The usual 6am alarm kicked me into gear and like clockwork we were on the trail at 8.30. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t playing ball and a pall of cloud hung heavy in the air, obscuring the sun and half the visibility.

Fortunately the surface was dandy and we scooted north at 2.5km/h, pretty good going for the Arctic Ocean. Lorenz, Cordula and Bobby are all in the zone, 5 days of Arctic travel behind them and the lure of the North Pole in front. Each of them have wonderful qualities that have contributed to making this team highly functional, homogenous and fun.

But the final run to the Pole was anything but a breeze as a band of crazy pressure ground us to a crawl, literally. With our skis strapped to our sleds we forced a route through the carnage, potholing, slipping, dragging our loads on hands and knees.

The final 2km were uneventful and the North Pole gave itself up just before 6pm in a haze of flat light. We celebrated with cheers, hugs, flags and swigs of Drambuie from Bobby’s tartan hip flask. We will camp here for the night before, weather pending, being picked up by helicopter in the morning, transported to Barneo and on a flight to Longyearbyen in the afternoon.

Thanks for following our trek, I hope you enjoyed the ride. If you’d like to experience this very special place for yourself visit www.icetrek.com and begin the journey to the top, or bottom, of our world.

Pics
1-3. In the heavy pressure
4. Crossing a thin lead
5. Team from left, Bobby, Lorenz, Cordula and me
6. At the North Pole