Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the
four
of us
—me
, Cla
rk, e
ric, J
ose.
aPril 7
It has been our first full day on the ice, another incredibly difficult day.
I knew this leg would be hard, but not this hard. Any sense of enjoy-
ment has been ground out of me by the relentless slog. Every step is
an effort. It hurts like hell. I know that later, when it's all over, I'll wish
I could have revelled in trekking through the Arctic in the footsteps
of great explorers, but as long as we're here, I now know, I'll just have
to keep my head down, endure the discomfort, and make it through.
This morning I didn't want to leave my sleeping bag, even though the
temperature wasn't too bad: a comparatively warm -28 degrees! We
commenced by boiling snow over the gas stoves for our thermoses,
then adding a little extra to our porridge. The day was full of water-
crossings and climbing over pressure ridges. Eric is doing a great job
with the difficult task of navigation. I just wish we could move faster.
I wasn't prepared for the awesome spectacle of the pressure
ridges, which are getting bigger. They are now ranging between 4 and
6 metres high, chunks of ice thrust up chaotically through the snow,
