Abby and Elizabeth went down to the sea ice today to set up their tent, check its guylines, and add extra cord to the tie-out points. As they walked towards the ice edge, they were surprised to find newly-formed sea ice along the shore, extending out forty feet to the jumbled, old sea ice where the dog teams were staked.

The new ice was very slick and smooth, with some sections of standing water. It took them a moment to realize what had caused this change on the shore. Abby and Elizabeth soon realized, however, that the tide had recently come in, inundating the shore, and then had gone back out, leaving behind water that was quickly freezing into a skating rink. They realized that the old ice, further from the shore where the dogs were staked, had risen and fallen in tact with the tide and stayed dry on top.

Abby and Elizabeth knew they would need to make it to the old, jumbled ice to find a dry and safe place to pitch their tent. It was so slippery, however, that they barely made it across the new wet ice without falling.

As they pitched their tent, the wind picked up and whipped the tent noisily. Once fastened to the surface with ice screws, however, the tent was secure. Abby and Elizabeth crawled inside to check out the tent that will be their home for the next three months.