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.

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 have an Inuit friend who once, when witnessing a bit of waffling and last minute decision changes commented, 'make up your mind now so you can change it later.' For our part, we really haven't been changing our minds all that much. We've always wanted to get to the pole. It's more that all these last minute variables cause us to continuously amend our plans.

Just when we thought we had this whole mess figured out, we received news that we either had to fly tomorrow or wait several more days. With time slipping quickly away and the worst ice conditions witnessed for quite a while, we were hardly in the position to sit tight - cheese or no cheese.

Nothing like a bit of 'no other choice' to get a group motivated. The casual sewing circles of last night and this morning were put on hold as we moved on to packing our resupply and doing final gear checks. We managed to find a bit of freeze dried cheese, buy 5 kilos of bacon from Ozzie, dice up some extra salami that we had packed with our terramar base layers.

Now, as my team member from the South Pole Dongsheng, recently emailed, we are GTG. Good to go. Well, almost. There are still few last minute tasks, but those are minor. We are looking forward to being on the ice, and if you can believe it, relaxing. Of course, we are really just trading one struggle for another.

Still, the prospect of flying to Cape Discovery tomorrow morning has left with an optimistic outlook. We are pleased with our gear and preparation. While we have joked that our team is more like the Bad News Bears, we are strong, smart and experienced. Our chances of success are good. But we are also pragmatic. There is a large distance between now and the pole and anything can happen. For now, we are setting the short term goal of getting our gear on the ice and setting up our first camp.

On a sad note, I wanted to offer my condolences to a good friend Scott Bishop. You are in my thoughts and I will be thinking of Noah throughout my journey.

I am lucky to have the support of Darcy and AJ - two stalwart companions. Each has assumed leadership roles as well as following roles at times during our recent chaos. We have had some fairly frank discussions but overall I am pleased at how cohesive our small group has become. There have been many others who have helped along the way.

AJ is especially grateful to all of folks at the University of Plymouth. Darcy wanted to send out a special hello and 'thanks' to his son, Aden, who is his biggest inspiration. For me, I have been lucky to receive the support of bing and Terramar as well as many other sponsors. Tim and Elisabeth are amazing as is my incredible mom. Most importantly, I want to say thanks to my girlfriend Maria. I wouldn't be here without your support.

Changing gears to climate legislation, will you join thousands of other Americans in calling your senators today to ask them to pass comprehensive energy and climate change legislation?

Just follow these simple steps (don't worry, it's easy!):

1. Dial the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your senator's office.

2. When the staff member answers, identify yourself as a constituent: "my name is __ and I live in __."

3. Then tell him or her that you're calling to urge the Senator to fight for clean energy and put a stop to climate change. Here are some things you might say:

We desperately need help to jumpstart our economy and create jobs ­ and a clean energy and climate bill can help us do it. If we don't do something now, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with rising sea levels, stronger storms, increased famine and droughts, and more threats to our national security. We need to stop sending a billion dollars a day overseas for oil. Some of that oil money goes to countries that support the terrorism we are fighting across the globe.

4. Then say "thank you," hang up, and repeat the same process to reach your other senator.

We can't afford to wait any longer - we must pass comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation this year!

Thank You!

Picture: All aboard the North Pole express! Ozzie's bus to show tourists around the bustling metropolis of Resolute - pop 249.

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.

Another day is Resolute trying to finalize the million details before our expedition departure. Waking from another comfortable night's sleep in the South Camp Inn, we were greeted to some bad news: no expedition flights were leaving today, meaning we would be delayed another day in Resolute.

While we have accounted for some time delay in our schedule, this last piece of news is a bit worrisome. We have to be at the North Pole by April 26th to get picked up by a Russian Helicopter. The other option, well, we'd rather not talk about it right now. Darcy says we should put a positive spin on the news and simply view this an opportunity to, 'do more training.'

The extra day also relieves a bit of the stress we've been feeling lately. Even though we still need to check Atlas snow shoes, finish sewing patches, pack our resupply, test pulks and dry suits, practice AJ's science protocols and a few more things, we have also completed a majority of the pre departure checklist.

A lot of our gear got covered in extra foam today which was nice. To prevent getting frost burns from touching cold metal (fuel bottles, ski poles, shovel handle, etc) we cover them with a thin layer of closed cell foam and duct tape. That way, our fingers and hands are insulated any time we grab one of these items.

We were hoping to hire someone to help with sewing our major sponsor (bing, terramar and The University of Plymouth) patches on our gear but, no one stepped forward. So with little ceremony, we grabbed needles and threads, placed a few chairs in a circle and set about the chore of sewing. After a few mis starts, we actually became quite proficient - soliciting more than a few comments relating to future hobbies during our retirement years... house in the country, roaring fire, dog curled up, polar explorer reaches for his latest cross stitching project...

This time has also been useful to discuss strategies and systems that we will use while we are on the ice. In polar travel, efficiency is a hard skill and we try to eke energy savings by reducing the amount of time and effort required to do pretty much everything. Our conversations routinely focus around the proper technique to pull a sled over a pressure ridge, the manner in which AJ will spool rope after pulling up his Algae net, how to eat butter on the trail, ad infinitum.

These discussions also serve another purpose. Engaging in active debates allows us to refine team work skills. The simple acts of listening, offering opinions, talking through scenarios and making plans are all important skills to use when we are on the ice. Cold and tired, we will need to have the same objectivity, courtesy and overall dynamic if we are to succeed as a group.

For those of you still concerned, we are still missing our cheese!?! It has not showed up on the most recent cargo flight. Hopefully, tomorrow's passenger flight will yield our missing dairy products.

Top Tip from Today: After sewing on sponsor patches, AJ suggests that Polar Explorers should remember their home economics lessons. Picture: Darcy, Eric and AJ sewing Bing, Terramar and University of Plymouth patches on expedition clothing!

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.

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.