Firstly, just to clarify to those Tarka managed to confuse in the last post, any short video clips uploaded onto the web whilst we are away are taken using my small cheap compact photo camera on video mode, hence the poor quality sound and low resolution! I will however, take full responsibility for reducing the sound quality even further by constantly turning away from camera whilst speaking. I had completely forgotten that we don’t have the luxury of radio mic’s (fluffy mic that clips to your shirt collar) out here, wont happen again! Our Sony A1 HDV video camera will be recording the next 3 months but I am afraid you will not be able to see any of this until our return.

Freight has now finally arrived, well some of it, so we are at last back up to full steam ahead in the art of list making, sorting, re-packing, sewing on sponsor badges, dividing daily food rations…etc etc. In saying that, i was actually in bed with flu the day all the kit arrived and missed out on the process of lugging a couple of tonnes of kit back from the airport late at night in miserably cold conditions. Now I am sure some of you cynics out there would probably think i had planned it that way! I however, am just incredibly grateful that i was able to feel like death whilst in the warmth of a hotel bed next to an on-suite bathroom and NOT on the ice at -50ºC.

With only a few days to go before we get flown out onto the ice I should probably be telling you about all things Arctic. However I’m sure you’ll be hearing about enough Arctic and cold weather related stories over the next few months to fill a lifetime so instead I will tell you about South Camp! South Camp Inn is the name of the place we are staying at right now. Not only does it consist of the most eclectic amalgamation of décor and styles but it also happens to be run by a fantastically colourful team. The whole place is run and owned by Ozzie, an entrepreneurial business man from Tanzania of all places. Quite how a Tanzanian business man ended up right up here in the high Arctic is anybodies guess, but he has done, and very successfully at that. Over the years passing expeditions to the North pole have left kit here and Ozzie has accumulated a veritable Aladdin’s cave of goodies. No matter what you might need you can guaranty that it will be hidden in the back of one of the rooms. The other long standing member of South Camp is Randy… an accomplished chef from Bermuda!!! I wont even begin to try and explain how he ended up here but the long and the short is that I am very grateful he has as i have now found his muffins are equally exquisite as his chocolate brownies . There is also a fantastic amount of space, so we have been able to spread all our kit out and organise it into the various drop-offs and categories that we will need on the ice. For all its diversity and good points I heed a word of caution to all who will venture up here in years to come… BEWARE OF THE STATIC! It is quite unbelievable but a combination of aggravating factors has made this building a living Van de Graaff generator! On average you can take about 10 to 15 steps before you have generated enough static to give yourself a shock. We are not 100% sure on whether the building is earthed and to add a little spice and variety to your day all the metallic objects are covered in a tiny coating of paint, enough to disguise it so that you unsuspectingly brush past it, but an insufficient amount to insulate it. A few days ago I managed to walk almost the whole length of South Camp without coming into contact with any metal and when I reached for Ian’s door handle the shock was so intense it felt like the spark from my finger momentarily lit up the dark corridor. I have now taken to running my hand down the walls and deliberately touching as many door handles as possible as I travel around camp to avoid any significant build up.

Well after the mad rush to get up here we have got about 10 days before we finally fly out onto the ice and set up our fist camp. Of course there is always an inestimable amount of work to do before departure so I expect we will be organising and preparing right down to the last minute but given that our freight hasn’t yet arrived we are taking the opportunity to have  few days of down time.

One of the biggest problems out in the high Arctic (And I’m sure most of you know this) is communications!!! Not only does the cold bring everything to a grinding halt but our sole communication uplink is via a satellite system called iridium. Whilst people have managed to send back videos from the Arctic before during expeditions, it is an incredibly difficult , time consuming and tricky job. For those of you who are lucky enough to remember internet when it was in its infancy and we all had standard dial up connections (52kb/s), it took the best part of 10mins to get up the most basic website and video was inconceivable. Well our connection on a good day is about 5 times slower!!! Thankfully we are in a unique position in that the expedition is relatively static and we are not limited by time and weight. We will be doing our absolute best to send back regular videos for you through out the trip to show you what life is really like out on the Arctic ocean. However you will have to bare in mind that despite the fact that we are filming the whole trip on a broadcast camera the footage we will be posting on the site will be quite low quality. Hope you enjoy the videos and please be patient during our first few weeks as we iron out our teething problems that we will inevitably have.

I know it’s a whole year behind, but there was a lot to learn! Editing a film to a high enough standard that would entertain more than just our mothers was as much of a challenge for Tarka as I found walking the wall. With no previous editing experience and no training, it has been an almost vertical learning curve.

To all those who have emailed in the last year asking where and when they can purchase a copy of the DVD, it is now available HERE. The successful completion on the film has been in no small part thanks to Pangaea TV, with whom we have been working on the production with and so a big thank you needs to go to them. The other big thank you goes to all of you. Without the constant emails and phone calls asking when it would be ready it probably would never have been finished

When I watch the DVD back, now it is complete, I’m just amazed at how far I have come in the past 3 years. I look at my self in the beginning of the film, and just wince at how completely out of my comfort zone I was, crying and complaining about everything and anything. Then by the end of the film I can see a change, despite the near vertical cliff faces and Siberian blizzards, I was able to look at each day with a positive attitude even if I was feeling less than ‘comfortable’! But now, as I am currently organising and gathering kit for my departure to the Arctic Ocean, my tent away from home for the next 3 months in temperature of -50°C, I am able to see how one, 6 month journey transformed my outlook on life. More than anything I have realised, what we are ALL physically and mentally capable of, and how stretching yourself beyond your usually capability makes the achievement or reward seem so much greater.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt