I began the second phase of this expedition on Saturday evening 10th April – setting off during the night to make the most of the low temperature and harder ice. During the day it’s now warmer, which means you heat up quickly when moving, and the ice has more of a slushy consistency, making it tough going under. So travelling at night has its advantages.
My aim is to cover as much distance as possible and continue with the filming I’ve been doing whilst in Longyearbyen .
I hit a white out almost straight away which made the navigation a little bit more intense.
Over the next couple of days I encountered strong winds, which at one point became so tough to move through, I decided to set up the tent and sit it out for 24 hours until it died down.
I’m on day 5 now after a link with the BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire in the UK my spirits are pretty good.
The weather this morning was excellent so I decided to stay in the same area – I even had my breakfast outside of the tent and took a great photograph of me relaxing of which I will post at the end of this expedition.
I spent most of the day filming for IGGY – International Gateway for Gifted Youth. I’m hoping to do a live Ipadio conference link with them later on in the week – so look out for that.
Mark Wood in white-out conditions
