Sporadic wind gusts punctuated an otherwise relaxing sleep and left warmer temperatures and a fresh dusting of snow in their wake. The air mass, moving in from the south, pushed out tent one and a half nautical miles from where we set it up - one mile of which was northward progress.

I was worried that the fresh snow would snow us down as so often happened to Ryan and I in 2014. The fresh snow crystals grabbed at our sleds making it feel like we were dragging anchors through the sand. Today, however, the snow had the opposite effect actually making our sleds glide significantly easier over the undulating surface. It was quite honestly a huge relief as breaking trail the past couple of days had been difficult to say the least. Even the low visibility (nearing whiteout) couldn't dampen my spirits.

Within an hour, we hit our first pressure ridge which turned out to be a knee-deep slog through soft snow and blocks that we had to wade through for about 35 meters. After that, we skied across a newly formed thin ice lead, side-stepping one-by-one then pulling our sleds across when we were safely on the other side. Still another obstacle was a slabbed pressure ridge where we set up a relay, shuttling each sled from one person to the next.

Around Lunch, Neil began vomiting. Any injury is a scary situation out here but physically not being able to pull a sled can be insurmountable. Luckily, we were able to divide up Neil's food, fuel and MSR stove kit between David and Jaco and I hooked up the rest behind my sled, now towing two sleds. Luckily, the improved surface conditions made pulling the extra weight (and drag) tolerable.

In the end the system worked as we skied nearly 10 miles yesterday! And even better, Neil recovered enough to pull his lightened sled for the last 20 minutes of the day. Two big successes!