If there is a God. Today he is in the Arctic.

If I had to choose a favorite day so far on this expedition, it will be today.
Not just because we are now on the other side of the countdown to 90 degrees but because of the gifts the arctic gave us throughout the day.
Thanks to the excellent weather forecast from Helga van Leur and drift forecast from Mark Drinkwater, we were well prepared this morning for the challenges ahead.

Forecast was for strong winds and low visibility but just one hour out of camp, the sky opened up, sun poked through with perfect ‘Jesus’ beams and lit up the blue ice blocks in front of my skis.
I am not particularly religious but if there was a religious moment this must be it.
The wind quit completely and the sun actually manage to give a bit of its warmth.
Ice crystals were glistening in the sky, the whole arctic suddenly became winter still.
I stopped and took off my skis, unleashed my sled and breathe in this special moment.

Most of the time we see the tips of our skis because our heads are tugged inside our hoods of our jackets, too afraid to have any skin exposed and face frostbite but when these precious moments arise, you need to embrace them.
I like to think that the Arctic is given us some gentleness after its relentless war with cold, and wind and it is showing us that she can be gracious and kind.
For all of us out here it has been very challenging due to the extreme cold temperatures but we persevere and the rewards of today were incredibly welcome.

A few hours later we skied over the biggest frozen lead so far.
The size of a lake with snow drift blowing over its surface, so different that we normally see here on the North Pole.
The sky closed in again around 16:00 hours and left us with a sliver of light in the northern horizon.

A dramatic day - a seascape full of contrasts - a day you re thankful for being here at all costs.