The day began 21 miles away from this iceberg where we awoke to calm weather and blue skies, a change from the blizzard conditions of the evening before. My sled partner today was Will. We skied and mushed our way across various hilly drainages before a several-mile long descent to the sea ice. A musher from Clyde River, Jason Paluq, showed up to greet us on the trail and has joined us for the rest of our journey to the village.

In snowy terrain, void of trees with only a few boulders here and there for perspective, it is very difficult to gauge distances and steepness. John and Sarah were on the sled in front of us and we could see them disappear form view from time to time as they dropped down into successive valleys. In order to control the sled on steep downhills since we don't have brakes built onto the sleds, we throw one or two rubber snowmobile belts onto the sled runners from the front, which provides enough friction to slow the sled enough to keep dogs and human passengers safe. This is normally not too difficult a procedure if you put the belts on while the sled is stopped. Today, however, we couldn't tell how steep the hills were until we were practically sliding down them. As the earth began to drop away before our eyes and the sled started to gather speed, we would pull ourselves up to the front of the sled with our ski tow rope, toss the black rubber ring onto the runner and then try to get to the back of the sled again to brace ourselves for the rocks and sled maneuvering that were surely to come next.

All in all, it was a joyous spring day, and we peeled off a few layers to soak up the sun's warmth. Once we got to the sea ice after several hours of downhill travel, we took a long lunch break and headed towards the evening's destination. We expect to arrive in Clyde River tomorrow afternoon - only 20 miles to go. This will be my last leg of the trip with the expedition as I am headed back to Minnesota and employment with the Forest Service. I feel lucky to have been able to work with these great people and dogs in such a beautiful place. I will surely be watching the website from Ely, MN, though, to see what adventures come next for the folks out here...

Nancy Moundalexis