With 10 minutes notice, I grabbed a sleeping bag and climbed onto the twin Otter with Mark as Pilot and we were off. Over the Nunataks and then the endless sea of ice with hardly a ripple or blemish. So endless that even at 600' you can see the curve of the earth and sky and ice blur into one another. After a while a blip comes up on the radar screen and Mark points out that those are the Ellsworths.
Half an hour from landing there is a feint line on the horizon which grows clearer as we approach. A band of cloud obscures the tops, but as we approach we duck underneath and the mountains appear white and etheral. Vincent off to the left the highest mountain in Antarctica at around 18,000 '.
In a moment we are down on the ice, greeted by Hugh and Hamish, and being served tea and home baked bread in their Melon tent. Then unload, refuel and off back to Sky Blu. I have a go at flying the plane. Piece of cake so long as I don't have to land it.
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