A beautiful day today! No wind (ah...) and sun for a lot of the day, even if it wasn't always fully clear. One of the best parts? There were sun dogs throughout the day.
You can see in the photo that there are shadows which makes everything easier including navigation. Why? The sun travels in a full circle around the sky (360°) in 24 hours, which means that it moves 15°per hour. If you know that at 12 pm the sun is directly behind you and your shadow is directly in front of you, then you can keep heading south without a compass or GPS throughout the day simply by using your watch and your shadow. For example, given the above (shadow in front of you at noon heading south) you know that at 3 PM your shadow should be 45° to your right, or half way between noon and 3 pm if a big clock were painted on the ground with noon being due south. Where do you think their shadow lies at noon their time? Take a guess and we'll report on that tomorrow.
The temperature was a balmy 0°F when they woke up. Over the course of the day it dropped to -18°F, at least on the side of the tent that's in the shadow. Their current location is at N 89°34' which means that they have passed the half way point. They have 26 more nautical miles to go.
Everyone is doing well and we are psyched for them to have passed the half way milestone.
Thanks to Alistair for this awesome audio dispatch which ends with a beautiful poem called With And Without. We love it.
Check back again tomorrow for another update from the polar plateau!
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