Crazy Arctic Guy, Days 25 & 26

I can't fathom the amount of damage he's doing to himself. Wow. Braver soul than I...

DAY 25: RECORD DAY FOR DISTANCE - 27KM!
Wed, 15 Feb 2006 // 16:21

Quote of the Day:

'I'm more prone to freezing my nose than Borge it seems, I guess because of my 27 month expedition around the Arctic Circle! It is already starting to turn black on the tip and around the nostrils...'

DATA LOG
Latest position: N83°21'54.5' E104°05'19.4'
Distance to go: 741km
Wind: 22mph SE winds
Drift: NW ice drift of around 0.3mph

Today Mike and Borge did their record day for distance - 27 km! (previous record was 20km on Day 22):

'Everything was in our favour today. We were very fortunate to have a NW drift of 0.3 to 0.6 km /hr helping us in the right direction and the sledges were sliding beautifully on the thin layer of fresh snow. Now that we are on the 83rd latitude we are seeing the difference in the ice. Today the ice packs are thicker and are pressing hard against one another. A few days ago the ice was thinner and under pressure the ice would break up creating huge mounds that we needed to climb over.

At the moment we are experiencing southeasterly winds at 10 metres per second (22mph). We are expecting soon that the winds will turn from the north. It will not be very good for us if it does because we will have once again the problem of the head-on wind freezing our noses. I'm more prone to freezing my nose than Borge it seems, I guess because of my 27 month expedition around the Arctic Circle! It is already starting to turn black on the tip and around the nostrils. We will probably most likely wait for those harsh head-on northerly winds for our next rest day.

It is important for us now to move while we can. We believe that if we continue with an average of 20kms a day we'll have enough food rations to see us to the North Pole but we prefer to be cautious and are saving three extra days for the 'just-in-case'. 741 kms to go ! It's getting closer!

DAY 26: COMPLETE CALM FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Thu, 16 Feb 2006 // 16:33

Quote of the Day:

'The wind blew the entire day and then stopped just as we were setting up the tent this evening - it makes a nice change not to have the wind howling over the tent...'

DATA LOG
Latest position: N83°32'28' E103°38'47'
Distance to go: 721km
Days of food left: 41

After an exhausting nine hours walking on ice and snow, Mike and Borge advanced 20km today, walking 17km and progressing a further 3km north thanks to the strong winds last night. This morning as they started walking, conditions were not ideal but improved as the day went on, Borge explains: 'The ice was a bit rougher during the first part of the day, giving way to flat, wide-open surfaces this afternoon. We're walking mostly on older ice, formed last year, which is far more stable then the ice we saw earlier. There haven't been any signs of ice movement or open leads today either - and that's a great advantage for us."

'The wind blew the entire day and then stopped just as we were setting up the tent this evening. This is the first time that we have had complete calm. It makes a nice change not to have the wind howling over the tent and of course the temperatures are milder at the same time.'

The full moon has left us now. It is once again under the horizon so we are once again in pitch darkness.

Today is our 26th day on the ice. It wasn't a bad day even though we found ourselves back in the pack ice. We managed to do 17kms so we are happy.

721 kms to go until we reach the North Pole with 41 days of food left. Looks as though we should make it before the end of the winter months - that is our aim at least!

Will sleep now and rest my flat feet!'

Best regards,

Mike