Field Trips
It may look bleak out there, but it can be nice to get out of town.
Mostly it's been flagging work. To measure snow accumulation, scientists put out hundreds of bamboo flags. They have to be raised every so often.
Lots of downtime when you do this. "Hello out there"...
Then there was a traverse out to GRIP, an old Danish camp, to check on the borehole (ice cores). This was 60km on a snowmachine, COLD.
Pretty much all that's left of GRIP is this extended casing on the borehole; everything else is buried. In the past you could dig down and explore the old dome and living module--now, though, they're too crushed to enter. Brown tube fronts a hole 2 miles deep.
Not-quite-buried antenna completes the horizon.
Stock photo of GRIP when it was first staffed in 1996. How quickly things change. The antennae off the top of the dome is now just below snow surface.
Good times Summit.
Josh about to climb Swiss Tower, 170ft science experiment.
Swiss
Camp from top.
Wrote an article about the polar skiing experience for this campy racing site, http://www.fasterskier.com/travel4502.html
Last flight period! Now's Kanger, biking, soon's time to leave.
Well, Greenland was a really good idea. Great people, good skiing, more than paid for all that time slinking around Asia; I'll come back next season. School next, don't expect updates.