#3: Sassen Valley

After a quick ski to the nearby frozen waterfall we headed east along the flat valley floor in fresh snow that fell yesterday. As the day progressed a few glimpses of sun breached the clouds but wasn’t to last. The mountains lining the valley to the south are beautiful, etched with gullies and banded rock. At 64 Ingrid is our oldest team member yet she skies with the energy of someone 30 years younger. She has a wealth of experience in the Canadian Arctic and skied across Greenland 3 years ago. Robin is relatively new to polar skiing but with obvious analytical prowess and great fitness he is already showing fine colours. I imagine the long climb tomorrow won’t faze him at all. Heath has worked as a ski instructor for a few seasons and as a result looks very comfortable in cold and snow. He completed a degree in outdoor education, graduating with Mardi a couple of years ago. And Mardi, my daughter, is on her second Svalbard expedition, skilfully applying everything she’s already soaked up since visiting Antarctica when she was 10. She’ll join me guiding a North Pole trek in April. I seem always to end up with fantastic teams. Each of us took turns leading for an hour as we speared towards the terminal moraine of Rabot Glacier, covering a respectable 14km. Eric