Dome frame complete

Having bravely worked so long on mounting dome struts, it was only fitting that Sebastian and Bruce got the honor of mounting the final strut.

The snowy and windy weather did not really want to leave today. This prevented the drill trench crew from finishing their job. We managed to finish the dome frame. Now we are ready to mount the outer panels, we just have to wait for the wind to go down so it will become safe to lift the panels with the crane. Claus was working in the garage on the staircase for the dome, and this afternoon we carried out a test of our Pistenbully by attaching it to the heavy fuel load carried by the GRIT traverse tractor. As the GRIT traverse is a test, we hope this test will give some valuable information for future planning of traverses. We had pizza for dinner together with the GRIT traverse crew.

What we have done today:

1. Finishing drill trench postponed.
2. Main dome frame now complete.
3. Tested Pistenbully for comparison with GRIT traverse CASE tractor.
4. Making staircase for main dome.

Ad.1: The excavation crew was eager to finish the drill trench job, but windy weather prevented them from opening the trench today.

Ad.2: Now the whole structure is complete. All struts are mounted and we are ready to cover the structure with wall panels, windows and doors.

Ad.3: We tested the pulling power of our Pistenbully by dragging a load of 40 ton fuel. It turned out, that the Pistenbully has the same pulling power as the CASE tractor of the GRIT traverse. Both machines have comparable horsepower, but the Pistenbully weighs 8 ton and the CASE 30 ton.

Weather: All day, overcast, - 11 C, 18 knots from S. Visibility: ½ mile, snow showers and blowing snow. In connection with the snow showers, winds reached 22 knots.

FL, J.P. Steffensen