Back to the airport.

Early call this morning, pickup at 7.15. A quick prayer to the weather gods.

Fuck a Doodle Doo

We're back in the hotel...on standby...till this afternoon.
At least we got as far as the departure lounge and it is snowing now in Punta so it has a sort of Antartctic feel.

We're off!

Lightening out of a clear blue sky! looked like there was no flight window until Sunday at the earliest then at breakfast...Bam! pickup un half an hour. Barring a last minute turnaround my next post will be from Union Glacier.

On hold, day 10

That's 10 days waiting in Punta, getting used to going nowhere now.

Standing by.

Things are looking better today, the weather is likely to clear this afternoon so we're on 2 hourly rather then daily updates, this afternoon is looking likely for flying.

Punta's a decent place but I'll be glad to see the back of it and get to the ice.

Weather window?

Early call this morning, 6.30...yawn. There's a chance of a tiny weather window between yesterdays 60 knot gale and the next few days cloud and heavy snow, the runway's clear, fingers crossed.

Storm forecast for UG

Another lovely day in Punta but it's not getting any better at Union Glacer, Storm force winds and drifting snow forecast for tommorrow morning, nothing to do here as the new staff are training at the office. Should be a Halloween party at the Condor this evening though and had a pleasent morning out with Dean, Steve, Malin, Yolenta, Inga and Alice having hot chocolate and cake in the cafe at Dreams.

Life is tough in Punta.

Still in Punta

We're all still here, the rest of the ANI staff and myself making a valiant effort to eat all the steaks and drink all the beer in Punta.

Had a briefing today from the Ilyushin safety officer which was pretty interesting, once they've set out no ANI flight has ever had to turn back from the Antarctic, not one. Guess that's why departure delays are so common, burning through 72 tons of fuel and getting nowhere would get a bit hard on the wallet. The advance team is still beavering away in the blizzard and getting more of the main structures of the camp built, by the time we get there there'll be nothing left to do.

Getting a bit bored with waiting now, ah well it's a beautiful day here and the staff training barrel has been thoroughly scraped, might head to the beach.

Still no flying

Departure day +2

Right ho, back to the office for more powerpoint, try agan for Union Glacier tommorrow. Staff BBQ this evening though. Sweet!

Departure day +1

Training's all done, bags weighed and loaded onto the Ilyushin, cargo all loaded, Ice runway's ready....weather's bad, 24 hours delay in departure....subject to change.


Hurry up and wait.

Powerpoint/Powernap

First day of training, us ALE greenhorns have been shown around the plush new headquarters on O'Higgins and enjoying a powerpoint marathon. Interesting though the material was my strength failed me and I excelled myself by falling asleep during the ANI Field Operation Manager's presentation.

I fear this will be something that will become a standing joke in the camp.

Sorry Tim.

Take a bite of the Iceburger...

Well I start my new staff orientation training on tuesday, fun stuff like cravasse rescue, cold injury treatment, triage and so on. On the 27th myself and 19 other ALE staff join the advance team at Union Glacier to start building the Camp.

The Iceburger is a blog I've set up that'll keep you all posted about my experiences working in a kitchen tent in the Antarctic over the next three months. Due to our limited internet access no photos will be possible but one can't have everything (they'll have to wait until I get back). Updates to the blog will automatically feed to my facebook page.

Enjoy the Iceburger (recipe to follow).