And then we all crawled into the tent, ate dinner and went to sleep. Of course, that was at the end of the day and this is a story that begins with the alarm going off at 6 am.

We are getting more and more efficient completing the daily tasks of living in a polar environment. Bill was 'cook' this morning which meant he was up first lighting the stove and melting snow blocks. That also meant Dongsheng and I got 15 glorious minutes of extra sleep!

Out of the tent a while later, we were surprised to see more fresh snow. Normally as we ski we can distinguish an infinite number of drifts from their neighbors. But in the overcast morning, flat light combined with the new snow camoflagued any unique characteristic. We struggled to maintain a straight course.

Finally, the clouds passed and we relaxed a bit eventually finding a drift here or shadow there to use as a reference point. At lunch, we learned Bill was hippy who showed up six weeks late to medical school.

Antarctica is a desert which makes the two centimeters of freshh snow somewhat unusual. It also turned our afternnoon into a tough slow slog. Surprisingly in this land where we often describe snow as 'dry' today snow stuck to everything even the skins on the bottom of our skis

At our most tired, with one hour left in the day, we looked up and saw the Thiel mountains - the first actual land that we have seen in a week and a half.

Image: Taking time for a group picture. Bill, Dongsheng and Eric.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

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