February 4, 2009
All,
News of Today (Emails from Chico, Doug and Olaf)
- The party in Pevek has not sent much information yet, but according to information from yesterday they are probably still busy with meeting Gutov, inspecting the core storage facilities in Pevek, visiting the bank to put additional money onto our project account, organizing the construction of the core boxes (from the wood we have sent with the AWI containers), etc.
- The party still hopes to get the helicopter flight tomorrow. If this happens, all except Grisha will fly to Lake E. Grisha will stay in Pevek and continue the remarkable job done during the last weeks by Chico, i.e. taking care about the various actions that have to happen in town to support the field party and make the transits most efficient. Grisha has hurt his leg the day before he started in St. Petersburg, so it is also good that he is more close to the Pevek hospital, in case his leg becomes worse.
- At Lake E, Gary, Volker and Paul are still working on the ice pad, Jens is checking and where necessary fixing the bamboo poles. Olaf checked the camp and balok situation in detail (see attachment), so that we can finalize the planning of their use over the remaining campaign. According to Victor (Gutovs on-site representative), 40 persons can stay in the camp, 14 of which are Gutov´s Crew. If all 40 places are needed, 2 baloks still need to be prepared for 4 beds, and the baloks currently used as "office" and as "shelter" on the ice will be used for sleeping, too. The physician has an own balok (hospital); the second bed in that balok (fortunately still "free") shall be occupied only if no other beds are available.
- The convoy with the first 5 containers is expected to arrive at the lake in "a few days". Temperatures were around -29C today, with clear sky and rather weak wind from the north.
Cheers for now, Martin
