Day 34

The day started the same as the last couple with an hours worth of morning admin in the tent, boiling water eating food, thawing boots etc then venturing outside in the freezing wind to dismantle the camp. Always trying to judge the right moment for dropping the tents to ensure we are all ready to move at the same moment.

The plan for today was to step up to a ten hour pull for the first time. I’ve deliberately waited until most of the tough climb is behind us and the pulks are just that little bit lighter before stepping up to a ten-hour day. All the advice is to build momentum slowly and not break yourself during the early part of the trip. That said we do now need to start increasing the daily distances if we are to make it across the icecap on schedule and not have to resort to the pemican mountain we’re accumulating.

The snow seemed to be a little harder today meaning both skis and pulks ran just that little easier. The first pull of the day was over 3km which boded well. 5 pulls until lunch left everyone conscious of how many calories they could cram down at each 10 min stop. Windchill took the morning temperatures down below -10 but we were all working up a significant sweat, a combination that demanded extra layers immediately at each stop.

It was hard work still breaking trail particularly, but we were making progress and the banter remained strong at each stop. In the afternoon the sun drove temperatures up again and we were able to shed a layer and enjoy the sunshine. After 8 hours we were all still going strong and the last two additional hours passed relatively easily.

Biggest distance of the trip so far and camp established 35km from DYE III the abandoned radar station – probably too far for tomorrow but a key aiming point is in sight now.