August 18.
The night was windy and restless, and by morning the ice felt unsettled. Not dangerous exactly, just busy. Crevasses right out of camp forced immediate decisions, and the surface was carved into shallow runnels that didn’t really go anywhere. It was less about finding the right line and more about committing to one and dealing with the consequences.

Elaine and I both struggled with attitude early. Nothing dramatic, but enough friction to be felt. When one of us is off, the other tends to follow. Out here, small things feel larger, and patience is a finite resource.

The terrain did not help. My sled was a problem again, top heavy, eager to tip, and constantly shedding gear out the back. Duffels instead of a proper sled bag meant the load rode high, and every sidehill or small ice ravine turned into a wrestling match. I got hung up early in a series of broken ice steps and had to muscle my way through, sweating and swearing more than I would like to admit. I hate sucking at things, and today I very much sucked at keeping my sled upright. It felt like working twice as hard as necessary, which is always a dangerous mental place to be.

Eventually the ice flattened into a jumbled plain, stitched together with flowing blue creeks and shallow pools of meltwater. We zigzagged carefully, weaving between water and ice, the pace slow but steady. And then, unexpectedly, we hit snow.

It was not much, but it was enough.

Just under a thousand meters above sea level, the ice softened and turned white. Skis came out, and for the first time on this trip, and the first time this year, we slid instead of dragged. An hour of actual skiing. Quiet, effortless, deeply familiar. It was the highlight of the day, no contest. First ski of the year. May it be a good one.

We camped beside a river we will have to cross tomorrow. The wind is building again, and the temperature is dropping fast. Today covered just over ten kilometers with more climbing than we have seen so far, 330 meters of gain, and the grade is clearly increasing as we move deeper onto the ice cap.

It was a hard day. Not a bad one, just demanding. The sled still needs sorting. So do we, probably. But morale feels recoverable, and that is enough for now. Tomorrow will bring its own challenges. For tonight, it is enough to rest and let the snow linger in memory.