87 degrees North. Middle of summer. Arctic Ocean. Cross-country skiing.
Before dinner yesterday Matt, Andy and I borrowed 3 of the 4 pairs of cross-country skis from the ship and toured around the ice! It was a great time, felt good to get back on the skis. It was Andy’s first time, and the first 5-10 minutes showed….he broke one pair of ski shoes and bent a pole. Nevertheless, he traded shoes and pushed through, eventually getting the hang of it. The ice floe we are moored to is quite big, something like 2.5km x 5km. We ended up following the long snowmobile route to the open lead station and back on the shorter route. All in all it took about 1hr 50min, felt good to get some cardio again.
And to top if off, we came in during the middle of dinner to nothing else but homemade soup and pancakes!!!! Just perfection.
Our time on the ice is winding down. Tear down will begin late Sunday night and continue Monday before we begin cruising again late Monday night. Morale is high all around. I am getting more and more excited and anxious about the data we are getting. There is gonna be quite a load of it to analyze, but that will have to wait until we reach land (or at least until we are moving through the ice).
I am really looking forward to a vacation down south with my fiancee when I get back. Work doesn’t have to begin immediately after I return 😉 .
Cheers, take care all!
/Joseph Sedlar, Graduate student
Ascos 