Day 6 (I think. I am losing track of time)

Hi again,
Today was brutal. The wind has really picked up and the temperature has dropped significantly. Funny thing is (funny haha this time) that our expedition leader decided to postpone our day trip to tomorrow because is was supposed to be much warmer (only -17), only to find out tonight that they revised the forecast and that tomorrow is going to be worse. Because of the time constraint we have no choice though and have to go out for the day tomorrow.

Last night we saw some spectacular Northern lights. We got woken up about 11:30 PM and went out. As we were out there, it looked as if a giant snake (mostly white with some green) was crawling across the sky, constantly changing shape. I didn't manage to take pictures because you need a set-up that allows you to set very long exposure and I wasn't set up for that with my sleepy head. The picture here was taken by Erica S., a fellow Earthwatch teacher (so are the other pictures below). You get the idea a bit in the photo, but it is really an amazing sight.

Several people have asked me how one gets out of an 8 foot hole. The answer is that you have to build steps that lead out. There simply is no other way to even consider getting out. Luckily the snow is quite hard and can easily carry your weight. Although after reading the reference to "The Shining" in one of the comments, I must say that I did not sleep very well last night.

Finally finished the igloo and tonight the first three "volunteers" are sleeping out. I'll let know how that went and then make my decision about my plans. Given that I helped build it, I have my doubt about its viability. Some of the pieces are defying gravity and look like they are about to fall.

I want to share the picture on the left with you. Perhaps the coolest snow flake I have ever seen (at least top five). It is quite difficult to get a good photo that is in focus. The lines on the black background are about 3mm apart, so it was about 1.2 cm long. I guess you can tell I have been out in the snow too long.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it feels to be out in -40 for 8 hours.