We feared another day in a whiteout but the weather cleared shortly after we got out of the tent. It was nice to be able to actually see our route for a change - although that's not always a good thing.

A light snow had fallen over night and had been blown into wispy drifts that bogged down our sleds and made most of the surface feel like sand paper against our sleds. For the entire day, it felt like I was dragging an anchor - not that my sled is much different.

Still, I couldn't help but smile at the fluffiness of the snow. Pushing your ski forward into one of these drifts was like kicking through down feathers. I was reminded of one morning in Minnesota when I was a dog musher, we had awoken before sunrise to prepare for a trip. Walking to the kennel in the dark, we couldn't figure out what was brushing against our knees. It was 18 inches of the lightest snow I had ever seen - that is until today.

We ran into some fairly large pans for the first time today and were able to ski on a single bearing for nearly 45 minutes.

I noticed Ryan getting frustrated when we ran into a rough patch again and I reminded him of that polar adage, 'where there's good ice, bad ice will follow.' We veered west for a while snaking wildly to find small paths that we could actually pull our sleds over.

Route finding is difficult here and it is easy to be indecisive or hesitate. The consequences of finding a clear path verses rough ice are staggeringly different... And it weighs constantly on your mind. Ultimately, you have always be weighing options, try too see ahead, commit to a course and be ready to move laterally should an opportunity present itself.

And then there is my compass. As I'm nearing a section of pressure ridges, I take out my broken, epoxy sealed, air bubble in the dial compass and ask out loud, 'which way do you want me to go.'

When I get turned around... Compass! I love having a tool that always helps me determine the direction I need to go. Now, if I could only build that into my life at home.

I can see it now: Spaghetti or chicken for dinner... Compass!

Of course the big news in the tent tonight is that we've crossed the 84th parallel. Big party!

Distance traveled: 8.83 nm

Image: My broken, epoxy sealed, air bubble in the dial compass.