Well, what can I say - our skis are still not here. Our missing Ergodyne duffel showed up yesterday but for some reason Norwegian Airlines wasn't able to pull it together enough to find and send our skis to Longyearbyen. After finally tracking down our claim, they assured us that our skis would arrive tomorrow, but we remain dumbfounded as to how this could be so complicated for just one direct flight.

Luckily, we have our MSR snowshoe because if there is one thing I hate its walking (without skis or snowshoes) on snow.

Sitting around can be frustrating so we packed up all our gear strapped on snowshoes and headed up the canyon toward a high pass. It was a long slow slog eventually encountering some fairly steep slopes.

To add insult to injury it was blustery day, and we spent most our afternoon in whiteout - yet another beautiful place that I've traveled across yet barely seen.

Still there is something sublime about being outside and moving in a vacuum consisting solely of white and wind. It takes a little extra effort to stay focused and moving forward. At times today, the wind was so severe that I could barely see Ryan only 50 feet in front of me.

As I've said so many times before, I don't like being cold, I like being warm when its cold.

Eventually, we made our way to a sloping moraine where we carved out a spot for our tent: home for tonight.

Image: Ryan and ice cave.