by John Huston

Well, two days ago we stated that we hoped we would cross the 85° latitude in two days and today, thanks to great skiing conditions, we did that right around 2:30pm or so, maybe 2:00pm. We then traveled another 3 miles into camp. So we celebrate our crossing of the 85° latitude with a special concoction made by Tyler of leftover lunch nuts, a macadamia, pecan, and Brazil nut variety mixed with a little sugar and butter. We are quite looking forward to that. And just a wee bit of scotch mixed with a little water provided by some friends of mine in Chicago who donated that to the expedition.

So today was a very sunny day. It didn't seem quite as warm as yesterday although the temperatures were the same and most of that was due to a very small light breeze out of the north-northeast. It doesn't take much wind to really enhance the feeling of cold at these temperatures.

We are really enjoying the skiing these days. Our half-length skins on our skis are functioning perfectly and we are getting some more glide and our pulks are moving along much more quickly as well. There's a lot less friction due to the sun, but mostly due to flat ski conditions and nice hard-packed snow. So we are quite happy. We are very secure with where we are on our timetable, and we are right with or slightly ahead of other successful North Pole expeditions from recent years from Ward Hunt Island.

So, thanks for listening everybody, and have a nice evening. We will, too.

Daily Expedition Data
Date: March 27, 2009
Location: N85° 03.187' W074 37.884'
Time Traveled: 9 hours 30 minutes
Distance Traveled: 8.7 nautical miles
AM Temperature: -42°F
PM Temperature: -30°F
light 1-3knot N/NE wind, clear and sunny all day
297 nautical miles to the North Pole

DAY 26 - 85°