Sunday, July 29th

Drilling site no. 2

We drilled all day. At 8.30PM the drill reached 60 m depth. Steffen and Simon will drill the last 10 m tomorrow, measure temperatures in the hole and overtake the main train some time tomorrow.

Sverrir spent the day servicing the tracked vehicles, installing a new fuel gauge in one vehicle and re-charging batteries.

Simon has rigged a system to compensate for the lack of serviceable batteries in Maria and Peters radar system.

Claude and Susanne wanted to make a radar measurement with the Toyota setup; but after only 900 m driving, the belt drive system on the front wheel broke off. The belt drive is now in camp, and will be welded tomorrow.

J.P. cooked curry rice with meatballs for supper.

Weather is overcast with Christmas snow. Temperature – 6 C and the wind died late in the day.

- NEEM traverse team

Saturday, July 28th

Drilling site no. 2

Ater breakfast at 8 we packed. The different teams went each their way, and the main train could depart at 11.15. Weather was nice, sunshine and -11 C; but with a wind at 10 knots from SSW. It cools things down. The main train did not get far. After a couple of kilometres travel one vehicle suddenly stopped in it’s tracks. A hydraulic hose was blown. Sverrir did have spares, and a new hose was found in the bottom crate in a pile of crates on the workshop sledge. Repairs took 1.5 hours, and we could continue.

However, the problems continued. Our course is now NW. The wind from the South hit directly into the grate on the side of the vehicles, where the cooling exhaust for the hydraulic system has to go out. J.P.s vehicle continued to overheat so he had to drive at reduced speed.

From the South a cloud front came rolling in, and we hoped that this did not spell a blizzard. At 5 o’clock the whole sky was overcast. The wind did not pick up however, and it turned out to be a mild snow fall.

J.P. could again obtain sufficient cooling, and the main train arrived at drill site no. 2 at 9.15 PM.

When the tractor train arrived, Steffen and Simon were already drilling, and when we went to bed, 25 m of core were already drilled. Drilling is easier now in the overcast weather. We don’t have to use a tarp to keep the Sun away.

We are now 265km from NGRIP and 100 km from NEEM.

For supper Lars cooked lasagne.

Weather is overcast with snow. Temperature – 11 C and 10 knot wind from SSW.

- NEEM traverse team