We managed to fly out of Iqaluit early yesterday afternoon and now have made another definitive step. We are in Resolute... And most of our gear is here too! We are still missing our cheese, salami and bacon. Hey! Who stole my cheese?

It was with substantial heartfelt relief that we arrived at the South Camp Inn and a warm Dinner. We were almost living on microwave 'pizza pops' as Darcy called them. Ozzie who runs South Camp is famous in the polar world for his hospitality and outfitting capabilities. He seems to know everything that happens in Resolute before it happens. Need flares to scare away polar bears? Ozzie has them. Wondering when the next cargo flight is due? Ozzie knows. Latest ice conditions... You get the picture.

There are also several other expeditions staging right now for departure and it is nice to be able to compare and contrast gear, logistics, techniques and more. One of my polar heroes, Richard Weber is here as well. He completed several historic polar journeys. I feel very honored to be in the company of such a great.

I wanted to sneak a little geography lesson in if you don't mind. Resolute, Nunavut Territory, is Canada's second most northern most community and is located on Cornwallis Island. There are no roads to Resolute. Vistors must come by air, sea or ice.

If you were to take a walk outside right now, here are a few things you might see. Click on the cold and snow pictures and you'll begin to get a feel for what its like here. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=resolute+nunavut&go=&form=QBIL&qs=n

We had another fairly decent night of sleep and then were back to the task of packing. Our plan today was simple: to pack all our breakfast and lunch into pre organized bags.

To give you an idea of how this process works, let me introduce AJ, who will take you through packing a typical breakfast. He writes, 'first, all the ingredients have to be taken out of their packages, weighed and then divided into equal shares per person for the duration of the expedition. Then starts the process of making individual daily packs.'

'Oats, milk powder, brown sugar, butter and jerky need to be weighed and added into an individual bag, a total of 60 per person (accounting for each day on the ice) which, if I've done my math correctly, is 180 breakfast bags. The same needs to be done for lunch and dinners. It takes a great deal of time to weigh individual ingredients out and it is a very fine balance to cater for a healthy diet under arctic conditions and for the weight of food to carry. Too much and we won't be able to move our sleds, too little and we'd quickly loose our energy and fail to complete the expedition.'   We are hoping this careful planning pays off. While we try to use hard numbers and calculations, a successful expedition is still just as much art form as hard science - which is why we pay diligent homage to both pursuits. One of my many polar mottos - hope for the best, but plan for the worst. We can ill afford even the smallest of mistakes at 45 below.

Our success at packing is only tempered by our futile efforts to get Darcy to smile for pictures. His Manitoban pragmatism supersedes all other emotions. Our efforts now have focused on simply saying a funny word or phrase to turn Darcy's frown upside down. Clowns we now know, are not funny in Darcy's world.

Due to our delay in Iqaluit we are also delayed for the next leg. It turns out that we may not depart for northern Ellesmere until March 3rd. We are anxious to start but could also use an extra training day. If anything changes, we'll let you know.

If you haven't already, you may want to join the conversation on Newsvine. While I may blog about other expedition topics, there is an ongoing climate discussion and interesting new articles recently posted. Go to http://ericlarsenexplore.newsvine.com/ to read new additions by Chris Miller and Lynae Anderson.

Picture: Darcy putting on his pack boots in the Resolute airport. Yes folks, that is a slight grin!

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by Bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, terramar, Goal0, Atlas and Sierra Designs.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

Upon sitting in our seats on the flight from Ottawa, the three of us immediately fell asleep. We had all been operating on very little sleep for the past week. We arrived in Iqaluit four groggy hours later and were greeted to yet another hurdle in our ever increasing list of obstacles.

Our flight to Resolute was canceled due to bad weather. Enter crisis management. We would now have to find a place to stay in Iqaluit, move our thirteen gear bags (each weighing between 50-70 pounds) via taxi, unload bags from the taxi to our hotel, check in, move the aforementioned bags into the hotel, and then... Despite all this work we were pleased to actually be en route and have at least one night to regroup and catch up on our sleep. We are becoming experts in managing chaos. Nothing about this trip seems to be giving us a break.

I wish I had more time and space to share Iqaluit with you. But in lieu of this, I'll offer a simple bing Images link: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=iqaluit&go=&form=QBIL

Darcy and I were so tired that our bodies were starting to break down a bit. At Dinner, both of us shivered constantly even though we were inside and it was relatively warm. Darcy commented, 'Even in the military you know it's all [sleep deprivation] going to end. In this situation, we don't know what to expect, and that makes it much more difficult.' We feel asleep before our head hit the pillows. Each of us logging 11, 12 and 13 hours of sleep respectively.

We have a fourth person staying with us. Khai Nguyen, who I met in Antarctic after he completed a last degree trip, happened to be traveling to Resolute the exact same time as us. He was also stranded in Iqaluit. So, he piled into the taxi (remember all those bags) and eventually into our small one bed hotel room. Everyone is friends in the Arctic.

