Among the Clouds
The sun is still shining brightly enough to compete with the cold and our tent door is open, giving us an unrestricted view down towards the sea. Tony is lying in his sleeping bag singing Gnarls Barkeley's 'Crazy' to himself and I have my lucky tent hat on. All is right with the world.
Today was a testing session before we head off into the interior. An experimental snow melting system is hanging from our tent ceiling and we've built a version of one of the depot markers that we hope will guide us home from the pole later this year.
Asnes, our ski maker, have kindly given us some new skis with a short skin system that should mean greater speed. We decided to give them a test drive on a day trip to a nearby ridge. Gliding along, achieving rare moments of grace, I was reminded what skiing can be like when you are not dragging a 400lb sledge. Simply glorious.
As we climbed the ridge we came across some fresh tracks made by an arctic fox. Before I saw one in 2001, I'd imagined them to be like a white version of a fox, but I couldn't have been more wrong; they're tiny, like a white chihuahua with huge ears. As cute as they sound, they're a worrying sight, as they spend their time following polar bears and scavenging on seal carcasses. We decided to keep our eyes open.
As we descended towards our little red tent in the distance, the clouds came rolling up from the sea and engulfed the world around us. For a while it was difficult to see where the clouds ended and the ice began. We skied along in silence, watching the skyline shift and swirl before us. All is definitely well with the world.
— Filed under Greenland