Day 43

The mornings feel like they are starting to get warmer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still freezing cold but we have progressed from frost covered sleeping bags to plain old boring cold condensation. It is a welcome change both because it makes the process of exiting our bags in the morning slightly more bearable and also because it means we are well and truly on the descent and moving towards the coast.

We emerged from our tents to a spectacular, incredibly bright (almost waning – apparently!) full moon and for the first part of the morning it was surreal to be heading towards (and navigating by) the moon to the west as the sun rose over our shoulders from the east. It was a beautiful spectacle to behold, and I think the mornings in Greenland are high on the list of everyone’s favourite time of the day.

Me and Charley naturally used this magical moment to practice some handstands in the snow like children (Charley mainly, I don’t need the practice) whilst Tony snapped some photos like a proud parent, the perfect way to get the body warm for 10 hours of skiing! Our camp routines are now perfected and we leace ten minutes earlier than the 0800 planned departure time.

The usual routine ensure, 50 minutes on, 10 minutes off for 10 long hours of the day. The whole group are starting to feel the grind and there are clearly some tired legs and heads amongst the team but we remain undeterred and eager to reach the coast with only minor grumbles cropping up throughout the day. We pass time by discussing our favourite and least favourite moments of the day which, to nobody’s surprise, both revolve around the sleeping bag (getting in = favourite, getting out = least favourite), it was not a long conversation. Although I contended with my evening hot chocolate which is simply sublime.

As the day wore on the temperature reached unfathomably high levels and everybody was starting to struggle in the eat, not what you expect to see at 2400m of elevation. It is a continuous, fin balancing act between finding the correct number of layers to remain cool whilst also staying covered up from the blinding glare / UV reflected off the snow. Our sunglasses remain firmly affixed to ur faces.

Having now been on the ice for 3 weeks (!!!!) there is a distinct smell emanating from the group. It’s almost been visible in the air, following us across the ice. It is truly awful. Even Josh’s finest Chanel Number 5 which he for some reason decided to bring along can no longer mask the stench. Unfortunately, this is one of the unpleasantries of an exped of this length without access to a shower and as long as we are all in the same boat (which we definitely are) it’s just something we put up with. Safe to say, we are all excited for a wash and clean clothes at the other end.

So another tedious day of slogging along but we continue to surpass our daily target of 25km which is impressive. It’s tough going but each day we creep closer to our goal for which we’re excited to reap the rewards.