Today our hotel room also served as expedition head quarters. Here we made great progress on organizing and repacking gear. Much of the day was spent making expedition dinners. For this, we combined two packs of Mountain House freeze-dried dinners, 50 milliliters of olive oil and two pieces of jerky for a grand total of 1300 calorie meal. Not bad for just dinner.

We also began the gear modification process. Screwing skins on to our madshus.com/" target="_blank">skis, tying extra long pull cords on our Sierra Designs parkas and a few other odds and ends. These may seem like small little tasks but every effort here means an energy savings on the ice. Add up all those little pieces of energy and you increase your potential for success.

We are constantly forming and reforming plans. We have had to deal with a lot of unexpected circumstances, but as a team we are integrating well. For most big decisions, we have a quick team meeting, offer opinions, discuss options and then come up with a plan. Of course, most times working AJ and Darcy is easy because they are already doing the things that need to be done.

We are still on schedule for a March 2nd departure, although a back log in Ellesmere flights due to bad weather in Resolute could delay us some. We are finally rested and our spirits our high. With every completed task, we increase the chances of our success. Soon we will know the direct benefits of all these efforts. For now, we take pride in the fact that we have come this far.

Picture: AJ sorting Mountain House freeze-dried dinners. All told, we repacked.

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by Bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, terramar, Goal0, Atlas and Sierra Designs.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

Just a short update as we're all running on no sleep and trying to get organized for the flight to Resolute, leaving in a couple hours. We arrived in Ottawa after our cross-country road trip - which was something of an adventure in itself. If you saw the tweets or listened to the audio, we had a few mishaps after leaving Thunder Bay. First we took a wrong turn and didn't realize it for nearly an hour. Realizing our mistake, we turned around but in the process lost two hours. Feeling a bit more urgent, Darcy "put the hammer down" and sometime later were stopped for speeding. Twice. Arrrg!

Our driving plan somewhat blown, we rolled into a small town in Ontario very low on gas at about 2:30 am. Not finding a gas station open (no surprise) and none with 24 hour pumps, we went to a local motel to ask where we might find gas. The motel owner gave us the name & phone of the owner of the gas station. He didn't want to come out and open the station, so we bribed him and he relented.

From there is was on to Ottawa where we met up with Antony who arrived from England. This is the first time we'd all been together. The website has been updated with Darcy and Antony's bios, have a look and get to know them. The next hours we spent reorganizing all the gear and trying to control the chaos and get us onward to Resolute. The next update should be from the arctic circle!

Picture: Darcy trying to figure out why we couldn't get any gas on a very chilly Canadian night.

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, terramar, Goal0, Atlas and Sierra Designs.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

A new remote audio post has been added to the blog...

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

I left my girlfriend, Maria's, place in Boulder last night at 10:30. Amazingly, I was able to pack up the expedition sprawl that had consumed her entire basement since I returned from Antarctica. She has been more than patient and supportive, even helping to modify Atlas snow shoe bindings, haul gear, print forms and much more. I couldn't have finished the many tasks without her help.

The KIA (my little car) is packed to the gills. I had to unbox four cases of Clif bars just so they could compactly fit underneath the seats. In Minneapolis, more gear to add. 324 freeze dried dinners from Mountain House, new terramar long underwear, tech gear from Farm Logic and a few other odds and ends.

Now, it's up to Grand Marais. On the way, a quick stop in Two Harbors granite gear for late night equipment rendezvous. This time for stuff sacks. Very exciting. I've had a 15 minute power nap in the Harincar's basement, a cup of green tea and now I feel ready for the road. Kind of. I cringed looking at my eyes in the mirror. Minnesota is a tall state. Still, exciting to be moving. One big step accomplished!

I emailed AJ today and stated I had probably driven enough miles to cross his small country (UK) several times. To which he replied, 'It maybe a small nation, but its a GREAT Nation .. Royal Britannia!!'

The help continues to come in. Dinner, packing and web help at the Harincar's. Corey my 'land lord' in Grand Marais, called to check in. Adam a friend from Grand Marais is driving me to Thunder Bay to meet Darcy. Zack from Scream Agency sent a press release for me to review. I am continually humble by all the kindness and generosity. It does not go unnoticed.

Today, was the official start of the conversation on Newsvine. Calvin posted an interview that you can check out at http://ericlarsenexplore.newsvine.com/

Darcy forwarded this note about ice conditions, 'Things are worse than last year as you can see in the attached pics. The ice is moving freely down Nares Straight and across the top of Greenland. This doesn't allow the ice to set up to the west and so everything is very dynamic.

You can also see the fog and low cloud generated by the open water. The open water creates more active weather which affects the ice and sets up more active weather and......' An unusually balmy -4F was recorded at Cape Discovery the other day.

Picture: Satellite image of Northern Ellesmere Island.

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, Terramar, Goal0, Atlas and Sierra Designs.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.