My First Night On Ice

I will never forget my first night camping in the Arctic and the shocking realisation that I was sleeping on ice. There were eleven in the group and we shared three tents. Being the smallest, I was thrown into the tent first and my job was to put everybody's belongings in separate corners.

I tried to be tidy but my brother complained that my stuff was everywhere! I had three pairs of gloves and keeping track of them was very hard in the beginning. "Has anyone seen my glove? I'd ask. To be honest, everyone else seemed to be searching for something or another and eventually we found what we needed, ate our rehydrated food and fell into an Arctic coma.

Despite the top of the range sleeping bag and the fact I was fully dressed (in three layers of clothes) plus balaclava and hat, I couldn't stop shivering. I had imagined nights would be peaceful. instead, all i could hear was the sound of snoring and the wind raging. In the morning, my sleeping bag was covered in crispy ice and my gloves were frozen. It was minus 30. I stuffed my chemical handwarmers into my gloves and prayed for some warmth. Once we'd packed up camp and set on our way, the clear blue skies and ice capped mountains ( a cliche, but true) made up for the blistering cold. Our destination was the Twin Peaks mountain on Qukiavik Island. We walked in a line and each hour we had a munchy bag stop when we ate some treats and sipped some water or juice. Eating and drinking in minus 25 is an art in itself. In the beginning I was all fingers and thumbs dropping gloves, tripping over my skiis, getting chilly within a matter of minutes. But at each munchy bag stop I became more experienced at stuffing my face with the most chocolate I could manage in the shortest amount of time plus gulping down some juice. I had to be quick or my fingers would freeze. I was often told to start walking as soon as I'd eaten in order to avoid frozen finger syndrome when my fingers were too cold to hold the skiis. Not nice. I love playing the guitar and writing so the thought of losing any fingers was simply awful.

After walking for 11 miles we set up camp, exhausted after our first long day. Exhausted. You can only understand the meaning of the word 'exhausted' when you have walked across ice in minus 30 and you are wondering, 'What the hell am I doing here?'