Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Also, I worry that the weather will deteriorate again, which it can do in
a moment. Instead of taking it easy and wasting the good conditions,
we should be pushing hard.
may 5
The good weather didn't last. It was foggy and numbingly cold all day.
I didn't sleep last night and felt like I had a fever: my sleeping bag was
full of sweat. I didn't want to start the stove and wake Clark, so I got out
of my bag and pulled it inside out and lay inside the outer layer. The
show goes on.
may 6
We made 25 kilometres today, which means we have exactly 200 kilo-
metres to go before we reach Canada. Visibility was good, and the
temperature was -25 degrees, so it was smooth sailing. I hope we can
do as well tomorrow.
We made just three lead crossings. One was the usual type, when
we link two kayaks together to make a raft, one of us clambers across
with a tow rope then sends the raft backwards and forwards until we
are all across. Another involved laying two kayaks side by side in the
water to form a bridge then walking over them. The third was more
problematic: the entire ice mass we were standing on was moving
away from the ice on the other side of the lead. I was in front, so I
quickly unbuckled my sled, jumped across, then pulled the guys and
sleds across, while the gap continued to grow.
It's amazing to think that we have travelled so far through the
most forbidding terrain on the planet. We have had mishaps, but we
have survived. It's getting warmer, though it's all relative, of course. As
we've moved south, our pace has picked up and we're making more
than 20 kilometres per day. We're more or less on track to reach Canada
on time. What may hold us up are the large expanses of water we are
now encountering. Some of the leads we traversed today were full of
seals, and, as I've mentioned, seals are the staple diet of polar bears, so
we are on full alert.
We're happy with what we've achieved up here, but every day is
a grind. The North Pole section has become monotonous now, and I
Search WWH ::




Custom Search