Lundstromdalen, Svalbard

Despite being the most motivated and energetic fire you could imagine, Polar Rev never made it to the east coast. We did however stand on a high point on the south bank of Kjellstromdalen and look in the direction of the east coast, and, if it hadn't been totally overcast, we might have seen it! That would have to be enough for us because we had only enough rations for four more days, and we had a good four days pulking to get us back to base camp. Unfortunately that night, the weather that had been brewing all through the day finally broke and we woke to our second Arctic storm. While it would have been nice to stay cosied up in our tents, we had to press on and battle back up Lundstromdalen in complete white-out. It was a very surreal experience, and our brightly coloured pulks and jackets made me think of blobs of oil paint on a completely blank canvas. It was worst for the person at the front, not only because they had to trail blaze but also because there was nothing to focus on. I found it made me feel a bit sick and ended up watching the tips of my skis. During a brief respite from the weather I took this picture of Zoe leading on up the river bed.