Only real difference between today and previous days: scattered cloud. As such, this does not hinder our progress, but the clouds have brought on a cold breeze. With daytime temperatures approaching – 40 C, even a wind of 3 m/s can be dangerous. It becomes essential to protect your face from the cold. We regularly check each other's faces, visually, for the white patches that would warn of an on-coming frostbite.

The terrain today was mostly `easy´, much a repeat of yesterday. We did need to traverse a couple of challenging obstacles, but the general impression is that the going is getting easier. This afternoon, we had our first encounter with open water: a newly-opened, 20-meter-wide crack in the ice sheet. After a brief search, we found a place where the two edges of the crack came together. The whole team got over dry, and in one piece. The only other alternative would have been to pitch camp, and wait for the crack to freeze over by morning.

By the time we did pitch camp in the evening, the wind had become brisker. Overall, it felt very cold all day long, even though the absolute temperature was no lower than on previous days. Chill-factor is important!