Dale Andersen: “Hurry up and wait.” Anyone who works in the polar regions knows the phrase, and knows the experience: storms, blowing snow, and low visibility set the schedule.
Shortly after we arrived in Cape Town, a storm swept through Schirmacher Oasis, home to the Ultima Antarctic Logistics ice runway/airbase facility. The day after our pre-flight briefing we learned it left 70 to 80 percent of the runway buried under roughly 30 cm of snow, all of which had to be cleared before our aircraft could land. Once the winds eased, the crew at the airbase worked long, hard hours to get the runway ready.
Notified a short while ago, we are currently scheduled to depart Cape Town Monday about noon (UTC+2) and land in Antarctica roughly six hours later.
Next update will hopefully be from Queen Maud Land, Antarctica
Keith’s note: You can see all of the Status Report and related articles here at Dale Andersen’s Field Reports
Astrobiology, Exploration,
