Chilean's make it to Patriot Hills

I have resorted to writing my blogs offline and updating them when the satellite times allow. So posts with pictures will take awhile. Here is the thank you email we received from the Chilean Polar Expedition. It sounds like they made it ok and had a good time while on station. I'd bet on another expedition in the next two years. And I guarantee they use two tractors next time.

-----Original Message-----
From: Centro de Estudios Cientificos [mailto:polo@cecs.cl]
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 2:44 PM
To: Marty, Jerry; Marty, Jerry; Grant, BK
Cc: Cusp Lab; MCM-NSF Representative; Borg, Scott
Subject: Back at P.Hills


Dear Jerry, BK and all our new friends at South Pole,

Above all our warmest gratitude for the fantastic hospitality and your
essential collaboration at South Pole, including our never ending
“shopping list” (by the way the toilet paper has proved to be a precious
asset of superb quality). All of us had a truly unforgettable experience
at Amundsen-Scott. Please convey our gratitude to your colleagues and
collaborators at South Pole since I do not have all their email addresses.
For example Martin (who welcomed us at South Pole and collaborated at the
garage-workshop), Al Baker (who helped throughout and said farewell –
“vaya con Dios” the last day), Kathie for her help with glaciological data
and kind hospitality, Brenda for the valuable GPS data, Paul Sullivan,
Patrick McClure for help at the computer room, the Ice Cube people, the people
who fixed our heating system, the cargo chicks, the people at the store,
at the bar, and many other new friends.

We successfully made it back to Patriot Hills, arriving 31 December, in
time for New Year’s eve where we had a wonderful celebration both at the
Chilean camp and at ALE’s camp. The science on the way back went really
well, firn drilling down to 30 m to 46 m every 2 degrees of latitude,
gravity measurements every 20 km, GPS measurements of stakes every 20 km,
surface snow samples every 10 km, kinematic GPS every 5 seconds and snow
accumulation radar records every 1 second.

Claudio and Andres had an excellent trip back to Chile via
McMurdo-Christchurch –Auckland, thanks you so much for arranging the
flight.

You are ALL most welcome to visit us in Chile, .attached are our contact
addresses. Looking forward to meeting you again in the near future,

Gino Casassa, on behalf of the Chilean South Pole Scientific Expedition 2004