Logo

Moving ice

83 51 16 N 74 40 40 W

Surprise, surprise: same old breakfast routine today as on every day. Porridge reinforced with plenty of virgin rapeseed oil; after which we get stuck into the main chore of the day: skiing.

Despite today's mild temperature, the wind was bone-chilling. Fortunately though, clear sunshine provided some consolation. Soon, we will need to start using our Briko sunglasses as protection against the glare. The sun already stays above the horizon for 14 hours a day, but it remains so low in the sky, even at midday, that there is not yet any real danger of eye damage from snow glare. In addition, our faces are so deep inside our anorak hoods that this alone provides a certain degree of eye protection.

Our next rest-and-service day was scheduled for Sunday. However, we have decided to bring it forward by two days, to Friday, due to a minor ankle injury (nothing serious). So tonight we shall be celebrating Henku's upcoming birthday.

The ice has begun to move. Although we have not today seen any open water, we know that the entire ice sheet is on the move beneath us. Our GPS positioning equipment tells us that, even during the course of this evening, our entire camp has moved more than 1 km in a Westerly direction! Wouldn't it be nice to wake up tomorrow morning to discover that, while sleeping, we've moved a couple of kilometers closer to the Pole?

All is well with the Expedition.