Despite sleeping through my alarm for about 10 minutes, we still managed to get an earlier start than yesterday, which by the way is no easy task as it takes us roughly two and a half hours from the time we wake up until we are packed and pulling sleds. If I was backpacking in Colorado in July, it would take me 15 or 20 minutes.

While we have yet to encounter a 'real' pressure ridge (one where there is no other way around) there were significantly more blocks and pressured ice in our path today and we spent a significant amount of time simply route finding through different areas of broken slabs and cracks.

Twice today I quite literally tripped over my skis and landed flat on my face. Starting out after one of our snack breaks I shifted my gaze to a far away ice chunk. Not looking down my ski tip jammed right into a snow drift stopping me instantly.

'I meant to do that,' I commented back to Bachir and Victor. I smiled underneath my goggles and nose beak.

At one point today, I saw a single line of footprints heading in nearly our same direction - an Arctic Fox. I was surprised to see these tracks here, so far away from anything, but amazing it is to know there is a fox around, it is also unnerving. The foxes are scavengers who follow polar bears for food scraps (from dead seals).

In the afternoon, we skied through a section of relatively open terrain and then the ice changed dramatically and we were surrounded by small slabs and blocks. I worried that we might not find a stable piece of ice for camp, but after pressing on another quarter of a mile, I found a larger pan about 400 meters across.

Now warm and eating in the tent, we are pleased with the day's efforts having covered 9.8 miles.