By C. Tambley

On the Mars Underwater expedition 2004, the logistics in the field is one of the most complicated non-science tasks. Correct coordination of logistics in the field allows the scientists to do their work with all the instruments, time, and facilities they need. For the main ascent this year, we moved the equipment--including instruments, mountain equipment, and food--needed for 3-4 days working at nearly 6,000 meters. All of this was accomplished with the help of 12 porters working over 5 days and a magnificent guide, Macario, leading them.

Sunday, 7 November:
The porter rotations start: In advance of the team ascent we started the preparation of the camps and the transportation of the first mountain equipment. The distribution of tents at Camp 1 for the first night, at the Summit Camp and in the crater, some basics like sleeping pads and more delicate things like power generators. At the same time, the team was training on Juriques Volcano for the main ascent.

Monday and Tuesday, 8-9 November:
The moving continues. With the time for departure getting closer, we needed to send more and more equipment up Licancabur. We sent stoves, fuel, food enough for 13 people over 4 days, diving suits, diving WEIGHTS (almost 150 lbs!!!), sampling equipment, imaging and communication devices...all this to the summit camp.
On the afternoon of the 9th, we learned that 4 of our porters needed to leave for their homes and families. After calling by radio to the towns "nearby" (about 200 km!) the refuge, we found our last chance of help for the next day: the Bolivian Army. Our teammate from SERGEOTECMIN, Mayel, and our guide, Macario, asked the commander of a small camp near the border with Chile for their help. He accepted, and our group was increased with the addition of 5 more young soldiers.
We were ready for the main quest of the expedition.

Wednesday, 10 November:
First part of the ascent: All of the team, 10 people, 3 journalists, Macario and 12 porters (half of them soldiers) started the journey.
The ascent to the first camp at 5450 m was made at a safe pace; the porters were carrying the most delicate instruments and a very important thing: the water for all of us. Transporting the water every day from the refuge to our camps allowed us to have enough liquid water all the time (hopefully it wouldn't freeze).
We set up all the tents just in time to hide from the cold and wind as the sun set behind the peak of the volcano. After a small bit of tea and dinner, we were sleeping and looking forward to the next part of the ascent to the summit camp.

Thursday, 11 November:
First day and night at the summit camp: The team woke up by 7:00 a.m. to be ready by 8:00 a.m. The porters and Macario arrived with water and bread, and ready to help us in moving the entire camp to the summit.
We arrived at Summit Camp by 1:00 p.m. to set up. By 2 p.m., Greg, Scott and Bruce moved into the crater to be up very early the following day near the lake so they could start work on bathymetry with the remote controlled boat. The strong winds and cold shadow of Licancabur during afternoon put the team in tents early for warmth and rest.

Friday, 12 November:
Science at the summit - 1st day: The set up of the meteorological station, bathymetry with the RC boat, sedimentary sampling, biological sampling, and photo panorama of the crater was made without problems.
The porters were keeping on the task of transporting fresh water to the summit camp from the refuge.

Saturday, 13 November:
Science at the summit - 2nd day - and the quick descent:
On the second science day (the 4th on the mountain) we performed diving in the summit lake: Nathalie, Scott, Greg, Rob and Andy dived. Victor stayed at the summit camp to take care of the teardown and preparation of all packages to go down the mountain.
As soon as the dives were finished, the porters and Macario, who were laying on the shore looking the diving of the crazy scientifics, moved the crater camp including the safety tent, diving suits (weights...again!), cameras and the remaining equipment. The medical tent was left with some equipment to be shipped down the next day.
At the summit camp there was a re-distribution of the priority items to be sent down like sleeping bags and the photo/video/communication equipment. 8 porters helped us with the task, while 3 others helped the ARD journalists carry the TV equipment. All were safe, tired, but happy by 4:30 p.m. at the vehicles on the base of the mountain. It took us just 2 hours and 15 minutes to go down from the summit to the base of Licancabur.

Sunday, 14 November:
The wet remainders: At 4:00 a.m., the science team was resting while the porters were getting prepared to climb again to get all the things that remained in the summit. To my surprise, I found that we had two new soldiers with the group, a guard who carried his rifle all the way up and down the mountain, and the Sargeant of the group wanted to see the summit and help, too.
By 11:00, we heard from Macario by radio that the medical tent and some other things had been blown in to the crater lake. They rescued everything by wearing rubber sampling boots and were bringing nearly every piece of equipment back from the summit. Only a few blankets remained at the camp outside the crater. The main work here had been done, and the soldiers returned to their camp.

Monday, 15 November: Last rotation: Macario left the refuge with the last 3 porters to bring down the very last things left there. By noon, we had everything back at the refuge. Every porter and science team member was happy and safe. It was incredible how these guys could still laugh and joke after several days of climbs, hard work, and descents.

Well, after several days of planning and camping at the summit of Licancabur, the team has made it back to the refuge safely. The following is an account of their preparation, climb and activities on Licancabur over the last few days.

Field Notes - 11/14/04 by Greg Kovacs

The team had an update ready to go on the 10th and then discovered that anything with a hard drive in it was not functional at our altitudes and temperatures, which goes to show that technology has its limits too!

11/8- 11/9/04
In San Pedro some of the team finished assembly and test the GPS/sonar survey boat to be used in the summit lake.
Part of the time in San Pedro was spent searching for equipment to finish the assembly of the sonar boat. The boat was tested successfully and was readied for the climb to the summit lake. Upon returning to the refuge, final preparations were being made for the climb to the summit of Licancabur.

