While much of my expedition life can feel like ground hog's day, today was distinct in many ways. First of all the temperature dropped significantly and the ice conditions improved dramatically. We were no longer slogging through slush or breaking through the thin crust of ice on top of the slush. For the entire day, we skied along the east shore of Lake Winnipeg heading North making decent progress despite a biting head wind.

On trips like this, my mood is directly connected to the weather and overall ice conditions and the warm temperatures of the past few days had me down in the dumps. Not surprisingly, a stiff wind making the temperature feeling like it was in the single digits had me grinning from ear to ear (not that you can see my smile beneath my Zeal goggles and home made nose beak). It's seems like the colder and snowier it gets, the more I enjoy myself. Of course, the important distinction to remember is that I don't like actually being cold so I added an extra Helly Hansen base layer before leaving the tent this morning.

We have now been out on the ice for three days and this is the point where things just start to click for everyone. Packing sleds in the morning, getting down jackets out and on quickly at breaks, setting up the MSR tents, the list goes on and on. Our margins of safety get smaller as the temperature drops so keeping on top of all the systems out here is paramount.

Luckily, this is exactly how my Level 1 Polar Training Course is designed. We start slowly practicing each of these skills individually before heading out onto the ice.

Lake Winnipeg was at its most gorgeous today when a low sun poked out through the clouds. Golden light flowed over the snow and nearby pressure ridge and Joseph, Pierre and I all stopped to take pictures - at least for a couple of minutes.

We had a very close call a few minutes later. Scouting a route through a pressure ridge, Darcy fell through a drifted over crack in the ice. Wrestling himself out, he fell through again a few feet later. Luckily his pants and internal gators shed the water and his feet remained dry.

Just like the North Pole we laughed as Darcy rubbed snow on his pants to soak up the remaining water.

Yet another reason why I love Lake Winnipeg (when it's cold). Image: Polar selfie