Our flight back from SP to PH is yet an other treat: naturally, the
weather is beautiful and the view over the scenery magnificent.
Our flight back from SP to PH is yet an other treat: naturally, the
weather is beautiful and the view over the scenery magnificent.
We are getting into PH at around 5:00. Our approach takes us along the
Patriot Hills, which we cross at Windy Pass, and then circling above
the camp before we land. This allows us yet another spectacular view
of our temporary “home”, PH base camp.
As we approach PH we can see the Ilyushin sitting on the
runway! This is the flight scheduled for 10 January,
the one we were booked to fly out on. Obviously, it is going to
depart without us. As we disembark the Twin Otter and walk back to the
camp, we can observe the Ilyushin taking off...
Bad timing in a way, but as we find out, it was at capacity with 60 people on board (some of them originally scheduled for the 6 Jan flight which never happened). Also, the forecast is for more calm weather, and they are hopeful that they can turn the plane around as soon as the pilots' rest-time requirements allow it, and we might fly out this evening.
Meanwhile, as we get back to the main tent, staff have prepared a
welcome celebration for us: fresh cauliflower soup, beef stew with
potatoes and tira-mi-su for desert, accompanied with Chilean
bubbly. Many of the staff hadn't had any sleep that night, given that
only three hours earlier they welcomed the new arrivals from the
Ilyushin (they are all Mt Vinson climbers, the last set of passengers
for the season), and before that, they needed to organise the
out-bound passengers for departure.
We finally get to lie down and sleep around 8:30—back in our old tent "Johansen". (Turns out, it had in the meantime be used by the Prince of Monaco—we now hope for a princely sleep :-)
Breakfast has been rescheduled for noon, which makes sense given that
most people in camp didn't get to sleep until the morning. After the
usual wonderful brekkie, we get an other special treat: we are offered a
hot shower in the staff facility. It is very much like a
Scandinavian sauna, with a large heated tent in an icy environment.
One large stove is used to melt the snow, which we heap in by the shovel
loads from just outside the tent. Another stove is used to
heat the water to a lovely hot shower temperature. Wow, after this, we
feel like new-born!
It turns out that the Ilyushin won't come in today, but hopefully in the early hours of tomorrow, so we prepare for our last night on Antarctica, although we have to be essentially packed up, ready to leave with half an hours' notice. Having got used to the place, the idea of leaving is somewhat sad.
The Ilyushin (a fuel run with no passengers) arrives shortly after
3am. We make our way one last time towards the blue-ice runway and
board at 4:20 for take off at 4:45. We are leaving Antarctica...
Well, one more thing: the farewell from PH staff is turning out to be quite emotional. Before we could get underway to our last-degree skiing expedition, we had been staying at the PH camp for a full week and got to know and appreciate the staff a fair bit. Thus, as we depart from PH, we not only leave a unique and awe-inspiring continent behind, but we also say good-bye to quite a few people we have grown quite fond of.