
Stuart Smith

Lonnie Dupre
Today we made 5.9 nautical miles in 7 hours of travel. The ice conditions were better than yesterday, with roughly 1/3 of the day in rough ice, and the rest meandering in a zig zag fashion trying to avoid the worst of the very prominent snow drifts that exist in the lee of every piece of ice.
In general during the expedition the wind has been blowing mostly east to west, sometimes west to east at approximately 5-15 mph. This means that the snow drifts are all east-west. Heading north we have to cross them all the time. This makes for a LOT of work!
The wind brings some other challenges, like protecting your face from frostbite. We are all watching out for each other in this regard, letting each other know if there is a patch of skin that is exposed. But the wind can also bring some beautiful sights, like today when the blowing snow particles in air scattered the sun’s rays making a multitude of sun dogs appear behind us towards Ellesmere. “It was beautiful” is an understatement.
Our position in degrees, minutes and seconds is N83.43.28, W77.40.18


















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