Camp Academia

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

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.

Location

Camp Academia is situated at coord|62|38|41.9|S|60|10|18.3|W|, 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.

ee also

* Tangra Mountains
* St. Kliment Ohridski Base
* Livingston Island
* South Shetland Islands
* Antarctica
* Antarctic Place-names Commission
* Tangra 2004/05

Map

* L.L. Ivanov et al, (from English Strait to Morton Strait, with illustrations and ice-cover distribution), 1:100000 scale topographic map, Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, Sofia, 2005

External links

* [http://www.tangra2004bg.org/new_uk.htm Tangra 2004/05 Survey]
* [http://www.newzeal.com/theme/bases/Bulgarian/tangra.htm Tangra - Camp Academia]
* [http://apc.mfa.government.bg/philately_tangra.htm Tangra 1091 Post Office]
* [http://www.arge-bulgaria.de/News/news.html Das südlichste Postamt Bulgariens - Tangra 1091] (in German)
* [http://apc.mfa.government.bg/ Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria]
* [http://www.utm.csic.es/bae.asp Spanish Antarctic Base Juan Carlos I] (in Spanish)

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