Day 17 - UG and its environs

From about 3am I can hear footsteps of the newcomers walking out to the tents and in, anticipation of the chap coming into mine, I can't get back to sleep until well after he comes at 03:30. 

Breakfast is good as usual, after which we head down to the ski garage to go through gear again and have a bit of a chat about the expedition.

Sleds and tents at the hardware end of the camp

Trial sled packing up at our tents

One neatly packed sled and skis - unfortunately there is quite a bit more to go in; it will never look so good again!

After lunch we pack up our food for the trip - we are taking a rather large amount and we have to cover some contingency days as well. I would not be surprised if I brought about half back. I just don't eat that much on expeditions and after eating so well at UG for a number of days it will be quite a while before I need to eat much in any case.

The expedition food store.

10 days of food? Bound to bring half of it back!

After picking up the food, we allocate the group gear (stoves, fuel, pots and pans etc) and then head back to out tents for final repacking. 

We are trying a new sleeping system which is a large, tough zipped bag (shaped like a sleeping mat)that you put your sleeping mats and all your sleeping gear into (large blue items in the photo below). This can then be transferred en masse to and from the tent and sled. At first, we struggle as this makes a very large bundle to fit in the sled which is awkward but then we place them flat on top of the rest of the sled which is a very elegant solution. Not only does this provide a neat final layer but by having the zipper at the front you can easily store extra gloves, water bottles and electricals inside your sleeping bag which both keeps them warm and gives you very quick access to them! Fantastic qualities in polar conditions.

After supper we are heading out for a mini trip near the camp to test all our equipment and see if we need to change anything. Unfortunately, we hear rumours at supper that there is quite a bit of bad weather about and this leads to our planned flight tomorrow (after returning from our overnight camp) being placed in the very doubtful camp. Normally, this would not be too bad as we are not pressed for time yet but we are keen to get to the pole for XMas and this will jeopardise that significantly. Not much we can do but wait and see. 

Test run in camp

Heading out into the wilds!

Tent vestibule and view out to nearby mountains

We head off out of the camp for about half an hour before pitching camp and having a hot drink before bed. We are using Hilleberg tents which are good tunnel tents; one of the two has a large vestibule and we will cook communally in there. Despite managing 3 to these tents on the way to the North Pole, there seems to be very little room for us now (the sleeping systems take up a lot of space!) and so I volunteer to carry an extra small tent for me to use which will give everyone that extra bit of space - although I have no idea what the tent is actually like at the moment; fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we will head back to camp for breakfast and see what the weather will allow us to do. 

Food:

Bacon and fried potatoes

Spag Bol with an excellent guacamole
Chicken Kiev and salad