At some point in the near future, it will be 10 degrees warmer and our sleds will be 50 pounds lighter and we'll be able to cope with the Arctic Ocean better. But that day isn't today.

I always forget how brutal of a transition it is from normal life to being on an expedition. Honestly, for the first four days its an emotional roller coaster. Overwhelmed, cold and thousands of miles from Maria and Merritt, I can't help but wonder what I was thinking coming here.

'This was your idea,' Ryan or I said to one another several times.

We spent the day quagmired in older pack ice. Huge chunks of various shapes and sizes all drifted in. I was skeptical when I heard about two meter high rafted ice and pressure ridges. The reports were accurate. This is bad ice. So bad that we had to relay the sleds all day - Ryan and I together each pulling one sled then going back for the second.

By the end of the day we were so cold and exhausted that we are only now warming up.

All told we made a grand total of 1.18 nautical miles (even though we traveled 3x as far).

Surprisingly, we were still able to marvel at the sublime beauty of this place. There are so many details to notice.

Oh yeah one last thing, yesterday we saw polar bear tracks!

Image: Ryan and his heavy sled (from yesterday).