Vinson Expedition Dispatch
December 13, 2010 – Long Hard Day in Antarctica
We've now spent four nights here at Union Glacier camp and are still waiting for the Ilyushin flight to come over from Chile and take us home. Luckily, life is good here at Union Glacier. There is a great group of interesting people, delicious food and lots of it, and comfy warm beds to sleep in. We eat breakfast every day at 8am, have tea at 11am, lunch at 1pm, afternoon tea, and then drinks and dinner at 7pm. So we're eating very well!
I've seen this here in Antarctica with groups waiting for their flight home before. It begins to feel like we're in the movie Groundhog Day where each day seems exactly the same as the last. This is especially evident at the 12:45pm weather briefing about the chances of getting a flight out of here. It never seems to change! We very much have the same routine every day and it just seems like we're stuck in time here. It's a wild and wonderful place, but we'd sure like some sign that we'll be able to leave one day!
Now let me give you an update about the weather forecast for today. We are in a window that Mark told us would happen. There was some concern about some clouds forming on some of the ridges overnight but it looks like it may have opened up. His photos look good for the weather going into this evening. But tomorrow, by 9 or 10am, it's going to be snowing here, so if we don't manage to fly out tonight, we'll almost certainly be here for at least two more days.
So we all have our fingers crossed that things work out for us tonight!