We use our watches religiously to keep track of time during our navigation shifts, but really there are only five basic times here: Tent time, is any time we're in our Sierra Designs tent. Happy time (named after Darcy's who becomes noticeably happy) is when we pull our sleeping bags out of our SD bivy bags and go to sleep. Soup time is the halfway point of our travel day when we pull out our stanley-pmi.com/" target="_blank">Stanley flasks and have warm soup. Break time - self explanatory hopefully. And the rest is simply, time.

Each day we put in our time. Add it all up. Multiply by the number of days we've been out here and maybe, just maybe, we'll be close to the pole. After 45 days, I can finally say we are close to the north pole. Somtime late this afternoon we crossed the 89th parallel. Now only 58 miles left. It feels good to be here. I can feel myself relax if even just slightly.

We struggled today in the morning with low visibility, ice blocks and drifts. Our bearing takes us perpendicular to the long ridge lines of steep snow drifts. It is hard work skiing forward. We did get lucky with a couple newly frozen leads that spanned in exactly the same direction we wanted to go. However, they are still wet and slushy and the thin layer of snow on top sticks to our ski skins which makes it hard to ski. We decided to take off our madshus skis and walk. It was a nice break, but we were soon back in deeper snow where we rely solely on our skis now.

There were two bits of excitement today. First, we had another track and field meet - meaning we had to jump across a four foot wide gap (too wide to span with skis,, too narrow to swim). Later, we would ski into an actively pressuring ridge and hop across unstable brash ice on the other side. Both situations were potentially dangerous, but realistically more fun than anything else.

Most important, April 17th is my nephew, Tyler's Birthday. He is officially now 12 years old. Soccer star, straight 'A' student and all around good guy, he is my hero. Happy Birthday old man! I hope you have a great day.

Every once in a while I bring my SUUNTO compass into the tent and use the mirror to check my face for cold damage. Mostly, I just want to confirm that I still exist. There are some new lines around my eyes now. Gray hair in places too. I have always loooked young for my age. Not so much anymore. With my own 39th birthday coming up soon, I think about time more than I used to. Time...

Time for bed, but first for us, happy time.

Image: AJ making a short stretch across a big crack. He is starting to be more comfortable around unstable ice.

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.

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.