BELARE 2007-2008: Cold Winds, Chilly Tents

Since the metal struts have been mounted on the Utsteinen ridge, work on the station has been advancing fast. Neither the weather nor the hard physical work has slowed the workmen down.

Up until now, the workmen had been working down against the rock ridge. This is a physically demanding and horribly dirty job, that doesn't offer much recognition to the authors. As the station is mounted, these anchoring points are no longer visible to the bare eye. However, it is surprising to know that the station's precise foundation work (drilling, anchoring, fixing the anchor bars with resin, mixing the concrete, and preparing the scaffolding and the concrete's core grid) was accomplished over two months by a small team varying between four and ten people.

The cold has started to bite harder during the day and night. Temperatures drop sooner in the evenings now and have been bringing the workmen back to the mess tent earlier. The temperature at night recently reached -20°C!

Weather Information from Utsteinen

Date 14.01.2008
Time 08 00 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)

• Wind Direction: 80 deg
• Wind Speed: 20-30 km/h
• Visibility: +10 km
• Temperature: -10.7°C
• Pressure (QNH): 825 hPa