Victory at last! We reached our hard earned goal 1630, and were able to plant the flags from our 5 nations on the geographical North Pole.

It has not been an easy task, and today has been the coldest day on the whole trip, minus 22 and with a chilling wind straight in the face. We have all been well covered up with face masks and goggles but frostbitten chins are hard to avoid in conditions like this. The Polar Ocean has again showed its scary but also beautiful side. Never boring and the nature up here are just breathtaking. Even on days like this, we have to lift our head from time to take and take in this fascinating and ever changing landscape.

We have skied through exiting areas today, from massive packice, open water and newly frozen leads. The ice on the large leads was quite fresh and if we had been here just a few days ago, this would have been open and a challenge to get across. The largest lead looked more like a frozen lake; we think it must have been about one kilometre wide. For one hour we also had to follow an open lead to the west before we managed to find a crossing point. But now we are at the Pole. John wanted to continue to Canada, but that will have to wait. Now we will move across to the other tents to celebrate, with a slice of home made cakes and maybe a bit of vodka, to conclude our victory in Russian style.

We have taken about 1000 photos, and there will for sure be a selection on the site as soon as we get home. Thomas and would like to use this opportunity to say thanks to our team mates. It has been great to share this experience with such a motivated bunch, everyone have given their best and has been teamwork all the way. Thanks also to everyone who have followed our progress and have sent warm thought and greetings. John says hello to Natasha and Jessica, and Guy to Katie. After a night here at the pole, the helicopter is scheduled to pick us up tomorrow morning and fly us back to the Barneo base. That’s all for today.
Svante