27th January 2010 - Day 3 - Dom Larose
Despite high winds, we headed out this morning for the first time with fully laden pulks. The high winds / low temperature combination meant some challenges in preventing frostbite on faces, and the first kilometre or so featured many headgear adjustments!
With significant food on board, the pulks were noticeably heavier too which meant skill was required on downhill and effort uphill. A group of 15 people is also hard to pace but Marcus did a sterling job! After a while we got better at moving at a constant pace to stay warm.
After 3½ hours we reached the far end of Longyearbyen, the wind was howling so we erected the emergency shelter and had a brew and some food. We lost a Thermorest to the wind – not something we want to repeat and was a good lesson learnt. Whilst taking a break, we decided to go back to town and see how the conditions changed.
Some of us took the opportunity of last minute purchases – gloves for some, camp seats for others, boot liners for me. We then hauled our pulks all the way back to the Hostel, at which point the wind died down somewhat. The majority decided to head to the glacier to make camp, so off we went.
And so FINALLY! We made camp, pitched tents, storm proofed the tents, melted snow and prepared food. Camp making is very lengthy and we are still learning to speed this up, but it all makes us appreciate the dehydrated food more and keeps us warm.
The mood in camp is good – relief, anticipation and excitement rolled into one, now that we have got going after so many false starts. It is now 23.30 local time and I am on bear watch in 3.5hrs time so will go to sleep now and look forward to another day of adventures unknown tomorrow.
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