More visitors

A couple of days ago, John and I walked out to the drill camp to watch them deploy DOMS. This is the process of putting the sensors into a hole after it's been drilled. It's a pretty involved process, requiring 5-7 people to hook these sensors up every couple of hundred feet on this 2 mile long cable.

 When we were ready to return, the drillers' shift had ended, so we caught a ride back in the van. One the way back, the driver slowed down to look at a group of trucks which had arrived overnight and were parked in the visitors' area about 50 yards away. With a bit of persuasion, he left the packed-down road and drove through the snow to to the visitors' area where we talked to one of the drivers for a bit. These trucks were actually just the support team for a race to the South Pole, dropping off supplies at checkpoints every 25 miles or so along the race route.

 While we were talking, Sven (a driller who wintered over for IceCube in 2007) asked the driver a question. The driver asked him if he was Sven, and said he had something for him. It turned out that this driver had some down time one day, so he skied 4 miles to a nearby camp and talked with the people there. When they found out he was going to the South Pole, they gave him a note to hand to Sven.

It's such a small continent!

(The Norwegian is on the left, Sven is on the right, and I'm in the back)