It was an early start to get the trig heightening repeated in a quick efficient way from my two stations, and this time I was happier with the results so it was time for breakfast.I had processed Mike’s data he collected the day before in MAGNET office and produced some long section and contour plans so he could check on the % gradient of the area and confirm the best location of the potential runway in addition to his visual inspection of the ice. The defined runway was then entered in to the two the field controllers so we could survey more densely the required area. This selected area was 3.5km long by 100m wide.

We planned on using the two skidoos, both set up with a GNSS RTK system and field controllers and running parallel survey lines approximately 50m apart. I had set up a background grid of 50m x 50m as addition guidance to the marked target area. Zooming in to the plan view it was fairly easy to drive the right lines while heading towards mountains as we had a fixed feature to aim at and occasional check to the FC screen to maintain the correct spacing. However turning to face the white expanse with no references except the FC screen our lines were not quite so straight….

There was an area we wanted to survey off the runway which dipped away from radio range, so I established a new base station on the brow of the hill. Connected to our Camp base to recored the coordinates as a rover and then started this receiver transmitting as a new base station on a different radio frequency. To confirm I had done this correctly and not introduced any error, I parked the skidoo where I could get a RTK fix from the camp base and the new temporary base and recorded points fixed from both bases on the different frequencies. There was only a couple of mm difference in these points so I knew the additional survey area would tie in nicely to the rest of the OGL work.

I set off down the dip and surveyed grid lines. I also contoured the edge of the frozen lake we had found. Fresh water only 30cm bellow the surface! Obviously this would not be forming part of our runway and was some way off, but needed recording as a significant feature.

By the end of the day we had gathered the vast majority of the required survey data and I was going to process and fully contour this area to check if we needed any additional data before departing.

The rest of our team spent the day assembling and erecting a weather station. This will be necessary to gather and transmit live meteorological data for the site over at least the next 12 months. It’s an impressive piece of kit witch ALE have specially commissioned so the assembly work in the field is minimal. Its still quite an undertaking though and needed plenty of hands to lift and secure the tower after a foundation had been cut in the ice. It has solar and battery systems and will run through the dark winter providing vital site data.

We also wanted to establish a fixed base and there was no nearby “fixed mountain” rock so we would have to travel up the glacier to the nearest mountain. As this terrain was unknown and could be crevassed it was necessary to rope up. We still needed to cover a lot of ground and waking would not be a sensible option. The skidoos have been modified to have fixed anchor points front, rear and wired all around. Seth linked up our skidoos with a long rope and we harnessed up and clipped in to the skidoo anchor points. This would mean if the lead skidoo fell in to a crevasse the second skidoo would hold it and the driver was attached to the skidoo to enable rescue.

This was hard concentration as the driver of the 2nd skidoo. Keeping the rope tight enough not to go under the skis or not tugging on the lead skidoo… I have had easier trips out.

It was fascinating terrain and we traveled nearby a moraine line. When almost at the mountain and deemed safe by Seth we could get of the skidoos and walk the remaining distance to base of the mountain.

Scale is completely disorientating in Antarctica. Our nearby mountain was almost 8km from camp and the rock steeper than it looked so far away. David carried out the environmental study of the area while I set up a GNSS base station to log data to post process against the nearest UNAVCO station. Seth would go and collect this base in the morning as the area was judged safe to travel unroped for our return.