[caldrail]

Just in the last hour I watched a documentary on Russia Today about how the Russians supply their bases in the Antarctic. As you might expect, they are very impressive with their initiative and ability to adapt to the conditions - summer temperatures are 40deg below zero and can go as low as -89 in winter ! I'd not considered this sort of thing before. I just assumed the Russians flew supplies in whenever the weather was good, but apparently they're very dependent on sea travel. Ships have to sometimes break ice to get there and if the ice is too thick, they simply moor on the side of sea ice and unload, resulting in what can turn out to be very long and arduous overland travel with caterpillar trucks. Add to that the unpredictability of this ice - an AN2 landed near the ship to refuel and change supplies when the ice broke off, meaning the ship had to hoist the aeroplane out of trouble there and then. All in all a fascinating insight in to what turns out to be a very hazardous enterprise.