is in so we are ready to go when we are out of north winds (seems like they will be hanging around until Monday).

Some observations after almost a week here

• Walking on snow all day is exhausting. They have heavy machines to clear snow drifts, so the camp is solid to walk on, but you never know when your foot is going to disappear beneath the surface. 
• Flat light is so hard to walk around in. This is well known, but I am having to remember where steps are carved into the snow so that I don't fall down them all the time.
• It really isn't that cold when the wind isn't blowing. Often I am not even wearing gloves. It was a real learning curve to be willing to ditch layers (I carry them with me off station because the weather changes really quickly).
• I don't think it will ever not be strange to get up in the night and it be full daylight outside.

Fare well Science Team 1 (and the Saltzman team how were here taking ice cores)

Off to board the LC-130

A 10 pm view of the Big House