Basile and J.P. are casting an extension to stairwell.

Beautiful weekend on the ice.

The fine weather continues, and with hardly any wind, it has been gorgeous. The conditions were ideal for opening stairwell and elevator shaft and handling big balloons. Both vertical shafts have been extended by 1.5 m and we were able to re-use the old shaft covers. Saturday evening was celebrated the usual way. Long lines to the shower with very little hot water for the last in line. Jens Jakob from Qaqortoq made Greenlandic lamb. Bent had brought disco lights and other special effects, so the dining area was converted to a party zone. Our headaches with the internet connection continues, and Jens Christian is in intense communication with our internet provider. Nature has thrown in some surprises for us. While we are used to tiny finches been blown into camp where they sit and die, today we found a dead peregrine falcon on one of our snow hills. The falcon has been collected and will be stored. To top it off, an owl has been cruising camp today, and Sarah was able to take a really nice picture.

What we did Saturday and Sunday:

1. Packing windsled equipment for shipment on Tuesday.
2. 3400 m drill cable has been unwound, and 700 m rewound on winch drum under tension.
3. Basler crew departed for Kangerlussuaq Saturday morning.
4. Setting up isotope “annex” laboratory in clean zone.
5. Setting up equipment in isotope warm laboratory.
6. Setting up equipment for physical properties measurements.
7. Repairing Nansen sleds.
8. Grooming apron.
9. Working on sampling plan and core processing setup.
10. Completed extension of stairwell with extra stairs and tent on top.
11. Extended elevator shaft from science trench to surface by casting snow using balloon technique.
12. Excavated, cleaned and started Flexmobil no.2. Now all vehicles are running.
13. Work on internet issues.
14. Water vapour sampling and measuring.
15. Surface snow sampling.

Weather: Both days fine. Temp. -18 °C to -30 °C.  Wind: calm to 4 kt from SE turning SW. Visibility: Unrestricted. 

FL, J.P. Steffensen

Sarah was so lucky to get this photo of a rare guest at EGRIP. An owl!