Following are Kurt's daily status reports during setup:
September 9
Travel from Boulder to Flagstaff
September 10
Penske 85% unloaded
NEAR sited in (anchors) and base plate installed
Base trailer sited
Tried to access FAR to install base plate and anchors, but way too wet, almost got stuck!
Gotta wait till it dries out - approx. 1/2 mile of submerged road (2 lane track) right around where the tower is supposed to go.
Talked to Brad Andes, he will get with me on Thursday.
Tomorrow is a busy day - set anchors for NEAR, and hopefully download all concrete blocks as well as generators and fuel bladders.
Very happy with progress so far, especially with the rain we are dealing with!
Talked to Ken as well; I told him to wait and see what progress we make tomorrow before coming up on thursday.
September 11
Base trailer is partially set up - leveled and generator hooked up, porch etc. all thanks to John and Laura.
Fuel tanks for ISFS and ISS in place.
Anchors set for NEAR, 449, and base towers
Concrete blocks staged for helicopter lift
Tomorrow we are set to install anchors at FAR, meet with Brad Andes and confirm anchor pull specs with Ken Shively.
We may even get to play with heavy steel......
September 12
Some good news and some bad.....
We got anchor verification for NEAR, BASE , and 449 today from Ken Shively, but FAR has one anchor we have yet to get to "hold". Will attack that anchor later in the week as we have other issues to attend to.
Met with Brad Andes today and went over the "no go zone" at rim and unfortunately, the NE anchor was in that zone. I will move the site accordingly and will keep you informed as to our progress.
Over all I feel we are on track and moving ahead.
The next few days will be spent on getting the platforms ready for the rim site and surveying how the tower will fit into the new approved "go zone".
September 13
Ok, we got the anchors installed at FAR thanks to Chris, John, and Tim.
Laura and I got the RIM site mapped out (looks better than I had expected), and the base plate installed.
Steel platforms are 99.9 % put together, just missing 3 bolts which we got in the nick of time in flagstaff - Fastenall stayed open for us till we were able to get there, otherwise we would have had to wait till monday morning.
Good news about the permit being in Steve Atkins hands - we may be able to go vertical sunday or even sat afternoon!
Dave W. will arrive sunday evening and stage on monday.
Got an email from Greg @ air west requesting I call him asap......
Hoping there is no bad news....will call him first thing tomorrow morning.
September 14-15
Saturday:
We staged a lot of gear at rim, and some at the base for the helo ops,then got shut down after noon by heavy rain.
Sunday:
We staged some more equipment at the base, got the lidar installed on the rim for the profiling group (heavy lidar!) then went vertical at near. we got to 40 ft by the end of the day.
Thanks to Steve Atkins who helped with the heavy lifting of the lidar!
Dave Whiteman arrived and is ready to stage all crater equipment on Monday.
September 16
Today was spent meeting with Dave Whiteman, Sebastian, and Brad Andes to determine helicopter ops which will begin at 7:30 AM tomorrow (tuesday).
All the staging was completed for the helo ops, and equipment was hauled to rim and near.
Attempts to continue going vertical at NEAR were thwarted by nasty thunderstorms in the area, so we gave help to Lou at the 449 site.
September 17
Helicopter ops went off without a hitch on tues. and we finished deploying all the caches by 11:15.The anchors at RIM went particularly well, and look fabulous!
Portable biffies were delivered.
We even had an opportunity to go vertical in the afternoon and have reached 70 ft high at NEAR.
September 18
Windy day so we didn't increase the tower height of NEAR, but we were able to plumb the 70 ft already in place.
Anchors were installed at FLOOR, and Ken was notified. He will inspect all remaining anchors on friday.
John and I went to Flagstaff urgent care. John has a fractured ring finger on his right hand, I have a strained ligament in my right foot. Nether aliment will hinder our work.
September 19
got to 140 ft today at NEAR
September 20
Anchors passed at FAR, RIM and FLR. RIM failed with base plate for tower but timbers were added to pass inspection.
Soil sensors installed at FLR while anchors were being checked.
September 21
The tower at NEAR is now finished, including AWM's , bird flappers, and beacon. We plumbed and tensioned it also.
Got a start on rim, but high winds prevented us from going vertical. Rim is staged and ready to build weather permitting.
Will attempt to put up some 40 ft towers tomorrow if we can't work on rim.
September 22
EXTREMELY windy today. FLR tower was erected.
September 23
Got to 110 ft on rim today - banner day - but I fear (know) I am working people to hard....
Tomorrow will be equally difficult but I can't let off because of high winds expected Wednesday and Thursday.
I plan to have an off day (or partial) on Wednesday to give a break to my crew.
I will continue by myself, or with Gordon on weds, etc. to get as much done as possible before weather (winds) abate.
September 24
We reached 140 ft today at rim and have tensioned 3 of the 4 guys. The fourth guys are in place (including the dreaded AWM's and bird diverters) but still need to plumb and tension those. Plan to complete that tomorrow, give Chris and Laura a much needed break and then continue on to soil sensors etc.
If winds are not too high we will consider a 40 ft tower at far (with a shortened crew).
I need to commend high praise to my crew for work completed so far. All are conscious of our deadline and willing to go the extra mile to make this all work out. Kudos to all who have participated in this setup!