February 11, 2009
All,
News of Today (based on Emails from Olaf, Doug, Catalina, and calls with Olaf, Catalina, and Grisha)
--> Lake E: At Lake E a strong wind from the north made outsite work uncomfortable, but ice thickening was continued, resulting in up to 150 cm at D1 today.
--> Convoys: According to Gutov, the second convoy (first with containers) dropped the containers to the tundra and returned due to technical problems with the trucks. The containers are 90 km from the lake, at the end of the winter road, just before the turn off for the cross-country trek to Leke E . The trucks from the first convoy (that has delivered fuel and coal) on their way back have reached the containers. Once the crane on the way from Pevek has arrived, one or two of these trucks, that are able to carry containers, will start to drive them to the lake. Also the third convoy from Pevek (the second with containers) has already passed the 5 containers. Yesterday evening they were 70 km from the lake. Besides, another truck (4th run rather than convoy) will likely start tomorrow from Pevek to deliver the AWI lab container. So, it´s rather complicated, but if everything goes well, the cargo for the platform/rig could be at Lake E in a few days.
--> Next Helicopter: Most important news from Pevek today is that next week the helicopter is not available, because it is used for an election (flying people from remote locations to/from Pevek to enable voting). Consequently, the helicopter was booked on short notice for a flight tomorrow (planned to leave Pevek at 11 am. This heli will take Catalina and Dietmar to Lake E (Grisha will keep in Pevek), and Volker, Gary and Chris to Pevek. If it does not take place tomorrow, than we will head for a weekend flight.
--> Customs CPS cargo: Gutov is still struggling with the customs for the CPS cargo. The problem is that the content differs from the cargo list! One thing is that the cargo obviously contains food (rice, chewing gum!), causing delays and money (penalty to Gutov). I very much hope this is true ...
Cheers for now, Martin
