Day 5: The First Story from the Ice

DC3 Drops us on the ice, for the start.

Expedition Statistics:
Expedition Start Point: 82 58.02N, 77 23.28W
Day 5: End of Day Position: 83 28.85 N, 77 48.0 W
Distance covered since last Post: 30.8 nm
Distance to The Pole: 389 nm
Overall distance versus plan: +3.2 nm (- Behind plan, + Ahead of plan)
North Pole ETA: 22 April, + / - 3 days
Ave hrs / day marched for this period: 9.0 hrs
Coldest / Warmest temp for this period: -51 / -40 deg C

Notes: nm = Nautical miles (1 nm = 1.8 kilometers)
Expedition days are ‘1 sleep’ days, and may not = calendar days

Last Post I was in the comforts of Southcamp Inn, Resolute, my how life has changed! I sit here in our snug tent, 3 stoves roaring on max, providing heat for cooking, drying our gear and also heating the tent so we can have a pleasant 3 hours rest and social time. It provides the beacon of motivation and focus for the long 9 hour march days.

From the progress statistics above, you could conclude we aren't going to make it 5 days gone (10% of 50 days), and only 30 Nautical miles or 7% done! Well yes, the going has been very slow, as we have had to deal with four open water leads, albeit relatively small ones, and yesterday we had huge pressure ridges that virtually stopped us for 3/4 of the day. The surprise has also been the -ve drift we have experienced. From night 2, we were on ice that is drifting, unfortunately southwards, so two nights as we slept, we got taken back some distance (3 miles in total) by the current. Basically, as expected, the ice is much more fragmented than 'usual', and is already broken free of the mainland shelf ice. In all his years of doing this, Richard has never experienced open leads, and drift at this point in the journey! This being a combination of the super tide of 1 March, and global warming. The Arctic is REALLY changing hey! What this means for us is not the best of news, but progress is ahead of plan at this early stage. Today, Day 5, was the bonus day.....We managed to find a huge frozen lead, running north / south, which REALLY helped our progress. We did an amazing 10.5 miles today, and not one pressure ridge to deal with.

The first open lead.
Richard checking a lead.

On Day 2 I was amazed to see ice drift in action! While walking, the huge sheet of ice (or pan) was approaching us but sliding over the one we were walking on. The approaching one was about 25cm thick and just being forced over our one. I estimate it was moving at 1cm / sec, and with a violent gnarling sound. We ended up having to jump step onto it before we got 'mowed down'! Quite amazing!

We have been spared extreme temperature, with our coldest day being today a relatively warm -51 C. Both our thermometers 'over heated' and burst in the DC3 flying from Resolute. The cabin temperature control was limited and we must have had +50 C in the passenger area. One of the bindings on the snowshoes was almost melted through! So sorry no accurate temperatures!

On Day 2, the sun only rose at 11h00, and set about 14h30, but the dawn and dusk are very long and provide wonderful orange skylines. Every day the sunlight hours increase by a huge 1hr, and by March 21 we should have 18 hrs sunlight, and from 31 March 24 hours sun. We can't wait, but will miss these beautiful twilight hours. The twilight with the varying ice landscapes provides wonderful scenery for the arches....oohh well until we hit the pressure ridge ice rubble. Crossing these ridges is like towing a heavy sled over a wide boulder filled river. The boulders are huge chunks of ice, clearly the product of a serious ice pan crash. It's hard to describe how tough and violent pulling a sled across this terrain. It's really exhausting, and sometimes ends in a fall, or the sled careening virtually out of control over an ice cliff smacking straight into one of us below. We all are responsible for getting our own sleds over these ridges as often the tight access only allows one person. This can involve unclipping the sled and shoving or pulling it vertically up a 'mountain', and over a cliff the other side. We are fortunate that there are flatter sections between these ridges, but one never knows what's ahead....as today's bonus frozen lead showed.

Last night we identified the North Star, which is located directly above our destination, the NORTH POLE.

So, what’s happened to Indinda? After the initial Arctic shock, he has settled down well, and as the photo shows has adapted well to sleeping outside! My team mates have a bet with me that I will get tired of carrying this not so insignificant weight, and dump him as the tiresome journey takes its toll. I have a pact with myself that he will get to the Pole! Indinda on my pack (below):

Physically I am doing ok! The problem toe, after being a worry Day 1, is now good. Frostbite is a big worry, and the past two days I have been right on the edge of what my fingers can take. They have cold damage, but fortunately not frostbite. I now understand and known my limit, so at that point just before things shutdown I stop walking and do lots of arm windmills that get the circulation back...not pleasant stuff! We heard yesterday that the Irish team have sadly aborted their expedition due to bad frostbite, and were being emergency rescued today. Today, we discussed the scenario for our team....necessarily, but not a good discussion!

Teamwise, things are going great, but not what I would have predicted..... Richard and Tessum stick together at the front, and I have decided to stay with David behind, with me the 'guard train' last coach. This has been the best for the team, and I'm happy with my role. I've saved a few left behind skis that come unattached with the violent jarring. The guard was embarrassed yesterday when my thermos fell out after a big fall, but with no guard after me I only found out 2km later. I ended up running back to find it and then had a wonderful sled march at 'my speed' catching up without lost time!

That's all for now, don't take those showers, latte’s, beers, fruit, vegetables, carbohydrates for granted.