N 89.04.065
E 120.32.985
Their first day on the ice! The team was dropped off at 89 degrees and in their first 4 hours of the expedition they put in four nautical miles. Not bad for a first day! The temperature was -10 F, with a 6-10 knot wind from the south. The skiing was decent over flat pans with little rubble. Let's hope it stays that way! At the time of the call, everyone was warm and cozy in the tent after a filling lasagna dinner. All the anticipation, the planning and the training... "it feels good to finally be here." Heather writes... "Well we are on the ice. It is about - 30 and windchill so tough to type. I think this will be par for the course for the next 10 days...highlights: Plane ride in was amazing - about 2.5 hours smooth ride - Had a chat with the pilots - great - let me sit up in the cockpit for a while - great view. Landed and had about 1.5 hours at Barneo - great soup, coffee and cookies - the best was the porta potty with sign reading next toilet 1500 km!! Then we boarded the helicopter and took off to our starting point. landed at 89 on the nose - and all of a suddden we were completely alone - the helicopter took off and it was unbelievable - felt like I was on the moon.....landscape was amazing.
"Now we are at 89 degrees 4.1 minutes - so we skied for 3 hours and covered only 4 miles - over typical terain. Gives you an idea what we have to do to cover 60 miles to pole, let alone drift and obstacles, open water.....wind howling as we set camp - almost lost one of the tents - now though we are inside - Keith has stove on - we have cocoa and dinner is getting fired up. Dale is so strong it is amazing.
"Thanks Stacey for the great Easter Candies!!!! That's all for now - I will update temperature, longitude and latitude daily as well as some info on camp life!!
Check back tomorrow for another update from the ice!
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