Day 9: Our first major latitude line crossing, and…

Expedition Statistics

Expedition Start Point: 82 58.02N, 77 23.28W
Day 9: End of Day Position: 84 07.75 N, 78 52.5 W
Distance covered since the start: 69.5 nm
Distance covered since last Post: 38.7 nm
Distance to The Pole: 352.5 nm
Overall distance versus plan: +1 day (Versus original Ward Hunt Island start point)
(- Behind plan, + Ahead of plan)
North Pole ETA: 23 April, + / - 3 days
Ave hrs / day marched for this period: 9.0 hrs
Coldest / Warmest temp for this period: -47 / -30 deg C

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

Our first major latitude line crossing, and…:

Gee, I feel some much more relaxed and in tune with this Arctic environment versus how I felt when I wrote my last Post! Nine days done, the 1st degree milestone accomplished, land almost out of sight, we are now the leading expedition (closest to the Pole) and a few battle scars to show for it all!


A lovely cold damaged nose!

The hard work of daily disciplined 9 hour marches is paying dividends as we have had good daily averages since the last Post. The huge frozen lead we were on continued for another amazing day (10 miles in total), virtually going true north directly the directly the route to the Pole. Almost like a super highway. These frozen leads are very smooth newly frozen ice, which then has fresh snow on it. The snow on the surface has an amazing range of shapes, depending on its age and exposure to the wind. Sometimes it truly looks like white fine bowling green grass stretching for hundreds of metres. It can also take the look of undersea coral, and then amazingly a haphazard cluster of fine fibre glass strands. The main thing for us is that the frozen lead has virtually no obstacles and a fast surface for the sleds...so miles fly by!

After the end of the highway the frozen ocean started looking more like an ocean with mainly undulating swells frozen in time, and then every 1/2 a mile or so we would come across fairly small pack ridge ice. On day 8 we found ourselves running into a large (200m wide), freshly frozen / still freezing lead, that was running east / west and as we were to find out, a significant obstacle. It looked frozen and 'cross-able' on ski's, but after testing the ice, it was definitely too thin. (I am on snowshoes most of the time, towing the ski's behind, only switching for thin ice) We decided to ski close to the edge where it was thicker, but soon saw open water patches and then hastily, but carefully we went off the lead for a while. It became apparent that this was a huge lead and a huge barrier to our progress. As we stood on terra firma, at the edge of the lead I witnessed something I will remember for the rest of my life: firstly there was this noise like an old steam driven pile driver...doof...doof...doof, and as I looked down at the ice, each 'dooh' was a ram by the ice pan on the opposite side driving the newly frozen ice into the terra firma I was standing on! This caused the new ice to buckle, crack and then crumble forming a brand new pressure ridge right in front of my eyes. The noise was eerie! As the ice cracked water oozed out and then a new open water channel appeared.....hmmmm, nature at work, and live, no movie, or TV show, this was the real thing...the making of a pressure ridge, and we needed to cross it! I felt so excited, like a little boy in a new playground. Richard said: Maybe we should use the dry suits and 'just cross', others said lets wait till the morning when the lead should have totally frozen, but I had no hesitation in supporting 'exploring'! The guys even commented that they hadn't seen me so excited yet! So....we decided to don the dry suits pack our backpacks, skis and snowshoes on the sled and walk precariously across the thin ice, pulling the sled by hand, and ready to swim if the ice broke! With the dry suit on I felt 'invincible' and ready for a swim! As I walked I could feel the ice bending and flexing on the water below. Anyway after about 20 mins we had crossed the lead, all feeling very proud of the huge time saving we had achieved. As we awkwardly took off our drysuits, I could still hear the doof....doof...doof, as the piledriver continued making the new pressure ridge using the ice we had just walked on... Special stuff!

An example of a pressure ridge! Flatish trail, then one hits this as a barrier across the desired path. The ridge rubble could extend for 1km behind this!‏

Physically, I feel quite a wreck, but also feel I have come through a baptism of fire with flying colours! I have one badly cold damaged index finger (1 step before frostbite), a few minor cold 'burns' on other fingers, a badly blistered nose, a few bloodied toenails, lots of aches and pains all over the body, but a strong soul and spirit. I feel like I really have come through 9 days of real learning, and am starting to feel at ease here. Managing ones body temperature very finely is the key, and proactive clothing layer and march pace management are key. Sweat is almost worse than being a bit too cold. At these temperatures sweat eventually freezes some where between your skin and your outer clothing layer forming another VERY undesirable crusty, cold new 'clothing layer'. The cold environment doesn't scare me anymore, and the last day of -30 or so felt TOTALLY at home, and even too warm! I guess our amazing human bodies adapt far beyond what we imagine.

My cold damaged index finger, Result of the -51 C day's testing the limits!

The sun is getting stronger and staying up longer, so it’s getting warmer and feels better each day. The interesting thing is that our long shadows (the sun stays low on the horizon) point directly to the North Pole at roughly 12h10 (local midday) everyday. So we just follow our shadows!

Posing at 'lunch stop', usually 5 mins because we get so cold.

Yesterday felt like I really was out on the open ocean. The terrain was almost all 'undulating swells', and limitless horizon for almost 360 degrees. It reminded me of the Australian GAFA...and I named it the new GAFA...The Great Arctic FA... There is nothing but snow and ice here. With no permanent open water around there is no visible sea life, so no Polar bears, nor other land animals, nor birds, there is no food for anything. Makes one wonder what lives beneath the ice Its just stark and sterile, but at the same time possessing a unique beauty.

Richard doing 1st check of the ice thickness before crossing the lead. Exciting stuff!

I thought it maybe of interest to go through our 'typical' day routine with you. I'll do this over the next few Posts, starting today with the end of march time...18h30 currently:'

So, we have been marching for 9 long hard hours, and its now come to a welcome end...we all feel weary, with a few upper body aches from the weight of our backpacks and the continuous tugging of the sled line. Time to find a camp site....hmm, it always seems like where we stop is always too icy to plant tent poles (the ski's). So we wander around looking for soft snow....so the march isn't over yet! Eventually we find a spot, backpacks off, snowshoes off, sleds are opened, ski's disconnected from the sleds, and ski poles, are 'victoriously' tossed into the central tent site, ready for later use.

Me 'happy' in my dry suit towing the sled but walking carefully on real thin ice, that flexes as you walk on it!‏

There is pressure on me; I carry the tent and two CRITICAL loo brushes! Both these items needed first and urgently...the tent is obvious, but the loo brushes?.....Well they are needed to brush off all the snow / ice from sweat / breath etc that has built up on our clothing. Being in a warm tent without doing that will mean your clothes getting sopping wet, and then never dry!

Next is putting up the tent, which now takes about 20 minutes. Once the tent is up Richard and Tessum go in to set up the 'kitchen', and David and I finishing building the tent, by shoveling snow around the tent sealing it against the wind, and making it stable. My final outside task is filling the big tent bag with 'quality' snow to melt for water. By now the stoves are alight, and I can't wait to get inside, as my hands are normally on the edge of cold damage. Gee, it feels so good as I put my head inside our warm room for the next few hours...

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