It was much colder on our return to Union and there was a strong  wind gusting. Breakfast was notified to be 10am instead of the usual early time as many of the camp guests and staff had not gotten a lot of sleep for the previous 24 hours due to the conditions.

The last guests who were out in the field arrived back last night with a small group opting to make an impressive ski kiting return from a climbing expedition under their own power instead of taking the earlier Twin Otter flight as some of the their team had.

They were even feeling good for a bit of Rugby “France v England” knockabout. Bring on the 6 Nations…..

A lot of the guest tents had already been packed away when we arrived back and the camp staff were busy packing up all non essential items in preparation for the end of season. There was still some time for the “tourist” shots. Even if I did have to hold up the sign post in the wind as it was just about to be packed up…

I experienced first hand the power of the wind when returning to the shell tend and finding a lot of stuff on the floor and the table tipped up. Given the shape of these tents it was surprise to see that the wind had bowed the side of the tend so much to knock over the table.  I’m glad I wasn’t outside of camp with wind chill at -28 when the wind had dropped!

The Ice maidens were back at union glacier and I met up with these impressive ladies in the mess tent. The group from the British Army were the first all female team to cross Antarctica on skis from Leveret Glacier to  Hercules Inlet via the South Pole. You can read all about their journey here http://exicemaiden.com.  The BBC were present to film and interview them on their last day and they were busy with lots on interviews and will be visiting schools and presenting at events in the UK to share their adventure and inspire others. If you see one of their events advertised I would encourage you to go.

They were enjoying a well earned rest and it was good to hear about their expedition and some of the challenges faced and adventures along the way. Maybe the donated G+T with Antarctic ice of course helped their recovery.