75 deg 39.16 min S

19 deg 14.475 min E

3542 meters above sea level

We started our day quite early today at 7:00am as there were lots of work to be done. Depot 700 is a site where a group of fuel-caching party left 127 fuel drums last year in preparation for this traverse. We picked up 122 of them and now are fully loaded with all the fuel needed to reach the South Pole plus some reserves. The air temperature during the day time hovered around -20 degrees Celsius under a nice clear sky which made our job certainly much easier than cold, windy conditions. Science also took place here with Mary, Lou and Helgard working on a snow pit, and Jan-Gunner and Tom drilling a 12m ice core with a hand auger. Most of us worked after dinner too, even under the chill of -43 degrees Celsius! As a result of everyone's effort, we are ready to march on further starting tomorrow morning, towards our next major stop at site 91.

Jan-Gunnar and Tom drilling a 12m ice core with a hand auger