Today was tough.  Mostly for Martin who’s been walking with an awful blister on his foot.  It burst today and every step has been agony.  He has to stop and dress it every few hours, which isn’t easy in -34 degrees, though we’re all well briefed in foot care.

We’re all very, very cold and have lost feeling in our fingers and toes.

Progress was pretty slow therefore.  We’ve been crossing a rough rubble field (imagine trying to drag heavy and cumbersome sledges up, down and around huge chunks of unwieldy ice in winds of 30 knots.  Exhausting, but we’ve covered 3.5 nautical miles (4.03 actual miles).

So, our spirits were lifted (and the hairs on the back of our necks stood up!) when we saw evidence for the first time that We Are Not Alone out here.  We knew it of course, but it’s still exciting to see:  Polar Bear Tracks, - I would estimate a big, adult bear had plodded his or her way across our path – possibly quite recently.

We’ll be on the look out for the bear ‘in person’ of course, but even seeing the tracks was an extraordinary moment in this wilderness and brought home to us the absolute beauty of this environment.  We are visitors in a very special place.  

The weather is set to calm over the next 24 hours and we’ll hopefully see the other side of this current low pressure zone by Saturday.

On the menu today is chicken stew with dumplings!