8 December 2008 The Last Drill Site

The team moved to Site 5 on December 8, 2008. Site 5 is the location of one of the soil pits dug by Dave Marchant (See 22 November 2008 journal entry). Dave uncovered a volcanic ash layer directly on top of cobble-rich ice (the cobbles represent an ancient rock fall onto the glacier accumulation zone). The team needs to drill beneath this layer to determine if pristine ice lies beneath it. As mentioned previously, this will be the hardest drilling challenge of the season.

The drill was not able to penetrate the rocks at site 5. The final depth reached was 0.7 m. As readers may recall, one of Dave's drilling goals was to test the new ICDS (Ice CoreA cylindrical section of ice removed from a glacier or an ice sheet using a specialized type of hollow drill. Enter the definition here. Drilling Services) drill. Drilling at Site 5 revealed that ICDS needs to explore a different technology to penetrate the rocks beneath the site.

The team began pulling out of camp in stages beginning Monday, December 8 and by Thursday, December 11, 2008 the camp pullout was complete and the entire team was back in McMurdo. This was my last helicopter ride to McMurdo and fortunately it ended in a different route. The pilot went to McMurdo via Taylor GlacierA mass of ice that persists for many years and notably deforms and flows under the influence of gravity. and Round Mountain to refuel. Enjoy my photos for the last time.

It's not over yet. When the team returns to McMurdo there is a lot to do before leaving the ice. We still have to sort through the camping gear, samples, and the team has to complete lots of paperwork.