First camp members have left

Goodbye picture in front of Air Greenland helicopter. From left to right: Helicopter pilot Stefan, Bo, Lizzie, Jakob, Andrea, Steff, Sarah, Niccolò, Jan, Trevor, Eliza.

Today we received a helicopter from Greenland Air to pick up Lizzie, Steff, and Jakob from camp. They will stay a night in Constable Point and move on to Iceland tomorrow by commercial flight. We thank the three of them for nice company up here and wish them a safe journey back home.

Eliza also paid us a short visit on the helicopter that arrived at around 11am and stayed on the ice for about an hour. Weather was beautiful for the flight. 

Now we are down to seven camp members and some 15 tons of ice cores and cargo that should leave camp over the following days.

In the afternoon Andrea, Niccolò, and Jan went on a surface snow sampling trip around the ice cap with our only camp skidoo. This created some excitement as the skidoo broke down at the position furthest away from camp… We were already considering how to manage pull out without a skidoo dragging tons of cargo to the load pad by hand… Fortunately, the travelers found out that two fuses had burned and that there were spare fuses in the skidoo. Happy ending! Seven camp members and a running skidoo were back in camp for dinner at 7pm.

Weather: Warm, sunny, and calm. Temperatures -6 to +1°C, wind 2-3 m/s from N in the morning and 0-2 m/s from SE in the evening. The last days temperatures have been below freezing point until noon, hereafter they have remained above or close to the freezing point until late evening. It is therefore best to aim for morning flights in the coming days.

Renland FL, Anders