Arctic wrap-up: Paddling semi-frozen leads, and cracking out the kites
May 20, 2005 14: 01 EST
Lonnie and Eric plodded through a freezing snowstorm yesterday, then baked in intense sunlight, and now have snow falling on them again. In addition to adjusting to the rapidly-fluctuating weather, the team is finding it difficult to make headway through slushy, half-frozen leads. But they made forward progress today, and according to the guys, “That is one of the only ways we can measure our daily success.” Over on Greenland, the adventure family team is excited after getting a chance to break out the kites.
One World expedition – Summer Arctic crossing
Awful pressure ice and semi-frozen leads
Here’s Lonnie and Eric’s latest: “Today, it seemed as if all the Arctic had taken a break from trying to prevent our success. Sure, there were the usual awful pressure ice and semi-frozen leads, but at least today was sunny and calm, a first. We spent the whole morning trying to avoid leads, but ended up catamaranning our boats and paddling across four of them. Of course, most were semi-frozen which really slowed us down.”
Quickly-changing weather
”The nice weather definitely improved our attitudes. Yesterday we were freezing in a snowstorm; today we baked in the intense sunlight. But remember, this is the Arctic and all that can change quickly. In fact, it's now snowing again and cloudy.”
Adventure family – Greenland crossing
Cracking out the kites
Yesterday, after a day of sunbathing (Greenland style), the wind began to stir slightly. Within minutes, “the sky was filled with kites that danced in the spot light of the moon!” The only problem was that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.
Imitating animal sounds
Today, Paul reports, “The winds are blowing at 20 km per hour, but more importantly, are from the right direction - forty five degrees to our direction of travel. My tent mates are imitating animal sounds so I think it is time to travel. We've been cooped up inside this tent for too long. I will keep this short as David, Eric and Sarah are packing up and told me they will leave me behind if I am not ready. We have such a compassionate team.”
Live image over Contact 3.0 of tent life in Greenland, courtesy of the Green Speed expedition.
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