16 November 2010 Grounded. . .

So we've been out of contact for a couple of days, and unfortunately the only reason is that there hasn't been much interesting news to share. We loaded up a truck to transport our gear down to the heli pad yesterday where it still sits. Gordon, Mike and I were all geared up, wired up, and sitting in the helicopter yesterday morning, rotors spinning, only to get word that there was a bad connection on the engine temperature gauge. They spent about 45 minutes try to fix it but to no avail. Outcome: our flights were canceled.

We got placed on the flight schedule again today, loaded up our personal gear and began the walk back down the hill to the heli pad again. We were met by Jack, one of the helicopter pilots, only to have him tell us the weather report at our destination was unfavorable. Grounded again. The motto in Antarctic travel, hurry up and wait. This sort of routine is not uncommon, though does become increasingly frustrating as the outcome does not change.

We'll likely be on the schedule again for tomorrow, though the forecast is already pointing to another system moving into the destination region. In the meantime, we've been finding ways to pass the time by writing emails, surfing the net, reading books (just finished #2 on this trip), working out, running, and taking walks. The same routine will be repeated this afternoon. I hope to have another update after our first flight out to The Byrd tomorrow!