Snow blocks, snow blocks and more snow blocks

Henry builds a wall from snow blocks at the entrance to the inclined trench.

As the 6.5 m deep shaft for the elevator and staircase was nearing its completion, we realised that we had to switch places of the elevator and the staircase. This meant more snow blocks to be cut, loaded on a sled cart and towed away. The people working with snow blocks are getting a little tired of lugging blocks. They are most likely not inclined to play with LEGO as the first thing when they return to civilisation. But work is progressing, and tomorrow the staircase will be installed.

What we have done today:

1. Drilling.
2. Logging ice cores. Last bag logged: 320, depth 176.00 m.
3. Repairing the elevator. Elevator running fine again.
4. Removing snow wall from elevator and staircase room to drill trench.
5. Building up in the CFA laboratory.
6. Removing snow drifts from east side of camp and grooming main street with beam groomer.
7. Modifying core buffer to receive 4 m troughs.
8. Making program for DV visit.

Ad.1: This is how the drillers' report looks today:
“Pressure tube #1 gives more stable performance and was reinstalled with the EPICA drill. Problems with the pump continued so the borehole camera was deployed down the outer core barrel to inspect the inner sleeve. The camera showed that one finger of the inner sleeve may be slightly damaged. However, with the proper alignment of the pump relative to the damaged sleeve it is still usable, thus no repair is necessary at this time so the focus can remain on preparing the long drill. Speed tests in the liquid show that travel down hole is not slowed by the viscous drill liquid. Therefore cutter configuration was changed to give a 132 mm diameter borehole rather than 134 mm. The advantage of this configuration is that fewer chips are produced.
Driller’s depth is 169.76 m.”

Ad.3: the elevator stalled due to two relays that didn’t take the cold well. Bruno has repaired it.

Weather: Clear all day, -26°C to -16°C, 5 knots from ENE.
Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen