11 April 2016
Longyearbyen, Svalbard
Elevation: 51m
Latitude: 78°22’32″N
Longitude: 15°62’67″E
Weather: Snowing
Temperature: -13°C
Distance covered today: 0km
Distance to North Pole: 1316km
Ed is feeling: Excited

The Russians have pulled off a miracle and have a runway at Camp Barneo
which will accept the first technical flight of cargo first thing tomorrow
morning. Assuming this goes well we will be on the first passenger flight
some 7 hours later. This feels different to the other false dawns! We have
repacked our pulk sleds today and I have spent a good deal of time making
16 day snack bags (the stuff we eat on the move). These are an energy
packed mix of cookies, peanuts, dried fruit, salami, crispy bacon, cheese,
sweets and chocolate! Yum!

This is a really exciting time tinged with some unease as we know we do not
have time to complete two degrees. This is a very poor season for Arctic
sea ice and as a result a very short season for Arctic adventures like ours.

I will post again from my iPhone tomorrow but from then on all comms will
be through the Iridium Go! satellite modem we use on the ice. What a day!