The long-awaited Perlan container finally arrived in El Calafate! We had prepped the hangar with Mike and Tim doing lots of broom work. The Tribal truck driven by Daniel Garro arrived about 1 am. The next morning he brought it to the hangar ramp on a drizzly day. Tim climbed up on the back of the truck to open the container doors. We were able to pull the bags with the warm clothes out, but had to wait until the next day for the crane to arrive.
Of course it is wintertime and it snowed overnight. Not much by Minden standards. However the road up the hill to the airport was a sheet of ice. That’s why we rented cars with studded snow tires. It was an icy circus going up the hill. Thanks to Dan and Loris who helped push one of our cars up the hill.
The crane of Jorge Cordo made it to the airport with some of us in trail. In 16 minutes the container was hoisted, the truck pulled away, the container was twirled 180, and put down on the concrete ramp. It took much longer to pull the trailer out, push it into the hangar, and unload all the equipment from the container necessary to conduct a campaign from a remote site. Miguel Casco (orange vest), the chief of ANAC, spent his birthday making sure everything went okay for Perlan Project. Muchas Gracias and Feliz Cumpleanos! We hope you enjoy your Don Luis cake.
Of course it snowed another 3 inches as we returned to our Santa Monica cabins. It’s hard to imagine 100 F back home. Perlan Soars!