11/10/04
Today, the team climbed to Camp 1 on Licancabur, at 17,509 ft. (the summit is 19,730 ft.). The ascent was laborious, but thankfully uneventful. The group was in good spirits and everyone jammed their tents onto the narrow ledge that would serve as home overnight.

The other interesting fact about such high mountain camps is that those incredible winds and rapid temperature declines forces everyone into their tent by 4:00 or 4:30 pm. Naturally, with the extreme cold, everyone ends up in their sleeping bags, and soon, asleep.

The problem is that one really cannot sleep the full 14 hours until the sun once again warms the tent up. This, combined with the incessant sound of wind battering the tents leads to rather limited rest.

11/11/04
Today, the team reached the Licancabur summit camp at 19,005 ft. After sorting through the gear that had been carried up by the porters, most of the team set up camp. Part of the team carried on over the crater rim at 19,432 ft and set up camp right on the edge of the summit lake (19,294 ft.).

Needless to say, all were a bit tired, but in great spirits. As typical for camping at such altitudes, nobody had great enthusiasm for eating. The team did manage to take down enough calories and liquid to be ready for the big day tomorrow, which would include water sampling and carrying out the bathymetric and thermal mapping of the lake.

The lake had an ice layer on it that remained present until very late in the day, at which point the winds were so high that reliable navigation of the remote-controlled sonar boat would be difficult or impossible.

11/12/04
Today the boat was assembled together and prepped for use in the summit lake. A great deal of activity ensued, including a variety of scientific sampling tasks.

After a successful day, we settled down for "dinner" and tent-lock-down by 4:00 pm.

11/13/04
The lake was not only mostly frozen, but was making strange "ice under great stress" sounds as the wind and changing temperatures changed the balance of forces that had prevailed overnight.

Today the team dove in the lake to take water samples, measurements and document the dives. Everything went as planned. When the dives were over, team members dragged themselves to shore, and noted that the water on the suits froze immediately.

When everyone was ready, the team trudged up to the crater rim and regrouped at the summit camp. After a brief break, they began their descent, which was done at a safe, but fairly rapid pace. Returning to the refuge, all were elated that the mission objectives were met! The team looked forward to some good sleep and, within a day or two, some opportunities to scrub the mountain dust from ourselves.

So far, it has been an incredible adventure, and thanks to a great team, a very rewarding experience.

Today, the team is gathering samples of the water in the summit lake and they are taking lots of pictures. Apparently the conditions are cold, but everyone is doing great. They plan on getting in the water by tomorrow (11-13). When the team arrives back at the refuge, they will upload new field updates and pictures of their climb.

As we recieve updates, we will post everything here.

Greg Kovacs reported they have reached the top of Licancabur (20,000 feet) and everyone is doing fine. Some of the team is camping inside the crater, and it is very cold there. They plan on getting some rest tonite and tomorrow (11-12) they will begin further studies of the crater lake.

We hope to have more detailed information from the team when they come back, and we will post pictures as they come in.

Way to go team!

The team has successfully reached camp one on Licancabur. They report all are doing very well, and they expect high winds tonight as they sleep in their tents at 18,000 feet. The plan is to push on to the summit of Licancabur on Nov 11th. More to follow....

The team has been slowly sorting through the mountains of equipment that made it to the refuge. As they begin their scientific investigations, the also need to train their bodies for the climb to the top of Licancabur at 20,000 feet. They did a training climb and managed to reach the rim of the volcano Juriques. At the start of the climb, as they gained elevation, they could see the ruins of an ancient Inca village, which served as a trading post in this region.

They climbed to the 18,500 ft. high rim, picking their way through various sizes of talus (fist-sized-and-up sized rocks) and scree (smaller-than a fist-get-in-your-boots sized annoying rocks), but all made it safely to the top.

At the crater rim, they saw a good deal of penitent snow, which is a particular form snow takes when it is sheltered from too much direct sun and kept in a very cold, dry climate. Basically, some of the snow sublimates, leaving needle and sheet-like structures.

Along with conditioning their bodies, they were also able to further test the wearable physiologic monitors (CPODs).

Stay tuned as more information about the team come in, and be sure to check out the latest pictures in the photo album!

Science Notes November 4th

Nathalie Cabrol

By all means, a wonderful day in the Alteplano, and a busy one too. The physiology team and subjects came back to the refuge after spending two days at lower elevations to study adaptation to altitude with and without medication (Diamox).It was good to meet up with the rest of the team and hear outstanding news: the UV dosimeter that we had left last year had collected UVA, UVB, PAR (photoshythesis) and temperature data every ten minutes over the entire period.

The results are astounding and worth all of the time and effort we put in. The biology team members look like kids in the proverbial candy store: moving from one spring to another, from the field to the microscope, and making plans to make every single day as full as possible. Only a few days into the expedition, we can claim some great successes in several areas.

I kept some great news for the end. Our equipment, that had been held up in Chilean customs for the last two weeks will finally make it to the refuge on Saturday or Sunday. We had to rearrange our plans to accommodate this delay, but, as a well-organized group, there will be no time lost.

Finally, I would hate to forget an important part of the afternoon while a lot of the team was busy working at Laguna Blanca doing maintenance on UV plate stations and sampling, I drafted part of the physiology team (my revenge for two days of intensive electrodes and CPOD scrutiny) to Laguna Verde to find a good site to reposition a UV plate station that was blown away. Very efficient, those boys-- they have started building a 1/50th scale version of the Great Wall of China (with lava rocks) to protect the area against 100 km/hr gusts that are fairly common there. In the process, we also visited the nearly dozen new hydrothermal springs that appeared this year in the north shore of Laguna Verde. Amazing! What a diversity of life, pigments, morphologies we are in for a very exciting science campaign.

Signing off for today,
Nath