May 24, 85 23.37'N:75 55.38'W
Last night our bodies were aching and tired. After 23 days on the trail without a full day rest, we decided to move our day off to today. Another day of travel in our current state could easily result in an injury. A unanimous vote confirmed the decision (2-0).
It's hard to describe the excitement we felt at the possibility of spending an ENTIRE day in our small tent. Hotel-like as it may seem, it is still roughly the same floor space as a sheet of plywood, but to us today, it is an infinite oasis of of non-arcticness.
In this tent, lounging around for the first time in 23 days, it seems like we could be anywhere. If we opened the door, would we be surrounded by the trees, lakes and granite cliffs of our home in northern Minnesota? It seemed that possible.
Reading, working on sewing projects, taking naps, eating our Clif bars and salami at random times have reinvigorated our bodies as well as our spirits. The nearly 12 hours of sleep last night has helped as well.
Too soon, we will be clipping into our skis and heading north across this inhospitable (at least to us) terrain. But for now, we have a few more hours to relax, refuel our dwindled energy stores and dream of home and all that awaits upon our return.
Word of the day: conundrum - we're puzzled by the lack of sun, ice pans and whatever craziness might befall us in the next few weeks.
May 23, 85 23.37'N:74 55.38'W
Often when travel becomes really difficult and a clear route through the pressured ice is difficult to find, we unhook from our sled-canoes and climb a nearby chunk of ice. Five or six feet of elevation later, a fairly navigable route usually appears. Perspective.
Yesterday, we were on some of the largest flattest pans we have seen, today some of the smallest. They were pushed into, rafted on top of, or bent against one another creating yet another jumbled mess. We liken our pace in these conditions to a race between a snail and a tortoise.
Still, we made 8 nautical miles - a distance neither of us guessed. Taken day by day our mileages seem insignificant compared to the nearly 1,000 total we have to travel. So we rein in our minds to today, this step, this hour.
Perspective is a funny thing out here: An ice chunk looks huge from afar, distance can be hard to judge, our route, it's all relative to one thing or other. The key for us is to know when to live in the moment and when to take a step back.
We saw a lone trail of fox tracks trotting off to our east... wonder where his big buddy is? Though we have not seen a bear yet, we know they're not far away. There are 23,000 polar bears in the Arctic, a relatively small number considering the vastness of their domain. But as early as 2050 most of them will be gone from lack of sea ice if we do not stop global warming now.
Please click on the "What You Can Do" section to help protect the polar bear and get them listed as an officially threatened species. Learn what you can do to stop global warming.
Word of the day: pellucid - the sky has not been this for a very, very long time.
May 22, 85 15.31'N:75 04.47'W
Our days are governed by three basic principles: ice, tent time, and food. We've talked about the first two nearly every day. However, we feel it's now time to give our expedition victuals their time in the lime (no pun intended) light.
To further understand the role of food in our lives, you must add the function of time to the equation. You see, what we eat is directly related to when we eat it. Or is it the other way around? Regardless, each tasty morsel that passes through our lips does so on a fairly specific schedule.
7 am (actually 7 pm since we're traveling at night). Breakfast - oatmeal or rice pudding, washed down with coffee or energy drink.
7:45 - after-breakfast snack: a Clif brand MoJo Bar (Eric)
9:30 - Clif bar (Lonnie) and energy drink at first switch of lead skiers.
11-11:10 - Our sit-down snack time. We throw on our big Wildthings brand Primaloft parkas and eat the following: Clif bar (MoJo preferred) each, peanuts, one piece candy each (Cream Savers are our favorite), energy drink.
12:40 - maybe a piece of candy, maybe energy drink.
2:10-2:20 Our second big coat-wearing sit-down break. Here we get our daily favorite. One stick salami each, Clif bar or a Clif brand Builder bar each and one piece candy each, washed down with a cool gulp or two of energy drink.
3:50 Three cubes each of Clif brand Shot Blocks - they're the energy-packed version of gummi bears.
6:30 - appetizer - we try to save our lunch crackers to eat in the tent. Energy drink.
7:30 dinner - noodles or rice or noodles or rice or more noodles. Once we get our resupply, we will also eat potatoes for dinner as well.
9:00 aperitif - one piece candy , Clif bar (Lonnie)
12 - midnight snack - Clif bar
Goodbye for now... At least until we EAT again!
Word of the day: surreal - much of the icescape that we travel across is bizarre in the sense that it seems like we are in a series of valleys and divides - hard to explain but very dream-like considering our circumstances.
May 21, 85 05.53'N:75 19.22'W
The day began with clear blue skies this morning, but after two hours it was gone. We have not had a full sunny day in a week and a half. It was difficult to get out of the sleeping bag this morning as we were still tired from the previous hard day.
It will be even harder after today since the kitchen ran out of coffee - at least for the one team member who drinks coffee (to remain unnamed).
The only natural colors we see up here are white, blue and gray. So it was especially nice to be greeted by a huge full arching Rainbow. We could even see the pot of gold just beyond a distant pressure ridge.
The ice was fairly broken up and we crossed countless pressure ridges and leads throughout the day. A snowbunting visited our camp, perhaps the same one who was patrolling '84' - a timely coincidence, since we have just crossed into 85 degrees north latitude. It is nice to know there is other life out here when we seem to be the only things breathing in this remote part of the globe.
