Day: 9
Camp: 9
Location: N 52 24’ 32.6” W 097 35’ 15.0”
Distance: ****km
WX: – 27 deg daytime, NW winds 25km
Visibility: N/A
Travel Time: 9hrs
Beautiful but crisp morning this am, you can’t take your mitts off for more the twenty seconds or your hands instantly freeze. We wear thin liner gloves underneath our mitts to offer a bit of protection if we really need to take off our mitts for more dexterity, but you still need to minimize the time your mitts are off. Neal was the cook this morning and boiled the best tasting pot of water I ever had!
We knew we needed to desperately make some ground today and were tearing down the tent before the sun even rose. We are able to get up, eat, tear everything down and be all packed up in less then an hour and a half even on the coldest mornings. We literally wasted no time today and hauled from just before sun up right until sun down. One man puts on his big down parka and navigates walking in a straight line with compass in hand like a robot for an hour, and then we all take a two min break as the navigator trades the compass for a sled. In those two minutes you chug a few gulps of water if you can get the lid open on your bottle, crunch down a snack or two and take a piss if you need. By that time you’re ready to keep moving. One hour navigation, two min change over, two hours hauling. Not a whole lot is said to each other throughout the day, your just left alone with your own thoughts. It’s not to often that you get to be alone in your own head for 9 hrs a day with no distractions, no cell phones, TV’s, music, chatter, it’s a great opportunity to really sort things out in your mind, very refreshing. So what do we eat all day between breakfast and dinner?
- 50 grams dark chocolate covered coffee beans
- 60 grams (2cubes) cheddar cheese
- 1 nature valley granola bar
- 2 pkgs sesame snaps 72 grams
- 50 grams Taste of the tropics trail mix
- 50 grams mixed flavored almonds
- 3 squares semi sweet chocolate
All of our fingers hurt on the tips especially Neal’s as a few of his finger tips are a little white, its all superficial right now and should be fine, we just need to be extra cautious. We are really are getting good at doing everything with our mitts on. You can really feel them at night once you are all warm in your sleeping bag. I am super happy with everything we have gained and experienced so far, cold temps, rougher then expected ice conditions, some bad weather, full on navigation and we are all working effortlessly together to get everything that needs to be done in a day.
Decently easy terrain today a nice mix of ice fields and super smooth ice surface lightly covered with snow. We rolled into camp just as the sun was setting over the horizon. Made camp fast and efficiently and used four ice screws to secure the tent tonight, you never know when a storm will blow in overnight, also some nights it’s the only secure way to set up in the wind.
Neal’s sled took another beating today and I only give it another two good days of hauling before we need to ditch it, that’s if the ice conditions stay favourable. As previously mentioned we will back the backpacks and load the rest into Marc’s sled and haul it that way. I don’t think it would be too bad of a system if we really need to implement it.
There is a possibility that we won’t have enough time to make it to Matlock if the weather gets bad and the ice conditions are as bad as they have been in the first week. We poured over the maps tonight looking for early evacuation points if need be and to make a plan A, B and C. Plan (A) the closest possible evac point is at least 5 days of good hauling away but don’t think there is anything there. Plan (B) 7 days to a place on the map called Pine dock. I think it is just a small Indian reserve but the map shows a gravel rd passing through it. Don’t know if that rd is open in the winter. There is supposed to be an ice road near Pine Dock if it actually still exists, I got some beta by word of mouth from someone who was through this area in 1986. Plan (C) 8 ½ days to Helca Island which I know for sure has year round road access once you get through the narrows. I would love to get at least to Helca Island, but it will all depend on our time and equipment situation as we get farther down the lake.
The wind is blowing hard out right now; hope it dies down by the morning as like every day we need to make some good ground. Sat phone still wont work, good thing folks back home can track us with the spot.
