Just as I was sitting down to compose a “what’s up?” email to this year’s field team, an email came in from John Schutt that filled in some details.

The good news?   Morgan, Nina, Cindy and Ellen are due to head toward the airfield about 4 pm East coast US time for their flight to Christchurch.  Not sure what time takeoff is or what aircraft they’ll have,  but basically if all goes on schedule they should be in Christchurch Saturday evening their time (the wee hours of the morning Saturday for us).

Also good news (gooder? more good?)  Jim and Brian are due to be picked up at Miller Range today.  That may be happening right now;  they get picked up,  flown with some gear to the Shackleton Glacier camp,  and then back to McMurdo.  A long day of schlepping cargo and flying but if the weather is good, it could easily be the most scenic flight of the season, covering the heart of the transantarctics.  I hope they’re keeping their eyes peeled for blue ice fields.

Not so good news?   the weather continues foul out in the Elephant Moraine direction.  So as per the discussion John and I had yesterday,  our EET recon trip is now officially cancelled for the season.  Basically by the time they’d get out there and get camp set up they’d only have a few days before they’d have to pack up again, so it’s not a good use of logistical resources.    We’ll see where we can try again during future seasons.

-Posted by Ralph from slowly warming Novelty, OH,  where we had our 20 inches of snow on Monday and nobody panic-bought anything.