It was hard to fall asleep yesterday night after laying in the tent for most of the day. The wind had decreased significantly, and combined with our nearly six foot snow wall, it made for a quiet night - too quiet.

Somehow, I actually sleep better when the wind is flapping the tent and it's a bit noisier. Which probably comes as a surprise to my wife, Maria. At home, I regularly ask to sleep without the fan (white noise) that soothes her. Sleeping here however, we can hear everything with crystal clarity in both tents when it's calm, so a little breeze is nice to... drown out Dean's snoring - not that I'm accusing him of snoring (It's hard to accuse when you already know the facts, right?).

Still, if I were to have one super power, it would be that I can sleep anywhere. If I were to have another, it would be eating the same thing every day and loving it - which is exactly what polar travel is.

Anyway, we were able to dig out and pack up after just an hour bending one shovel and tearing two snow flaps (attachments to tent to help stabilize / secure) in the process. The wind had packed much of the snow cement hard. Walking over the windswept surface to survey the scene, our boots barely left any tracks in the snow.

The temperature had dropped overnight which made for good skiing. It also makes regulating body temperature much easier as well.

It was overcast and the light was flat enough that I couldn't distinguish any difference in the terrain. It appeared as a smooth white surface so I had to navigate by sighting on distant clouds versus drifts or shadows. Of course, the clouds are moving so I had to recheck my bearing fairly regularly. We are also traveling in the exact same direction as the last storm and I check my navigation against the angle in which my skis cross (or in this case parallel) the drifts.

Kat, Diogo and Dean all took turns out front navigating today. All are experienced adventurers in their own right. Dean, a former ski racer, avalanche forecaster and mountaineer has summited a number of notable peaks (including Everest) and now runs a global trekking company. Kat (Katrina) has also summited Everest and skied the 'Messner' route to the South Pole - a 640-mile journey (over twice as long as our Greenland crossing). I call Diogo a Brazilian TV star but really he is a sailor, wind surfer and kite boarder turned polar man. He is here to complete the last in a series of expeditions that he is also filming (and starring in) for a tv show. All together we are a good group and I feel lucky to be traveling with such a competent crew.

We see and hear jets flying over fairly regularly. The great circle route from many European cities takes planes over the southern end of Greenland. So many times I've been on the same path looking down at the ice or tracing the line across the flight map. In a matter of minutes, the plane's are gone.

I check my Citizen Promaster watch. Two hours left in the day. Funny thing time and space. Our pace is infinitesimal compared to the plane. Yet here we are surrounded by hundreds of miles snow and ice, taking each day as it comes. Dealing with adversity and celebrating small successes.

But slow and steady is our main strategy and today we covered our best distance 15.4 miles (25 km).