Crossing the Western Tianshan Mountains

Wu Yongjie's team had already entered the underground glacier area. With the experience from last time, and with more complete equipment this time, especially snowmobiles, glacier exploration vehicles and all-terrain vehicles, their speed was obviously much faster than last time because they were not relying solely on manpower and physical strength to collide with the glacier.

In addition, before leaving the camp, the personnel participating in the survey received more professional and non-professional training in glacier walking, self-rescue and mutual rescue, and were equipped with more professional warm clothing and non-slip boots, safety helmets and safety belts, sunglasses and other protective equipment, providing them with better protection when dealing with harsh environments.

But the whole process was still terrifying and difficult.

Although the all-terrain vehicle has strong off-road capabilities, can adapt to a variety of complex terrains, and can carry more supplies and equipment, it is also a big guy. How can it be so easy to pass through the underground glacier area?

The glacier exploration vehicle must lead the way.

Equipped with special tires and tracks, and with sufficient mobility, the Glacier Expedition Vehicle can travel across the surface of a glacier, providing a relatively stable transport route for personnel and equipment, and also equipped with certain living facilities. However, its speed is limited, and it mainly needs to survey while moving forward. If the route it has passed is not strong enough to support the vehicle, another route must be found.

This slows down the process a lot.

The estimated time may not be enough.

But this time, Wu Yongjie was determined to complete the task perfectly, so he slowed down the whole process and handled all the trivial matters with extraordinary perseverance and patience.

Li Jianguo and Yan Zhuoyu disagreed over the survey data. One claimed it wasn't enough to support the vehicle's full passage, while the other argued that the vehicle's weight didn't conflict with their current data and that the carrying capacity was fully acceptable. Wu Yongjie watched them bicker for a long time before walking over and patting them on the shoulders. "Come on, stop arguing. I understand. This is roughly what I'm saying, isn't it?"

He repeated their views and said, "One of you is being overly cautious. Even though the ice surface is still within the data range for our vehicles to pass, you still think it is impassable. This is because you consider that the mountain changes a lot, and even people change a lot. For example, I don't have the urge to go to the bathroom right now, but in a moment, I might need to poop or pee. Then I go to pee, and after that, will the data change?

One is a bold person who thinks it's worth a try. After all, this section looks very flat. If we go through here, it can greatly shorten our journey today, right? "

After he finished his analysis, both of them nodded.

Wu Yongjie said, "Well, I have some really bad news for you. My legs hurt so much today, I don't even want to move forward. My suggestion is that we stay here today and survey the surrounding area. In other words, we don't need to rush. Let's get things done here today, and then we can move forward. We can decide which route to take later."

According to Li Jianguo and Yan Zhuoyu, staying here would waste too much time, and there was no need to measure the surrounding area.

But Wu Yongjie reminded them, "Have you considered that we're not just measuring the extent and geology of the glacier; we're also looking for a path through which our tunnel can pass? Simply put, surveying the glacier serves our tunnel construction, so our survey should include a caveat: 'Even if there's a path through the glacier that could be used to build a tunnel,' we must find it now."

Because from the current measurement range, if we can't find this road, we may have to go around in a big circle. However, for tunnel construction, the overall route must be within a certain arc range.

Wu Yongjie's words shocked Li Jianguo and Yan Zhuoyu. Yes, they were looking for a way and surveying the underground glaciers to serve the tunnel construction, not just to survey the underground glaciers and get a string of cold numbers.

The two looked at each other and suddenly felt that it was very necessary to stay here today, because they really had something to do, which was to "find a way."

They felt ashamed of having struggled over a minor issue. They each reached out their hands and shook hands, a gesture of reconciliation. Li Jianguo said to Wu Yongjie, "Don't worry, Captain Wu. We understand what you mean."

Yan Zhuoyu also said, "Then let's stay here."

In this way, the entire survey team stopped at an open space entering the underground glacier area.

About two hours later, Li Jianguo came to Wu Yongjie with a simple black and white picture. "Captain Wu, look, this is something very interesting."

Wu Yongjie looked down and didn't see anything. After observing carefully for a moment and listening to Li Jianguo's explanation, he realized that in the morning, their survey team actually passed through a large crack in the underground glacier, and their current location was on a flat land with a radius of 0.5 kilometers, which was almost a standard circle.

This flat area was actually the top of a mountain that had emerged from the underground glacier. Surrounding this circle were large cracks. The cracks reached hundreds or even thousands of meters below. If they could capture it with a camera, their current group would be like a few pitiful ants perched on the mountain's edge.

The more Wu Yongjie looked, the more frightened he became. "Oh my God, this is simply an anti-island. If I look at the map first and then walk, I, Wu Yongjie, will never dare to pass through the ice crack even if I am brave enough."

Li Jianguo smiled and said, "So, not knowing has its advantages. Ignorance is fearless."

At this time, Wu Yongjie also felt more deeply the difficulties faced by surveyors. Others are not afraid of what they don’t know, but they must be fearless even if they know.

Li Jianguo added, "Based on current surveys, a tunnel cannot pass through this glacial zone. However, we need to collect more data. We've made this trip, so we need to make every survey as detailed as possible so that future teams have reference data."

Wu Yongjie's heart was in turmoil, but he nodded calmly, "Okay."

In fact, surveying is not a simple task. It takes a long time for them to install the survey radar. This equipment detects the internal structure of the glacier, the thickness of the ice, the subglacial terrain, and possible cavities by emitting and receiving electromagnetic waves. The advantage of the survey radar is that it basically does not damage the surface of the glacier.

However, between transmission and reception, data imaging needs to be observed continuously, which is a great test of people's patience and perseverance.

There are also some places that require glacier drilling, which is a somewhat dangerous survey method, just like a puncture is needed when the human body has cancer. It is mainly to obtain ice core samples from the inside of the glacier, analyze the physical properties and chemical composition of the ice layer, the age of formation, etc., to help understand the situation inside the glacier. Li Jianguo even has a bold idea. If the thickness and hardness of the glacier are sufficient, what if a tunnel passes through the glacier?

He shook his head and quickly denied this very crazy idea.