Starting early in a changing landscape

Early start and temperature

We made another super early start this morning. We were already on our way by five o’clock, which meant the alarm went off at three. It was minus 10 outside, but because the wind has picked up, the wind chill was minus 20, so that was quite chilly for a moment. But the sun actually came up during the first shift, which made up for a lot, and it felt noticeably warmer the moment those first rays of sunshine hit you.

The landscape and perspective

Now that we’re finally out of that icefall, we’re getting a real sense of what it’s like to walk here. It’s actually hard to describe. It’s very surreal. Everything around you is white, except for the sky—if you have sun, that is. If there are clouds, they’re white too, so then it gets really tricky. It’s also like you’re walking inside a giant ball that just keeps going up; you think, ‘oh, once I reach that point on the horizon, I’ll be able to see over the top.’ Except we’re just not going to reach that top for another two weeks. I don’t know if many of our listeners cycle, but you know how annoying it is when you think you’re almost at the top of the hill, and then the hill secretly goes on a bit longer—well, that’s the case here, constantly. But that also has its charm, because you stop looking for that point where you can see over the hill. It is what it is. And when the sun shines on the snow and the sky is as clear as it was today, it’s just fantastically beautiful to see.

Risks and the impact of mistakes

It’s such a lovely environment, yet at the same time, you know that if the weather changes even slightly—and you can feel it today with the cold wind we had—if you make even a small mistake, like leaving your glove off just a bit too long, or forgetting a zipper, or not eating or drinking enough, you get punished immediately. Then you get cold, it becomes unpleasant, and it’s quite hard to keep seeing the beauty and to get yourself warm again. But once you manage that, everything is fantastic again. So it’s a real rollercoaster. Luckily, the positive and the beautiful are still absolutely dominant, which ensures that morale is still great.

Team dynamics and physical complaints

We’re also getting smoother and better as a team every day. Although there’s a bit of creaking and groaning here and there, mostly physically. There are quite a few blisters, dry fingers that are starting to crack and become very painful. Some trouble sleeping, weird sleeping hours, and of course just the continuous effort and different food. There are some stomach issues, and everyone is suffering from one of those things or a combination of them. But we’re actually able to help each other quite well with that. To the point where if you’ve taken the wrong bag with you while heading out for a ‘number two,’ you can just shout inside: ‘Guys, can someone bring me the toilet paper? It’s in my Arctic bedding, in such-and-such a spot.’ So as you can tell, we’re getting to know each other better and better.

Practical adjustments and incidents

While setting up the tents, we fine-tuned a few things because the wind is going to pick up even more over the coming days. So we went over everything again and looked at how to get that tent really taut, so we don’t accidentally blow away later. That would be a shame. Another small thing that went wrong today was that an insulated Nalgene went missing. That’s one of those plastic bottles with an insulating sleeve to keep your water warm longer. Also, one of the thermoses broke. To ensure the group kept enough supplies, we felt it was worth walking back for a bit. But walking back to the previous break point means a two-hour race to catch up afterwards. The rest of the group can’t just sit and wait for an hour. So that means someone has to go back without a pulka, check another break spot, and head back to their pulka. Meanwhile, the group has already been walking for nearly an hour. Anyway, we managed to get it all sorted.

Looking ahead to tomorrow

Tomorrow we’re going to leave even a little bit earlier. Navigation will become harder because it’ll be cloudy. Then you just lose all perspective. You see—well—everything is just a white cloud. So what’s going up, what’s going down, and keeping your direction becomes very complicated. And yeah, it’ll be the next stage in this extraordinary journey.