international
polar
foundation

It is snowing lightly, the sky is overcast, but the sun still pierces through the clouds. A fresh breeze rises now and then upon the Utsteinen ridge, cooling any extremity that has not been covered. It is -12°C, but who knows what the wind chill is.

Building on site continues, no matter what the weather is like. When one activity slows down, another one picks up speed. There are always more than 20 people working up on the ridge and round abouts, and 6 who are out on a traverse between Utsteinen and Crown Bay. More than half the containers are now in Utsteinen.

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.

The Station's metal struts have emerged from the Utsteinen rock in just 3 days. With only two struts left to place, the early stages of the station's pre-construction in Brussels are now fully recognizable.

Seven people have left on another traverse. The rest of the team is either working on the ridge, filming those working on the ridge, building new bathroom facilities or cooking away to feed the team.

Seventeen new team members arrived on site yesterday, Sunday January 6th. The building of the station starts today.

The Utsteinen crew had a costume party on New Year's Eve. Everyone took part in the fun.

Stéphane Dubois, building coordinator for the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station, returned to Belgium earlier than foreseen. Mr. Dubois, an inhabitant of the Rochefort region, was supposed to stay in Antarctica until March 9, 2008. The atmospheric conditions, particularly the extreme dryness, forced him to return prematurely: he was back in Brussels on December 21, after having spent 52 days on the white continent.

This Ivan Papanin arrived in Cape Town during the night of December 28. Unloading operations lasted through December 29. Several waste containers and a few heavy drilling pieces were brought back to Cape Town to be disposed of or stored.

Seven people left the base camp on December 27th to start the 5th traverse. Meanwhile, the rest of team is working on re-assembling the cranes and finishing the garages and the station's foundations.