WAIS - Dec 7, 2008 - Ken

From Ken Taylor


We have made slow progress in the past week. Half of the drill and core handling crew are at WAIS, and the rest are in McMurdo waiting for flights. We had several days of unusually clear and calm weather, which helped our cargo situation. We have most, but not all, of the equipment we need to start operations. The rest of the equipment and crew should be coming in a few days. We are setting up the equipment we have and preparing the arch.

The camp is still operating a bit slowly because the tracked forklift that is used for moving heavy loads and clearing snow is not operational. The RPSC construction crew is doing a good job supporting us. The construction crew is lead by Billy Texter, who has been has been providing construction support for the project since the Greenland drill test four years ago. It will be another two weeks before we are ready to start drilling with three shifts.