Summit Camp Greenland

Here is the news, I made it to Summit Camp.  I have been here since Wednesday, I have spent the last couple of days trying to get acclimated.  I have had a relatively smooth transition, a mild headache and problems sleeping.  I think things will get better over the next couple of days.

Things are different this year, people are not staying in the Big House much due to the internet being throttled.  It is so quiet in there compared to last year.  On Saturday's last year there were people in there until midnight.  I left about 9:30 pm and I was one of the last two people there.  It's crazy.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Boomerang

boomerang - return to the initial position from where it came; like a boomerang

return - go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before; "return to your native land"; "the professor returned to his teaching position after serving as Dean"

 

If you can guess what I am going to talk about tonight.  We "Boomeranged" today.  I am still in Kanger, not that I spent all day here.

Today started off with my getting up at 6:15 am for breakfast.  I decided to go with the early breakfast van so that I could pack and get ready for our 9:00 am pickup.  We had breakfast (eggs, bacon, pastries, juice, etc) over at the airport.  We took our time and go back to the KISS (Kangerlussuaq International Science Support) building at 8:00 am.  I finished packing and climbed aboard the aircraft a little after 9:30 am.  We had a slight delay taking off due to a stuck pressure valve, which was taken care of by an educated rap of a fist.  We settled into a 2.5 hour flight to Summit.  When we got there, we knew we were in trouble.  Normally we fly straight into the runway and land.  This time we came in, flew the length of the runway (3 miles) and increased power and started to climb.  We asked the load master what happened and he said that the plan was crabbing side ways down the runway and could not land.  We circled back and tried to land in the opposite direction.  Again we crabbed down the length of the runway.  We climbed out, the pilots discussing the problem and we headed back to Kangerlussuaq.  All told, we were in the air 5.5 hours today and we are back where we started.

We are going to try and make it in tomorrow morning and see what happens.