It’s a snowy day in Longyearbyen today, but fairly warm. We sorted through food and gears, and sent packed sleds to airport. We are packing 12 days’ worth of food, about 30 pounds per person. We are departing tomorrow morning to Borneo, the Russian ice station between 88 and 89 degree where most expeditions launches from. From there, we will fly in helicopter to near 89 degrees to start the ski trip.

Tonight, we had our last group dinner. Everything here is very very expensive, but there’re some interesting games that are unique to this place. For the past couple days, we have tasted whale steak, seal meat stew, and venison heart soup.

April 16 report:
Current position 88 59.965° North, 006 01.985° East.

The team was scheduled to fly from Longyearbyen to Borneo this morning at 10:00. They were delayed about 8 hours due to weather. They arrived at Borneo at 9:30 PM and left by charter helicopter at 11:00 PM. They met the two degree dogsled team at 11:30 PM, set up camp and are ready for a good night’s rest. They are looking forward to their first full day on the ice tomorrow.