Basen Nunatak, near Nordenskiöld Base Camp Traditional Cache
This cache has been locked, but it is available for viewing.
Basen Nunatak, near Nordenskiöld Base Camp
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This geocache is located at the highest point of Basen (599m WGS84 Height) nunatak in Dronning Maud Land, Eastern Antarctica. The geocache is inside a cairn built originally as the foundation for a short-wave radio repeater. From the site you have wonderful view to the surrounding glacier, Rieser-Larsen ice shelf, and to the nearby nunataks Plogen and Fossilryggen.
The Nordenskiöld Base Camp, consisting of the Finnish Aboa and the Swedish Wasa research stations is located some 500m from the cache. Both Aboa and Wasa are seasonal stations operated during the austral summer, normally between mid-November and mid-February. In order to get to the geocache you are recommended to either participate to FINNARP (Finnish Antarctic Research Program) or SWEDARP (Swedish Antarctic Research Program) expeditions or to be invited to visit one or both of the stations. During wintertime Basen is unreachable for any visitors.
I participated in FINNARP 2011 expedition and decided that Basen needs a geocache. Especially since my employer, Finnish Geodetic Institute, has had a permanent GPS station at Basen since 2003 and I used a lot of high-precision real-time-kinematic (RTK) GPS equipment during my stay at Aboa. GPS data together with repeated absolute gravity measurements at Aboa are used to study the mechanism (rebound from last ice age or change in contemporary ice mass balance?) behind land uplift (vertical movement) on this region of Dronning Maud Land.
Some links for visitors interested more in the research done at Basen:
(visit link)
(visit link)
(visit link)
About the cache: The cache is a clear plastic box (20 X 5 X 5 cm) with red lid. The original contents are: a log book, a pen, geocache note, a Moomintroll keyring (first-to-find gift), and two geocoins.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
V unq gb uvqr gur pnpur dhvgr pbzcyrgryl vafvqr gur pnvea fb gung gur Nagnepgvp jvaqf qba’g gnxr vg njnl naq gur Fha qbrfa’g oyrnpu gur pbagragf (erzrzore, gurer’f ab cebgrpgvir bmbar ynlre gurer!). Gur pnpur vf ba gur Fbhgurea fvqr bs gur pnvea, ebhtuyl 0.5 z nobir gur tebhaq. V nggnpu fbzr cvpgherf gb uryc svaq gur pnpur, va pnfr gur pnvea vf svyyrq jvgu fabj jura lbh ivfvg gur cynpr.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures