April 13 - Another storm...

N 89.46.765
E 092.24

Another day, another storm. Today the team woke to strong winds and cold temperatures. Add bad visibility and the best call was to stay in the tent, which they did. Tent days are long and a bit boring, but the monotony is broken by storytelling, meals, games and attempts to predict the weather. Currently the internet connection in Longyearbyen is a bit fussy, but we will try to have images and and an audio file up soon. Heather writes...

"The Barometer has fallen all day - gusting winds, - 20 windchill to -30; wind > 25 mph - we did not get out of the tents all day. We had + drift to start but now are moving away again being carried by the under-ice current away from the Pole.

"It is a long day in the tent - napping, chatting, playing connect 4.
Some of our challenges over the week have included 3 broken ski bindings (2 for Dale, one for Michel); one broken tent pole (we carried 2 spares), I punctured my thermarest cutting cheese (patched - or it would have been a cold night); one broken ski pole.

"But all in all we remain optimistic that the weather pattern will clear and we will make a push later tonight or early in the morning.

And from earlier in the day she wrote...

"Woke up and yet again mother nature is being aggressive. It is clear the Arctic does not surrender her treasures easily. We are all 5 in tent - blizzard white out conditions outside - hoping for a break in the weather so we can get moving to attempt the pole. We had some positive drift overnight so now we are at 89.47 - we are moving hugely to the west - big wind, but some of it is pulling us closer north as well.It is too dangerous to go out in this weather because the snow drifts can mask water and soft spots.Will touch base later."