Situation Report #30, 18. January 2020

Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Drilling Site (75.29917 degS, 122.44516 degE)

Personnel: Saverio Panichi (ENEA), Michele Scalet (ENEA), Jakob Schwander (unibe), Thomas Stocker (unibe), Remo Walther (unibe), Massimo Frezzotti (U Roma 3)

Weather: sunny, moderate winds

Today Massimo has collected the last GPS station about 30 km from BELDC. The sledge has been loaded with spare and preparations for camp closedown continued.

At Radix we have made several attempts to recover the casing with the packer. Unfortunately, after about one month of excellent and faithful service, the casing could not be liberated and had to be abandoned. In the afternoon, the winch was disassembled, and Michele lifted the drum with the hydraulic tube, weighing almost half a ton, elegantly on the transport frame, using the Pistenbully crane. All hands were helping and by 4 pm all material except the tent was placed on the sledge. Today, Saverio will prepare our dinner for the last time at Little Dome C, our home since December 20, 2019. Surely, he will prepare something special!

LDC, 18.1.2020