#5: superb day

Another cold night of -22 and no morning sun on the tent courtesy of the high valley walls. Light clouds threatened to obscure our view of the east coast but after two hours of skiing we topped a pass and were rewarded by magnificent views over frozen fiords. A winding track, some of which we tobogganed on our sleds, led us down to the base of Elfenbein glacier where we lunched next to it’s glistening terminal ice face. From here we are on virgin snow, nobody comes out here. We saw quite a few reindeer among the moraine though saw nothing of anything nutritional on the ground. They only live an average of 7 years, their teeth becoming ground away from the constant gnawing and eventually die of starvation. After crossing Agard valley a hefty climb took us onto Sveigbreen glacier where we found a flat site overlooking the fiord. The team are pretty good at setting up camp now - tents pitched and secured, bags filled with snow blocks for water, latrine dug, Mardi sets out the polar bear fence, and we’re in for the night. Another night of -20’s forecast.