#8: best day

Our ritual of 6am wake up, 8.15 out of the tents and 9.15 skis on seems quite relaxed but it’s a pretty busy time. Light stoves, reheat thermoses, melt snow, eat and drink, prepare daily ration bag, get dressed, take down tents, dismantle polar bear fence, bury latrines and pack sleds. From our camp we skied west along Oppdalen to the outlet of Bergmester valley. Being Svalbard a wind blew in our faces for the duration but we found a convenient ridge to shelter behind for lunch. Bergmester valley proved to be an easy meander up a broad snowy creek bed. Up ahead we could see Bergmesterbreen (glacier) and the pass that would take us to Dronbreen and our ski down Adventdalen to Longyearbyen. Bergmesterbreen was a hefty slog and we zigzagged up its steep flank for a few hours before finally reaching a relatively flat site below the pass. Mardi, Steven and I agreed it’s the most beautiful campsite we’ve had in Svalbard, and we’ve had many. It was a solid day for the team but everyone did wonderfully.