his flight was cancelled. The Twotter boys believed and hoped, with a
little light scepticism thrown in for good measure, and then the plane
came. And it DID land. So perhaps we have to retract our last post of
scepticism...
After a morning of digging and organising to follow Solomon's enthusiasm
and positive mental attitude, the weather got a little worse. And then
it got a little better and then we weren't sure what it was going to do
but the pilot thought he'd have a go anyway and took on enough fuel to
get back to Siple Dome in case it was a no go.
After expecting it never to happen, it was a change of mood in camp.
Strange as we had to get our stuff packed, tent down, organise our cargo
and mark an airstrip in case the surface contrast was poor. And we had
a little over two hours to do all of this.
The other thing that was a little strange was that the D team was
cancelled and would stay there waiting for who knows how long for their
plane. Very frustrating and annoying for them I'm sure. Sorry guys
(but perhaps you can give weather obs for our close support days over
the next week!?!? ;-)
We marked out a safe strip in the valley with empty drums and a "come
and have a go if you think you're good enough" strip with rock boxes a
few hundred metres from camp and waited with baited breath to see what
happened. A little after 4pm an otter sneaked through the gap between
Mt Bitgood and Lockhart, pinched between the cloud a hundred feet above
it and the mountain a hundred below. Then it did a pass of the far
strip and one of the close. It turned out again and then lined up for
the close one. Brilliant. This saved us taking the fuel and cargo
2.5km from camp!
A swift refuel, load and strap down and a strange goodbye - we should
have been the last to leave really but we leave, two months to the day
almost, and the D Team wave goodbye, wondering whether they will ever
make it back to town. They have been cancelled today and it's Sunday
tomorrow so no flying there. Poor sods. We're very grateful for their
digging skills, card playing brilliance and their concerted effort to
help us finish the remaining cheese.
And so to Siple Dome, the place we spent 37 days last season on standby
for a season that never happened. Interesting memories and strange here
today, after our close support is cancelled from weather (groundhog day
begins) with only the two of us and not the team. We wish that Fawna,
Christine, Kevin and Mike were here for old times sake. Although I know
they would NOT agree.
So re-organising cargo, reading, running on the skiway and sitting
around, waiting for the weather to play ball so we can go back to the
Ford Ranges and complete the final stage of the project. We need 5 days
out and about to complete the science for the season, fingers crossed
we're gonna get them...
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