Day: 5
Camp: 5
Location: N 52 52’ 41.1” W 98 14’ 14.5”
Distance: 22km
WX: – 26 deg overnight -25 deg daytime high, winds North West 20km
Travel Time: 7hrs 30mins
I am writing this from the tent at camp six as I didn’t get to the log book last night. Right now it is -35 deg. Late start yesterday at the old fish camp, to bad it wasn’t even close to being good enough to stay in for the night to make some easier repairs, with the heat of a wood stove I could have possible moulded some plastic. Was a bit disheartened again today with the condition of the sled, again no matter how long I look at it its in bad shape! Someone was 25 mins late getting up today and only got up with some encouragement and then took 25mins to get out of the tent. Unfortunately we didn’t get underway till 9:30am. We are all going to have to work harder now at getting out of camp quicker and more efficiently now as we need to continuously make good ground everyday. On that note, we were extremely happy to have knocked off 22km today despite the late start and challenging terrain this morning.
This is where we now rely on our compass shooting a straight line bearing across the middle of nowhere for the next 4 to 6 days. We hope to just skim past the west side of Berens Island. It took us a nerve racking 1 ½ hours this morning to navigate and meander out of the ice fields, every step knowing that the total demise of the sled was near. Tones of drag has been added to my sled as the holes in the front act like a cheese grater scratching and scooping in the snow and piling it inside with every step. I shoot a map bearing of 140 deg from the light beacon on the point, we followed a bearing of 135 deg after meandering through the ice, figuring that even though we are off of the point a bit we will still head in the proper direction. So hard to trust your compass, you constantly question it thinking you are not on the right angle and you should be a bit more left or a bit more right! We took turns navigating and slowly watched all signs of land disappear behind us. Now into the frozen void, we all felt good and pushed until 4:20pm. We made camp at a mound of snow and ice chunks, perfect spot.
What a beautiful landscape, amazing the contrast of colors between the snow and the horizon. The temp dropped down to -30 deg as we were setting up camp and the sun was setting. Neal made an amazing kitchen tonight in a large snow drift, complete with steps, snow wall and a cooking cave where the stove and pot were totally sheltered from the wind in all directions. To keep warm Marc built a huge eight foot snow block wall for an even more added wind barrier. Neal also built a snow cave for Frisky but could not convince him to lay in there where it would have been way warmer on such a cold night. Frisky just lay on top of my duffle bag under the stars, crisp clear night.
For some reason I was so cold before and after dinner it felt like I would never warm up ever again, I couldn’t wait to get into my sleeping bag. I ended up finishing all the water prep and finally warmed up some how before shutting down for the night. Crazy navigation during the day, you have to get your precise bearing then look off into the distance as far as possible and pick something in that line of sight. It could be anything a black spec that may turn out to be a shadow or a chunk of ice, or even a blemish in the snow off in the distance, anything to keep your focus until you get there and take another bearing. Hoping to get 20 to 25km tomorrow