Story and photos by Jake Norton

After many days of going without much of a stop, we took a good rest day today.

It started off wonderfully, with Caroline cooking up a good batch of bacon and powdered eggs—darn good down here in Antarctica.

After that, there was much gear sorting, drying gloves and socks and other items in tents under the warm sun. And—for Ed, Cindy, David, and Ben—packing in anticipation of a Twin Otter coming to ferry them down to Union Glacier this afternoon.

At 5 p.m., we finally heard the low-pitch whine of propellers coming over Vinson, and caught sight of the Otter flying in after picking up two scientists on the other side of the peak. A powdery landing on the glacier, and two Ski-Doos were offloaded to make room for our team. Before long, the Otter was in flight again. Ed, Cindy, David, and Ben are back now at Union Glacier, awaiting an Ilyushin flight on to Punta Arenas.

Peter, Seth, Caroline, Kent, and I are settling in, eager to begin the next phase of our Antarctic journey: ski.

Tomorrow, we’ll sniff around VBC a bit, ski some lines, get a feel for the snow, and scour our maps for less-tracked terrain for the days to come.

Much fun awaits ….

Audio dispatch by Peter Whittaker

[audio:http://blog.eddiebauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/PW-Audio_64Kbit_44kHz_mono.mp3|titles=PW Audio_64Kbit_44kHz_mono]

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