Camp Academia - Tangra 2004/05 Survey

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. Data from the topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 was used also in the 2008 Bulgarian map of Livingston, Greenwich, Robert, Snow, and Smith Islands.