Phase II: Spruce Bivi

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We're all feeling pretty tired after last night. Temperatures fluctuated throughout the night as we took it in turns to add more wood to the stove, which glowed bright red when hot.

On my firewatch I managed to melt part of the sleeve of my McMurdo Parka. Fortunately I'd bought some Goretex repair patches along with me. I spent the most of my firewatch hour making impromptu repairs.

The fire took some time to get going again in the morning, meaning the group weren't able to get breakfast on the go. I got my heximine fuel burner going, and before long I was tucking into my expedition breakfast. A hearty meal of oatmeal, haselnuts, dried apple and raisins.

I managed to get a fair bit of sleep, despite the musical snore chorus coming from my fellow team mates. The sleeping bag and bivi bag held up well. Thank god for ear plugs though.

Once everyone had fed and watered themselves it was time to pack up and head off to our second site: The spruce shelter.

Throughout the day we chopped trees, collected firewood (not easy when the ground is covered in snow), shovelled snow and extended the bivi shelter for tonight's challenge. The team worked productively throughout the day. You soon realise that it's better to be busy than stood around in the Arctic. Being dormant just allows the cold to get to you, as fellow team member Chris found out. Despite working like a trooper throughout the day colloecting wood, he got frost nip on his nose (the precursor to frostbite).

I must admit I'm not looking forward to tonight, the temperature seems to be continually dropping, and despite the shelters initial appearance, the roof of this shelter really isn't that solid.

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Photos

Construction in progress
The start of the extension to the shelter

My sleeping area
Thermarest down on the snow again, sparse spruce in front of me a opposite the entrance.

Our toilet
Very basic, couple of logs tied to the tress and a long drop pit