Sunday 3rd April

Jo - The Arctic Mummy

Well I thought yesterday was hard, and physically it was, but that is what I spent a year and a half training for! I am still stiff and sore today, but at my age I would expect nothing else; I suffered for at least 3 days after every session with Tommy in the gym!

Last night and this morning was mentally very tough. It was our coldest night yet (-24 Deg in the tent!) I was the wrong side of uncomfortably cold all night, especially my feet. Consequently I did not sleep that well, which meant for a tough day, after a very physical one yesterday.

It takes a minimum of 2 hours from wake up to do breakfast, get dressed and pack up the tent. When we set of I was very cold, and there was an extremely cold westerly wind. The actually walking was pretty straight forward and quite flat, but it took me until lunch time to feel even slightly warm. I spent most the morning walking in my down gloves, which are like duvets, great for providing warmth, but not greatly practical for skiing in. But needs must!

I wore a thick face mask which covered most of my face, and goggles, which froze up by the minute. By noon, I had gone through both pairs of goggles, and luckily by this stage I was warm enough to wear my sunglasses.

We have now been in our tent a few hours, with at least one burner on, all our kit is hung up in the roof of the tent to dry, and I am just warming through. I struggled today. It was SO cold, and I was physically very tired.
I know there will be other days like this; I hope I have learnt from today and cope better, even just slightly!

This rugged pc (supplied by Pure Technology) is amazing. It comes into the tent, with ice on the outside, from a hard day in a very cold pulk, gets itself ready, then just performs (better than me)!

Amazing!

More pictures in the Gallery

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