May 3, 2004: I was at Bolton and Aswap Lake yesterday bringing in more supplies and checking on ice conditions. May 15th is when I expect to have enough open water to take off with a float plane and get into the outpost camps to start setting up. There were lakes only 70 miles south of Bolton Lake that were completely free of ice, but the ice at Bolton and Aswap was only open in the rivers and narrows. It was a beautiful day and before we left and the sun was already doing damage to the ice. The guys say that the auger cuts through the ice with it’s own weight and that the ice is rotting through.
Here is a picture of the plane on the ice at Aswap and a shot of the work that’s getting done at Aswap. The interior will be finished today we plan to be finished with everything by Tuesday.
