GrIT

The National Science Foundation has taken a page out of the Army's Camp Century history. They are trying to prove that it is cheaper to drive across the icecap to resupply their stations at Neem (415 miles from Thule) and Summit (700+ miles from Thule and at the summit of the icecap, well over 10,000 feet) by sled than resupply the stations by C-130s with skis like they have for years. They had to bring their trucks in on a C-5 because waiting for the shipsto get here in July would have set them too far behind schedule in our 24-hour daylight environment. (It was the first time a C-5 had been to Thule since, most peole say, at least 2000.) They are building a road across the ice as they go, using ground penetrating radar to find the crevasses in the ice and going around them or blowing them up and filling them in. They travel about 7 mph and should make the trip to Summit and back by the end of the summer!