Live From Antarctica: Guest report

The sun has, however, made a few brief appearances over the past few days, just to let us know that it's still alive... We were even treated a period of good visibility during which the landscape cleared up and we were reminded how much Antarctica is a beautiful and fascinating world to be in.

Although the weather conditions are a little demanding, the polar gear we have on enables us to withstand the coldest storm. Of course, that's not counting a few sensitive moments such as when we use the outside toilets, take off our clothes and change inside your tent, or work on certain metal pieces with our bare hands. Still, the experience is completely different from what the continent's first discoverers, the first station builders or even some ambitious adventurers lived through in their time. We wouldn't be where we are today without their boldness and courage.

Here, big changes await us: the ship is due to arrive any time now and a team of six will be heading out to the coast to unload the equipment (50 containers) and greet the dozen new team members. The unloading process is always a tricky moment because the ship has to find a spot along the sea ice which is fit for unloading. Then, between the sea ice and the ice shelf, there is a cliff which measures about 30 metres high in which a ramp has to be secured to allow the sledges to bring the containers up away from the unloading site on the sea ice. Since the coast profile changes every year, we can never predict exactly where the unloading site will be. In addition to the unloading, last year's 125 empty containers then have to be loaded onto the ship. They had been sitting patiently along the coast, waiting for their moment to come.

Tomorrow, if the weather is nice (which is the case as we write this text up), a plane will drop off a few more people and some more equipment (missing and spare pieces, fresh food, etc.). It will then fly back to Novo with a first team of scientists. They have just finished the first glaciology mission around the station with success. We are thus taking advantage of our last quiet days before the turmoil of the next few days.

The current team is getting along well and, just as last year, the fact of living together in such a close environment reveals our personalities and who we are deep down. It was a pleasure to see Kristof again, a Flemish officer of the Belgian Army, a stocky kind of guy who is always wearing a hat on tight over his head. He is an ingenious mechanic, curious and open-handed and has a positive attitude towards everything. Then there's also Jacques, the Canadian, I mean Quebecker, with his fabulous accent and typical expressions. He is an excellent woodsman; what a pleasure it is to work by his side. The expressions I am learning are going into a dictionary I am composing and which some of you may, some day, have the opportunity to see.

Before I leave, I must tell you that today is December 18th, 11 pm. The sky is clear, the sun is shining and the wind has dropped. Before I go to bed, I will have a look out at the landscape: in some directions, it is possible to see as far as 60 km out! Throughout the endlessly white landscape, a few snow-tipped mountains pop out here and there. The sunlight is superb and the sun details the black and white colours of our universe into an infinite amount of hues. As my friend Jacques would say: "It couldn't be any worse!" (translation of " C'est pas pire ! ", an expression from Quebec).

Bernard Polet