Camp Academia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bulgaria in Antarctica
Bulgarian Antarctic Institute
National Centre of Polar Research
St. Kliment Ohridski Base
St. Ivan Rilski Chapel
Camp Academia
Tangra 2004/05
Bulgarian toponyms in Antarctica
Antarctic Place-names Commission
Military Geographic Service
Camp Academia with Wörner Gap and Bowles Ridge
Camp Academia under snow
Camp Academia with Catalunyan Saddle
Post office Tangra 1091
A letter from Livingston
The central region of Livingston Island with Camp Academia and the bases St. Kliment Ohridski and Juan Carlos I

Camp Academia (Lager Akademiya \'la-ger a-ka-'de-mi-ya\) is a geographical locality in eastern Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, named for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in appreciation of Academy’s contribution to the Antarctic exploration. The site was first occupied in the 2004/05 austral summer, and has been designated since 2004 as the summer post office Tangra 1091, the southernmost branch of the Bulgarian Posts Plc.

Access and survey routes

Camp Academia is strategically situated in upper Huron Glacier, Wörner Gap area, at elevation 541 m in the northwestern foothills of Zograf Peak, central Tangra Mountains. The site is accessible by 11-12.5 km routes from the Bulgarian base St. Kliment Ohridski and the Spanish base Juan Carlos I respectively.

Camp Academia offers convenient overland access to the main range of Tangra Mountains to the south (with survey and climbing routes leading from Camp Academia to Lyaskovets Peak and Mount Friesland via Catalunyan Saddle, and to Levski Peak, Great Needle Peak and Helmet Peak areas via Lozen Saddle); to Bowles Ridge, Vidin Heights, Kaliakra Glacier and Saedinenie Snowfield areas to the north; to Huron Glacier to the east; and to Pliska Ridge, Burdick Ridge, Perunika Glacier and Huntress Glacier to the west.

Tangra 2004/05 Survey

Main article: Tangra 2004/05

Camp Academia hosted the base camp of the Bulgarian topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The survey was both shipborne from the ships Vanguardia and Akademik Vavilov, and onshore at Livingston Island and Half Moon Island, and was carried out from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005 by the two-member team of Lyubomir Ivanov and Doychin Vasilev who covered either on ski or on foot an overall distance of some 200 km, mostly in harsh weather conditions and challenging unfamiliar terrain in Tangra Mountains, Bowles Ridge, Vidin Heights and the glaciers Huron, Kaliakra and Perunika.

First ascents were made of the peaks of Lyaskovets (1473 m), Ongal (1149 m), Zograf (1011 m), Komini (774 m), Melnik (696 m), Miziya (604 m), and several lesser peaks, as well as the third ascent of the summit Mount Friesland (1700 m). Extensive geodetic and geographic information was gathered, including coordinates and elevation data, actual sea shoreline and ice-free zones configuration, as well as a detailed photographic documentation of previously unexplored and remote areas in the interior of Livingston Island and Greenwich Island.

Based on the survey, some 150 geographical features were mapped for the first time and a new 1:100000 topographic map of the two islands was published in 2005. Data from the topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 was used also in the 2008 Bulgarian map of Livingston, Greenwich, Robert, Snow, and Smith Islands.

Tangra 1091 Post Office

The post office Antarctica Tangra 1091 operated during the entire duration of the expedition Tangra 2004/05 in Antarctica from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005, in Camp Academia from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The office was given the postcode 1091, and was run by Postmaster Lyubomir Ivanov in compliance with standard Bulgarian postal regulations and procedures.

The mailing address of the office was: Camp Academia; 1091 Tangra; Livingston Island; Antarctica. The mail (i.e. its postage stamps) was cancelled by a standard circular Bulgarian handstamping cancellation seal (metal issue) with an inscription “POSTE BULGARE ANTARKTIKA TANGRA 1091” on its periphery and date/hour counter in the centre. Other occasional cachets applied on Tangra 1091 mail often included the triangular cachet of Camp Academia with an inscription “ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION TANGRA 2004 CAMP ACADEMIA” and/or other personal, station and ship postmarks.

A total of 517 outgoing mail consignments (letters and postcards) were shipped, 364 of them via Sofia, 150 via Punta Arenas, and 3 via the St. Kliment Ohridski post office. These were distributed geographically between 30 country destinations as follows: Bulgaria – 146, Germany – 144, Belgium – 54, Chile – 50, Britain – 18, U.S.A. – 15, Spain – 13, New Zealand – 11, France – 9, Argentina – 7, Australia – 7, Austria – 7, Switzerland – 7, Falkland Islands – 5, Antarctica (Livingston Island) – 3, Afghanistan – 2, Czech Republic – 2, Italy – 2, Japan – 2, Portugal – 2, Uruguay – 2, Denmark – 1, Greece – 1, Indonesia – 1, Iraq – 1, Montserrat – 1, Slovakia – 1, Slovenia – 1, South Africa – 1, Vanuatu – 1.

Location

Camp Academia is situated at 62°38′41.9″S 60°10′18.3″W / 62.644972°S 60.171750°W / -62.644972; -60.171750Coordinates: 62°38′41.9″S 60°10′18.3″W / 62.644972°S 60.171750°W / -62.644972; -60.171750, which is 3.6 km east of Orpheus Gate, 5.25 km east-southeast of Rezen Saddle, 3.2 km south-southeast of Omurtag Pass, 4 km southwest of Pirdop Gate, 1.68 km west of Lozen Saddle, 7.1 km west of Karnobat Pass, and 2.68 km north-northwest of Catalunyan Saddle.

See also

Maps

Sources

  • L.L. Ivanov, Livingston Island: Tangra Mountains, Komini Peak, west slope new rock route; Lyaskovets Peak, first ascent; Zograf Peak, first ascent; Vidin Heights, Melnik Peak, Melnik Ridge, first ascent, The American Alpine Journal, 2005, 312-315.
  • Livingston Island, Climb Magazine, Issue 14, Kettering, UK, April 2006, 89-91.
  • Ivanov, L.L. Bulgaria in Antarctica. South Shetland Islands. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009. 16 pp., with a folded map. ISBN 978-954-92032-7-1

External links

This article includes information from the Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria which is used with permission.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.