Day: 117

Storm Subsides

Temperature: 0F

Location: Committee Bay

Latitude: 67deg 56’ 25’’ N

Longitude: 87deg 54’ 48 ” W

Distance Traveled: 22 Miles

We finally got going this morning after a two day storm delay. It was still quite windy and blowing in the morning, with a temperature of around zero degrees Fahrenheit. The weather got better during the day, and the barometer rose. It didn’t exactly clear off, but the weather calmed down around 6 in the evening.

We set off across Committee Bay, a large bay in the ocean, on the Gulf of Boothia. We have a 50 mile crossing that will take us to a river system that will take us through the mountains. So we are on the sea ice right now, about 10 miles out.

The travel was actually pretty good on the sea ice. I expected it to be much worse. We had good flat ice for much of the time, though we occasionally encountered rough ice. But with the heavy snows and wind, the pack ice has been pretty easy to travel across. Normally, like on the Arctic Ocean, where you have pack ice without snow, it is a very sharp surface, with blocks 5-7 feet high. But with the drifting snow like we have here, it is just a matter of crossing over the smaller drifts.

So far so good. We have open water to the north of us, they are probably about five miles away. You can tell the open water by the reflection of the black water under the low clouds. These clouds would normally just be white if they were reflecting the snow. And by looking in the sky, you can almost make a map of where the open water is.

We will be skirting this open water by traveling to the east, and southeast. The section of Committee Bay that we are on is all frozen to the south.

It was a good travel day. Really warm in the tent tonight, probably about zero outside, which is very warm for us.