Report from the Swedish part of the Japanese-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, JASE, Report no 20.

We arrived today in late afternoon to the Svea Station (74o34’S, 11o13’W). The view from the station is magnificent over the large blue ice areas of Scharffenbergbotnen, surrounded by alpine mountain walls. The weather is excellent and we are all excited by the incredible environment, though we have seen it before. However, the experience is probably enhanced by the fact that we only have watched the snowy horizon of the Polar Plateau for more than a month.

Nevertheless, this is a beautiful place.

The decent from the Polar Plateau went smooth and quick. We climbed down 1200 metres in altitude on one day and today we have been driving along the Heimefrontfjella mountain range in sunny weather. We will stay at Svea for a day off on Monday and then take off for the final leg towards the Wasa station which we plan to reach at the end of the coming week.

The Svea Station, January 20, 2008
Per Holmlund and Tomas Karlberg