Survivor Ellesmere

We were shrouded in cloud again today, making for badly contrasting photos, but this, my friends, is the farthest North I've ever been. We didn't take a GPS with us, so I cannot quantify the exact latitude, but it was at the end of the AStrO ridge, down the steep bit. (I realise this means nothing to you. I also realise that walking a little bit more North of the lab isn't really shattering my previous Northernmost record. It's the little things that keep you going here. Like Hershey's Kisses filled with caramel.) This picture is looking North-North West. This afternoon, Kelly, Paul, Oleg, Tobias, and I headed off for a hike along the next ridge over, and then back on our ridge. Half way down the first ridge, it occurred to me that I had never walked that way before, and that with every step I took I was the furthest North I'd ever been. It is really hard to stop walking North when you realise this. Really, the only things stopping me from walking all the way to the water were (a) no one else wanted to, (b) we didn't have time if we wanted to get back to the station for dinner, and (c) it was DOWN to the water, and when you're wearing a few pounds of gear, and when you've been somewhat sedentary for the past week and a half, and when you're at 600 m altitude (I blame everything on altitude - c.f. any trip to Banff) with every step down you are painfully aware that there will be a compensating step up, if you would like to make it back to the lab. (Which is located at the crest of the ridge, so there's really no way you can walk and NOT have to walk up hill back. This was bad planning on the part of the people who chose the site.) Speaking of painfully, the walk back to the lab after this brave venture into parts unknown was perhaps the hardest walk I have ever done. Picture the hardest walk you've ever done. Then put on a really big parka, boots, and snow pants. Then make it only about -15 out, so you're over-heating even without the walking. Then make it up rocks that are loose, and covered with snow, so you can't really tell what's going to fall where when you step. Now you can imagine the fun we had walking back to the lab. But complaining aside, it was a fun hike, and now I can really say I've been further North than you.