Latest News
20.11.09
The wind blows hot and cold
The team have been experiencing some high winds at their current base of Patriot Hills but, as Jim Mayer explains, this is no coincidence. Jim was a member of the team that trained the Kaspersky ladies. Along with his wife Sarah he runs arctic holiday company: The Polar People. Here is his explanation of the winds in Antarctica.
Jim Mayer (Training Team)'s Guest Blog:
"The wind that is causing the team such problems with their tents is also the very reason why they have landed at Patriot Hills.
In a few locations in Antarctica , prevailing wind and terrain combine to produce an area of glacier that is free from snow. Snowfall is not able to accumulate here as it is regularly blown away leaving a slippery, hard, blue ice surface which makes for a good landing strip.
Following experimental landings by Giles Kershaw and Charles Swithinbank in the 1980s, these blue ice areas have been used as runways for wheeled aircraft, allowing easy intercontinental travel by large jets, such as the Ilyushin that brought the team from Punta Arenas, Chile.
So whilst the winds may be testing, if we didn't have them then the team wouldn't have been able to fly there in the first place!"
Photos by Robert Hollingworth