Last Hercules flight to NEEM

The new Pistenbully is rolled out of the plane

The 109th landed at NEEM at noon bringing in our new 7.5 ton Pistenbully, and this mission is the last to NEEM, maybe forever. Next time we plan to see an LC-130 on the snow is at the new site EGRIP, some 450 km from here.

Although for the first time this season there was some haze/fog to contend with, the mission was a success, and we are grateful to the 109th for their outstanding service.

Immediately after departure of the plane, Sverrir and the Pistenbully mechanic, Georg, went to work, and by the end of the day the new Pistenbully had tracks on and was able to move around under own power.

Several work teams cleaned sleds, chopped ice from inside of the carpenters garage and began excavation of the GrIT sled. It is now 75 % free.

The GLISN seismic team has been working on both their sites, and their work is progressing fine.

It has been yet another sunny, very cold day with temperatures between -31°C and -38°C with up to 5 m/s winds, so working outside requires energy that Dorthe can supply with her excellent cooking. For lunch we had borsch and for supper we had salmon with vegetable and rice.

I believe we have been lucky so far, the weather has been good for flying, and it appears that we have been lucky indeed as forecasts predict worsening of weather conditions tomorrow afternoon. But we can deal with that, as flights are almost over.

What we have done today:

1.    Receiving Skier 11.
2.    Building a pallet with empty drums.
3.    Mounting tracks on the new Pistenbully.
4.    Removed 1.5 m snow from ¾ of the GrIT sled.
5.    Maintaining  GLISN site.
6.    Chopped ice away from inside carpenters garage.
7.    Finished removal of snow from driller sled.

Weather: Clear all day. Temp. – 31 °C to -38 °C, 5-10 knots from SE. Visibility: Mostly to horizon with periods of haze in the morning.

We are 10 NEEMers, 2 GLISN, 1 GrIT and 1 Kaesbohrer mechanic in camp.

FL, J.P. Steffensen