On an average year, L'Astrolabe gets closer than 20nm to DDU in the November cruise. Often they can get almost alongside the DDU runway, but as with all averages, there are years like this where the ice was too thick to get closer than 50nm. We had a round trip (with loading/unloading) took about 1 hour 20 minutes, so we then ran into flight and duty times limits, but the magic of SatPhones got us an exemption from CASA to meet the demands of extra flying.
L'Astrolabe is a fairly small icebreaker, and having got where she did the ice then closed around us for a long time. Enough to get a bit worried about getting home on schedule, and lots of hot water piped over the side to free us up from the ice.
Lots of freight and goods were flown into Cap Prudhomme, the satellite base from DDU: and yes, that is their own ski slope up the hill
The major factor in breaking up the ice is bad weather, followed by tidal effects. As the tide 'comes in' the ice breaks up a bit, then as the tide goes down, the sections of ice collide and often ride over each other. Well shown in this aerial:
As my hook played up initially the other pilot got to do lots of sling loads, mostly at 40 - 60 knots. I was quite happy to cruise past with internal loads at 120 knots instead
DDU is in the middle of a nesting area. Lots of penguins, and associated smells
Whilst Cap Prudhomme has the neatest quad bike
(iPhone photo, not the best)
