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Busy Times At South Pole Station
Our first full day at South Pole Station was rather hectic, as progress was made on a number of fronts simultaneously. The most important change was to the composition of our team.
Location: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Elevation: 2838 m
Weather: -29C, 12 kts
Our second group of six scientists (Andreas, Anna, Kirsty, Ole, Stein, and Ted; who had all been waiting patiently in McMurdo) arrived this afternoon. After a short introduction to the Station, Tom took them on a walking tour of the new building and then headed out to join the rest of our group at the traverse vehicles. It was a happy reunion, as we were now all together for the first time. The celebration was short lived however, as the technical group who is heading for home (Kjetil, Glen, and Rune) were scheduled for an early evening departure to McMurdo. That made for a very busy afternoon as the new folks got settled, while the departing members worked very hard to be ready to go on time. At the end of the day, the group was reduced to the twelve who will continue on to Troll Station.
Today we got together to talk with hour medic Ole, who gave us a presentation about the medical supplies we have on board, different type of injuries that are possible on our trip, and how we are going to deal with them. We don't anticipate any serious injuries of course, but by keeping in mind the risks on our trip, we are better able to avoid them and take care of ourselves and each other. The afternoon was spent discussing the route, estimating the amount of fuel we will need for the trip, and starting to go through the science gear. Several of us have made good progress in unpacking the sleds coming back from Camp Winter and making sure we have everything we think we should. This is particularly important, since this next week is the last opportunity we have to get any missing items between here and Troll Station.
Busy days for sure, but very productive.
The whole team together for a brief moment at the South Pole: Ted Scambos, Lou Albershardt, Stein Tronstad, Ole Tveiten, Anna Sinisalo, Glen Liston, Tom Neumann, Kjetil Bakkland, Kirsty Langley, Zoe Courville, Andreas Tøllefsen, John Guldahl, Svein Henriksen, Rune Svendsen, Einar Johansen. Self-timer operator: Stein Tronstad.
