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04.01.10
A White Glow
It's snowing in Antarctica and that, believe it or not, is a rarer occurence than you might expect in the white desert. Helen (UK) brings up to speed with life at Patriot Hills in today's PodCast.
Helen's PodCast:
Link to Podcast
Helen's PodCast in writing:
"Hi this is Helen from the UK, we're still in Antarctica, at Patriot Hills. There's a fair amount of sorting out all of the rubbish from the equipment that we'll be bringing back to the UK with us setting off in just a few days from Antarctia. The weather's been quite chagneable here, we've had cloud and a fair amount of snow actually even covering the Patriot Hils which has added a lovely sort of white glow to the obviously already white landscape which had become our familar territory in Antarctica.
It seems a strange feeling in camp this time for myself. I was here two years ago and we were right at the very end of the season and the weather was closing in on us. On this occasion, ironically, it's so warm that we're just walking around in our thermals with just a downjacket on top and feel comparatively warm. There's a fair amount of business around here even though Saturday afternoon tends to be a little bit more down time. Patiot Hills will no longer be here after the end of this season, it's moving to the Union Glacier closer in to the mountains, about 8 hours' drive across the snow from this point.
It's a lovely feeling for me personally to have come back to the place that I left. There was a bit of sadness from not achieving the goal that I did achieve on that occasion and now with this expedition having reached a succesful goal I feel it's time to move on. The next time I hope to be back in Antarctica it will be a completely new start and a new base camp.
It reminds me once again that we need the back up and support of people like Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE) - they've been fantastic in terms of providing chocolate brownies, mental and emotional support on the phone as well as physical backup, providing us with spare tent poles when ours snapped at the beginning. A really nice feeling to be amongst friends, I suppose, and the infrastructure at Patriot Hills.
Time to sign off now because we have more interviews with our sponsors, Kaspersky Lab, who are wanting to get the final atmospheric feel of Antarctica before our departure. So long, probably the last time I'll speak to you from Antarctica."
Photo by Robert Hollingworth