Latitude: 90.00S
Longitude: 0.00E
Weather: -29C, 15kts

We expect to spend about 10 days here at the Pole, unloading waste and empty fuel drums we accumulated during the first year, and reloading the sleds with food, fuel and science gear for the return trip.  In the coming days, we will say thank you and farewell to three members of our technical team (Kjetil, Rune and Glen) who put in hard work and long hours with us to repair the vehicles at Camp Winter, and welcome the other six members of the science team (Andreas, Anna, Kirsty, Ole, Stein and Ted), who have been waiting patiently at McMurdo Station.

The journey from Camp Winter to South Pole was just over 500km, and served as an excellent test of the newly repaired vehicles.  The new design proved to work excellently in the conditions we encountered, and leaves us optimistic for a relatively uneventful return journey.   The surface varied from mostly flat patches of soft snow, to areas with a harder surface and numerous small snow drifts called sastrugi.

Over the next week and half, we will be busy unpacking, testing and installing science gear such as radar systems to examine the internal structure of the ice sheet, precision GPS to measure the surface topography, and ice coring equipment for use at science stops along the way.  We expect to be quite busy in the coming days and weeks, and are hopeful that our work at Camp Winter will lead to an uneventful ride for our upcoming scientific work.

Team one at the South Pole: Einar, Svein, Lou, Zoe, Glen, John, Tom, Kjetil, Rune.