Summit arrival!!

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 72

Well, we made it! We left Kanger at about 9:00, and were at Summit by 11:00. The ride there was awesome! The pilots of the flight let me sit in the cockpit the whole way. The pilots and navigator were very nice. They showed and explained all of the instruments they used, and explained what a lot of what they were talking about meant. It was very interesting.

It was especially cool to watch us fly into camp. Several miles out, you could just make out a rough spot in the snow. As we got closer, you could make out the skiway in the distance. Even closer yet, you could see all of the buildings. It looked just like the picture on http://www.summitcamp.org , but better!!!

If you look really, really closely, you can see a small disturbance in the snow on the left side of the picture. That is Summit from several miles away!

Once we landed, we quickly loaded all of our gear on a banana sled attached to a snowmobile. I sat on top of the gear, and got a ride to the big house where I met everyone at camp. It was a bit overwhelming, because there were about 20 people to meet. They are all so nice, though. Everyone has been very welcoming and helpful. I feel really comfortable here, even though its my first day! Thanks Summit team for being so great!!

We had an awesome lunch of burrittos, and then I got a tour of the camp. I will be posting pictures of the camp in later journals.

Unfortunately, the winds started kicking up shortly after our arrival. That put a damper on the warmest day of the year so far. It drove the temp. from -5 degrees to -61 with the windchill. On the bright side, it waited until we got here, so we didn't have to turn around and go back to Kanger!!

I was totally shocked at how comfortable I was outside. The arctic gear did an awesome job keeping me warm. When we walked out to the satellite camp (I'll explain that in another journal), I actually was hot!!! All of the buildings were way warmer than I was prepared for- that was a nice surprise!!!

We talked a lot about the science that is taking place up here. I don't know a lot yet, but after these discussions, I know that I am going to learn enormous amounts!! I will pass this on to you.

Gotta go get my shovel ready for tomorrow-
Nikki