Photo of a wind scoop ice formation encountered during our final sweep along the edge of the blue ice.

That’s a wrap for Nødtvedt. The weather was fine in terms of visibility so we were able to get out this morning and do a final search of the remaining ice and moraine(s). Tomorrow if all goes well, we hope to relocate to Amundsen Glacier for the remainder of our field season. While at Amundsen, we will spend one day with helicopter support searching (on foot) the Devil’s Glacier and upper Amundsen Glacier. All non-essential gear has been queued for the move. We even spent time today smoothing the “runway” for the Twin Otter. We got out (or “oot” as James falsely claims I pronounce it) our shovels (those that haven’t lost their battle against the ice-hard snow here) and removed any abrupt edges for the majestic multi-engine machine of the skies. Our skidoos doubled as “steam rollers” to flatten it a bit further. We are looking forward to a change of scenery and are hopeful for less wind. That being said, some beautiful space rocks make the wind all but forgotten. With only a short hop between here and Amundsen, moving day will be incredibly hectic as camp is taken down and set back up simultaneously on each site in teams of two. Challenge accepted.

Posted by Scott from Nødtvedt Nunatak on 2018-01-03 at 21:00 local.