Honestly, it's hard to imagine anything being able to live and survive out here. The truly amazing fact, of course, is that polar bears do (and quite well, as long as there is sea ice). April 2006 has been the warmest April on record. The warming trends due to global warming could be disastrous to the fate of the polar bear if you don't act now. If you haven't already, make sure you take some time to help save polar bears. Help get the polar bear listed as a threatened species.
Word of the day: incongruous - the rainbow (and sometimes us) seem out of place.
PS. Thank you for taking the time to follow our journey. We appreciate your interest.
May 20, 84 57.20'N:75 35.01'W
We know that you have been running around on the stuff for quite some time, but for us the experience of seeing solid ground is not quite so commonplace in all this snow, ice and water. OK, so it wasn't exactly bona fide terra firma, but it was as close as we are going to get in the next two months.
About an hour into our day, we discovered a small patch (12") of mud, just sitting there on the ice. The edges of our little dirt pile were somewhat dried up and very earthy-looking. We tried to pick up a piece but the whole works was frozen solid. We wondered out loud where this had come from. Siberia perhaps. Other theories include magic, a polar bear or, most plausible, Santa Claus must have dropped a piece here on his way north to help remind us of Minnesota.
The rest of the day was a mix of back-breaking hauling through pressured ice and weaving in and around older drfted pressure. We whiled away the better part of an hour clawing our way through some smaller pans (100'-100 yards) that had rafted into each other.
For another one-hour stretch, we skied through a cold misty haze toward one small blue block of ice on the horizon. From all that nothingness, we emerged into another area of severe pressure.
The nature of the ice has been different these past few days. We are seeing smaller pans of thicker ice rafted into each other. Our hope is to be out of this soon
Word of the day: zigzag - our route through the ice today.
May 19, 84 49.11'N:75 38.00'W
We began our day with a nice rain that coated our glasses with a thin film of ice, making it even more troublesome finding definition in the no-contrast landscape. The cheery conditions had us singing, "skiing in the rain, we're skiing in the rain, what a not quite so glorious feeling..."
Around midday we crossed a series of very thin leads (2 pokers) that nearly had us in the drink. The ice was so thin that a wave is formed on the ice just in front and behind our skis as we shuffle fast and wide-legged to distribute our weight. To stop mid-stream would mean a cold swim at best; at worst, well, we don't like think about it.
Several years ago a Japanese polar explorer died on the Arctic Ocean because, having fallen through the ice, he couldn't get out. His body was found frozen in the ice some time later. Of course, he was also traveling alone; we have several well-tested rescue strategies for such circumstances.
A few minutes after we swore we would never put ourselves in that kind of predicament again, we came upon another lead with a similar type of thin ice. We crossed without a second thought. All told we crossed four of these scary leads.
You might think we would just paddle our boats across all these leads. While we have catamaraned the sled-canoes a few times, most of the leads have been either covered in ice too thick to paddle through and too thin to ski on, or the open water sections stretch in the wrong direction. For now, it is usually easier to find a way around.
We made a monumental life-changing decision today: To listen to our mp3 players while we skied. Perhaps better men than us would just grit their teeth and bear it. But for us, staring at white nothingness has its limits and it appears to be about 18 days. Traveling with our own personal Arctic sound tracks today, the time flew by and in no time, it seemed, it was 'tent time'.
Word of the day: convoluted - our route, the ice, everything about this expedition is stacked up in crazy ways.
May 18, 84 42.02''N:75 56.31W
We woke up this morning, ate breakfast, packed up our gear, strapped on our Granite Gear harnesses, clipped into our Asnes skis and made our way north. Along the way, we went over some pressured ice, skied on a few flat pans, had our feet get wet breaking through thin ice and veered north west for nine and a half hours.
Today, while exciting and new with every step, was much like every other day for us. Therefore in lieu of today's blow by blow happenings, we thought we'd provide you with some of our daily lexicon. Think of the following as a vocabulary builder for the Arctic traveler.
Snowshoes - a question or a statement used to explain (or ask) that the ice is now too rough to travel with skis and we need to stop, take off our skis and put on snowshoes.
Skis - a question or a statement used to explain (or ask) that the ice is now smooth enough to travel with skis and we need to stop, take off our snowshoes and put on skis.
Lead - a crack or gap in the ice, can be covered in thin ice, filled with chunks of ice, completely open water or any combination of all ice/snow presentations.
Two Poker - ice in a lead that is too thin to cross so we have to ski around. It takes two pokes with a ski pole before the tip breaks through to water.
Take a Peek - climb up on a pressure ridge to scout the route ahead; usually involves unhooking from your sled-canoe. This is also a good opportunity for the second person to sit on his boat and contemplate life's great questions (i.e.; rest).
See you on the flip side - what the lead skier says to the second skier as he starts his 1.5 hour shift up front. Sometimes, we won't be close enough to talk for the entire time.
Tent - the Hilleberg Hotel, usually referred to with great reverence. Also used in the phrase 'tent time.' For example, it's three hours until tent time (end of the day).
What time is it? Even though we both travel with watches, usually the lead skier is the only one concerned about time. Therefore, the second skier usually asks: What time is it?
North North West - the direction we keep traveling to avoid easterly drift.
Raw Boned Devil - a description of the day's weather. A day labeled as such is most likely cold, windy, overcast with whiteout conditions.
In other more important news, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service re-opened the public comment period on the polar bear Endangered Species Act listing; the agency is taking comments from now THROUGH JUNE 16. Click on the "What You Can Do" section at the top of this page to learn more about how you can help save the polar bear.
Word of the day: Vagrant - even though the Hotel Hilleberg is quite homely, it is only a temporary shelter. We move every day.
