Question of the morning: what would today's ice be like? Answer: good, bad and then medium. We woke to sunny skies and a even a bit less wind than yesterday, and for nearly three hours, we skied on really nice ice. Visibility was poor but not terrible. Our moods soared. During our first couple breaks we joked and laughed - much different from our quiet effort to eat quickly and start moving again before we're frozen.

When the sun came out later we all stopped to marvel at the blueness of the ice and wind blown snow. Then, the ice changed and we were back to the usual grind.

There is a unique phenomenon that we see regularly that I wanted to share - superior mirage. Not really the mirage we are usually hoping to see. You know, the whole oasis thing. Palm trees, a small pond just inviting us to take a warm swim... No our mirages have to do with ice. When we navigate, we usually find a big distinct looking piece of ice and ski towards it. From far away, the ice chunk often looks huge (several stories tall) but when we ski up next to it, the ice is only a few feet tall. Superior mirage are formed as light is reflected off of warmer layers of air.

I somehow managed to melt one side of the lens of my Optic Nerve goggles when I was thawing out my nose beak. I can still see through them but visibility through my left eye is impaired enough to make navigation very difficult. My heart sank when I saw what happened. My whole face and eye protection as well as hood and ruff management is centered around my Optic Nerve goggles. Argh! I spent the day pulling my ruff out of my face and my neck gaiter over my nose to prevent frost bite.

What is that saying... You avoid mistakes with good judgment. Good judgment comes from making mistakes.

Image: One of the many unique features of snow we see every day.

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing with major support froque m the University of Plymouth, terramar, Seventh Generation, Goal0, Atlas, Sierra Designs and Optic Nerve.

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

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.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.

While the wind abated substantially today, it was still brisk. Once again, we spent our short 10 minutes breaks huddled behind snow drifts and ice chunks. However, we did not have to face life or death battles with the spindrift. For most of the day, we struggled through drift after drift after drift. Serpentine. Up, down, around, over, our course was anything but straight.

83 miles to the pole. We are dangerously close, but still far enough away for a million different things to happen. Most of them bad. Physically, we feel good despite the strain of 43 hard days on the trail. Mentally, right now is all about managing expectations.

'I was doing all sorts of calculations in my head while I skied,' Darcy said. 'Trying to determine our potential mileage and when we'll arrive at the pole.'

I've heard of rock climbers, who during long difficult routes, achieve a zen-like state of calm even though their lives are in great danger. While the imminent threat of death isn't quite as high here (some might argue otherwise), we face our greatest challenge from the lengthy duration and increasing difficulty of our jouney. It is natural to have hope for better conditions and strive for the end. Home, friends, family, warmth and chairs are so close we can almost touch them... But we can't yet.

For me, this is the part of a long expedition where everything and everyone else just fades away. Finishing is a result of a plan we enacted six weeks ago. It will happen when we get there. No sooner or later. Now, each day is what it is. I am here so I like it all that more because I am here. To expect anything else but what I get is unrealistic

The ice worsened in the afternoon into a fractured expanse for as far as we could see. This was newer pressure and thick (four feet) blue blocks were heaved in random directions. Darcy's lead shift was through the worst of it. At one point, we were strung out over 400 meters - each of us locked deep in our own battles of sled, ice and gravity.

With Earth Day approaching, many people often ask what they can do to help protect our environment and reduce their own impact. 'Begin with one step,' I always answer. On Savethepoles.com you'll find a whole range of options from buying carbon offsets to getting a home energy audit to simply changing a light bulb. We can also make environmentally friendly purchases. For paper and cleaning products, check out Seventh Generation.

Once again in case you missed it the first time, bing is helping students become aware of their environment through an Earth Day Photo Contest. If you know of teachers and students that are interested in photography and want to take part in a great cause, have them enter at www.earthdayphotocontest.com."

Image: Eric on the iridium satellite phone coordinating our North Pole pick up with the Russian ice base, Borneo.

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

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

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.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.

We are tired and sore but still moving forward - and a crazy amount east for that matter. The winds have been brutal for nearly two days now. It's weird to have this constant wind now when previously we could count on things changing fairly quickly (I hope that makes sense).

Today was not a total carbon copy of yesterday, but it was definitely close We skied in and around drifts and even hit some bigger flat areas as well With the gusting winds, we skied most of the through a ground blizzard - beautiful to look at, but not so fun to ski in. For starters, spindrift got into everything - hats, mittens, sled bags. Anything with an open zipper was fair game. A fine layer of snow covered all of our gear. Breaks were especially troublesome. Behind ice blocks or out in the open, it didn't matter spindrift seemed to be searching us out. Seeping into our souls? I think so.

I enjoyed being outside today even if it was cold, windy and really hard work. Mostly, I liked the warmth associated with activity. One of the best things, in my opinion, is to be out in the really cold and be really warm. They say there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad base layers. Thanks terramar!

I'm back to thinking about layers today... And oceans - we are on top of an ocean of water and at the bottom of an ocean of air. Today, I spent several hours watching blowing snow wind, bend and eddy. It is interesting to watch how the wind works - the same fluid dynamics I see in a river. As for turbulence, I am simply in awe.

We were treated to some beautiful snow sculptures similar to the sastrugi I've seen in Antarctica but on a smaller scale. Arched diving shapes reminded me of dolphins or salmon jumping up a rapids durring the spawn. Darcy thought of planes or sharks. AJ saw little waves and then, a big wave.

We stopped for a while so AJ could get his algae net out and take a sample. It was one of the few open water spots we of the whole day. The researchers from the University of Plymouth sent a message to collect ice shards with the algae frozen inside. However, we are seeing newer and newer ice and less evidence of algae. One theory we kicked around was that the ice has formed after an algae bloom. Regardless, AJ had his net in, used and put away in 15 minutes - a new record.

I'm not sure if it was the right move or not but I did a short cut across and back track to avoid an open water lead. It was to my right but appeared to potentially cut west toward the horizon. Hard to say, but I could see a safe crossing point 200 meters away so I veered. We skied through blowing ice fog for nearly 30 minutes afterwards an indication, at least partly of good judgement.

Image: Darcy skiing through the spindrift.

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

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

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.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.