The last time I was on Lake Winnipeg I was training for the North Pole. It was February, snowy and cold. One morning, we woke up to a fairly brisk wind and after packing headed out across the lake. I hadn't thought it was that cold when I first got out, but the wind picked up considerabley and in a few more minutes, I was quite literally freezing my but off. It was the first and only time I've ever skied in both insulated pants AND jacket. We found out later that the temperature was -60 F with the windchill.

Skiing on Lake Winnipeg today, I couldn't help but think back to that trip. With those cold temperatures, it was the perfect opportunity to prepare for life on the Arctic Ocean. But Winnipeg is also a big flat expanse and its wind-packed surface bears a striking resemblance to the snow conditions in Antarctica. So today, I traveled efforrtlessly from the North Pole to the South Pole. Small pressure ridges reminded me of the Arctic. Today's whiteout was eerily similar to many Antarctic expedition days.

I feel like we are traveling through a zoo here - at least compared to the poles. We found a fish skeleton, more wolf tracks, several ravens and what looked like an owl feather. It was a regular wildlife cornucopia!

Another amazing aspect of traveling here is simply the ice. At one point, we were able to peer down through at least four feet of ice. All in all a pretty amazing day

Image: Iona and a fish!