One day, one sample

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 15/01/2012 (was written before the 'Monday' post but turned up after):

Today showed just how much effort goes into even collecting one rock sample here. We set out in glorious weather on the skidoos, then the sledge turned over and I got stuck in deep snow twice. Once we had rectified that the fog came in (off the nearby ice shelf - this is recurring problem for us), so we had to abort our short ski and return to the skidoos for a quick lunch. Once it had cleared we tried again. We had to scuttle across a crevasse which was bridged by snow (scary) and then ended up on a really steep icy slope that gave me the jitters. My leg started to wobble involuntarily and we had to stick in ice screws to keep us safe. We managed to grab one sample from the steep rock face before retreating rapidly back the way we had come (except this time avoiding the crevasse). And that was it for the day. We were both a bit unnerved I think! We had a nice drive home in sunshine again, but about half an hour after we got back to the tent, the cloud came in and the wind picked up as if out of nowhere, and really strong. The weather can change so dramatically quickly here, it is amazing.

Someone asked me about how we power everything here. We have a small generator which is enough to charge my laptop, satellite phone (how we download emails - we don't have internet access or anything fancy; it's a dial up connection that takes forever), angle grinder batteries and our MP3 players. We put a mix of petrol and oil in the skidoos, use paraffin (primed with meths) for the stove and tilley lamp, petrol for my rock saw. Roger told me that we brought 400 litres of petrol and 60 litres of paraffin out here with us, which we carry in 20 litre jerry cans on the sledges (we have 3 sledges). We also use solar panels to charge the radio batteries. We could have brought a larger solar panel but it didn't work very well for my laptop. It's all a bit of a nuisance to keep refuelling and making sure we are economic on fuel, but we are self sufficient for at least an extra month (which is essential in case we get stuck in bad weather). Every time we go out more than a few km from camp, we go with our half unit sledge, which contains tent, sleeping bags, food, medical box, fuel etc - enough for a month. It's reassuring to have this in case the weather changes rather like it did today.

Anyway I am in the middle of my dinner, so should leave this here. We have had 3 days work on the trot now - probably time for another day of lie-up?