We are horses and we can smell the barn. Today, we turned back from Temple Fjord to make the long trek back to Longyearbyen. Of course, just because we are on the home stretch doesn't mean we'll be getting there anytime soon.

Today, we left the sea ice and seals and made our way up Eskerdalen valley. It was a long and very slow and uphill slog the entire day. For three hours, we simply skied toward the mouth of the valley seemingly not getting any closer to the valley or farther away from our camp.

The vastness of the landscape is deceptive here and for three hours I tried unsuccessfully to think of some fitting analogy to describe my miniscule presence. Upon entering the valley, I was further impressed by the U-shaped walls. Glaciers carved this passage and I am once again reminded of how insignificant I am and the size of our planet.

The temperature dropped below zero and our short breaks became mini suffer fests as we alternately tried to eat Clif bars and not freeze completely.

For about 20 minutes every hour, I am that perfect temperature (often I'm too warm) but managing the heat generated from skiing uphill and the biting cold was difficult. Most of late afternoon, I spent deep in the hood of my Bergans parka, and my head wrapped by Ergodyne balaclava, hat and multi band.

Ryan seemed to be faring about as well as me. We talked fleetingly at breaks, laughed at our weariness but ultimately faced the our day alone.

Succinctly summing up how we both felt at the end of the day, Ryan commented, 'my legs hurt.'

Image: Ryan skiing the morning shift in lead.