That the lead we camped next to closed overnight could only be a good omen we thought. But the Arctic Ocean, had other ideas. For starters, we drifted two and a half miles south while we slept. The first shift found us floundering through drifts, pressure ridges and small fractured pans.

Later, Darcy asked that I navigate the last few miles to the Pole in honor of my efforts in organizing and leading the expedition. Personally, I would have prefered to ski in the back and take pictures but my hands were frozen so I agreed. For a while, I regretted my decision but my legs felt good and energy was high. After some thin ice, open water and moving ice, I skied out onto a massive vast stretch of flat ice. Before me, about a half mile farther was the North Pole. I smiled quietly to myself.

I looked back at AJ and Darcy. 'Almost,' I said. We would ski the last few feet together.

Achieving the North Pole on Earth Day is not only the realization of a dream but also a reinforcement of a basic philosophy. The quality of our lives is directly linked to the air we breathe and the water we drink. At the North Pole, lines of longitude begin, grow and extend until they reach everyone one the entire planet. In spite of its remoteness, this is the one place that connects us all.

Nearly four months ago, I was at the opposite end of the world, the South Pole (another of Earth's connecting points). Today, the North Pole. In another four months, the summit of Mt. Everest. Standing here now is the culmination of three and a half years of preparation and planning as well as the efforts of many people. While I may be personally involved in these adventures, the Save the Poles expedition is not about me. My importance in any of this stems only in my ability to share my experiences with others.

On this expedition, we often traveled within a narrow margin of safety. We had limited resources and had to conserve and meter food and fuel. There is no question that now, the 21st century, we need to use resources to ensure our health and survival. But which resources we use, how we use them (and in what quantities) and if they are renewable are cornerstone to preserving our planet for future generations. Ultimately, when we view ourselves part of a whole, we can begin to understand how our actions affect other people and the planet.

After all, we are all explorers in one fashion or another, but the job of explorers in the 21st century is not to conquer but to protect.

Thank you for following and thanks to our great partners listed below.

Major Sponsor - bing, University of Plymouth Project Sponsors - terramar, Goal0, Atlas, madshus, Sierra Designs, Optic Nerve Environmental Partners - Seventh Generation, Center for Biological Diversity, Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, Environmental Law and Policy Center Science Partners - Nat'l Snow and Ice Data Center, Univ Plymouth PR - Scream Technology - Web Expeditions Equipment - Madshus, Cliff, stanley-pmi.com/" target="_blank">Stanley, ACR, Atwater Carey, Thermarest, MSR, granite gear, Surley, Potable Aqua, Princeton Tech, wigwam, Action Wipes, Scarpa, iridium, NorthWest Co, Tap Logic, Sobeys, Wintergreen, Mountain House, Neve

We will do other important Thank You's tomorrow.

Image: Antony Jinman, Eric Larsen and Darcy St-Laurent standing at the Geographic North Pole.

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.

I have been relying on my Optic Nerve sun glasses with a mini nose beak that I made from fleece and duct tape for face and eye protection but today's biting wind sent me digging for my partially stove-melted goggles. If I look through mostly my right eye and the top part of the lens, I can see fairly well. It was nice to wear them again. My face was instantly warmer.

The weather started out relatively calm but the wind steadily increased to what I would consider near brutal proportions. We skied with our down vests and even our Sierra Designs down parkas at times. Brrr. I guess it was the Arctic Ocean's fun little way to remind us who's in charge around here.

The wind seems to have caused a big crack to expand into a fairly wide open gap of water. We need to cross it to get to the pole but for now we are camped on the south side. Hopefully, it will be frozen in the morning.

I'd like to write more but it's late and we're drifting south. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be writing to yyouu from the top of the world.

Remember, check out the www.350.org Petition: People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million.

Image: My frozen facel.

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.

Milk and Honey. That's what we call big flat pans. After struggling through yet another drifty, slabby, thin ice area, we crested a pressure ridge and were greeted by a nice long flattish pan of ice.

'Is that milk and honey I see over there?' I asked AJ and Darcy. 'Yes it is,' they replied smiling. As with most good things, it never lasts and the flat ice turned into an interesting mix of heaved and cracked multi year ice slabs and small pans bordered by wide swaths of jumbled blue block ridges. If we didn't have to get through it, I would have thought it beautiful. OK, who am I kidding, it was beautiful. Unfortunately, it's been cold lately and stops to marvel and awe quickly turn into hand freezing hypothermia fests.

Look as I ski, I remind myself.

Nothing has gotten much easier here. We are pushing hard to make miles, but are also fighting against ice that is pushing us south as we sleep and time chewing veers around thin ice, big drifts and huge ice blocks. Still, we have managed to eke miles and are now only 16 miles away from the North Pole. Wow. It feels good to be here.

Today, we reminisced about the early days of the expedition. 'Remember that big ice canyon we went through?' I asked. The guys did and smiled happily that it was a memory now and not a new obstacle.

We are seeing lots big blocks of ice cracked and pressured. Some are easily five feet thick and 30 feet across. We know how they are formed - slow punctuated movements of ice pushed by wind, tides and currents. This must be similar to how mountains are formed but instead of ice and water its the earth's crust driven by convection currents in the mantle.

This trip has reinforced my wonderment at the natural world. This is quite some home we have. Perhaps the ice and mountains can offer some good lessons. Big massive objects can be moved with combined steady effort. To solve the problem of global warming might seem like trying to move a mountain, but with a combined and steady effort, we can.

Remember, check out the www.350.org Petition: People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million.

Image: Getting some free clean energy with our Goal0 solar panel.

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.