Balloon trench construction complete!
Malte and Joel in the entrance from the ramp to the newly opened drill trench. The other two holes lead to stairwell and to tunnel to science trench.
Today was the big day! We began deflating balloons in the morning, and by 1100 Joel and Malte crawled in along the deflating balloons down through the ramp, into the drill trench and gave Kaitlin and J.P. in the tunnel to the science trench a big surprise.
As the balloons completely deflated, we could see the result. It was beautiful. The balloons had made a good seal along the walls, so only small amounts of snow has to be removed.
The balloons were pulled to the surface, along with pumping equipment and hoses, and work began to enlarge the holes to real doorways.
As the weather was lousy today, we decided to postpone mounting the staircase in the stairwell. Instead we covered it with a lid to prevent snow drifting in.
The trench system with two tunnels, an elevator shaft, a staircase shaft, a cooks freezer, an ice core buffer, a science trench, a drill trench and a 40 m access ramp is now complete.
No more jumping castles this season, and this has happened on the very day we arrived at EGRIP from NEEM last year.
What we have done today:
- Deflating balloons.
- Packing down pump station and removing hoses.
- Pulled all balloons to the surface.
- Cutting and removing snow and enlarging entrances.
- Placed lid over stairwell.
- Placed Sarahs tomato hut next to freshy shack.
- Oil change on generator.
- Repairs on heavy sled with broken pull bar.
- Fixed drafty front door.
- German pit studies.
Ad.1: The first measurements were done in the drill trench: Apex height 5 m to 4.95 m. Width: 4.8 to 4.9 m.
Weather today: Overcast, snow and wind all day. Temp. –16 °C to -21 °C, Wind 10-15kt from N. Visibility: 0.5 - 1 km. Lousy weather.
FL, J.P. Steffensen
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