Underway It didn’t take long for the team to fall into a daily routine. It started with water. Water was crucial for survival. T e polar climate is extremely dry. T e team had to “make” their water by melting snow over the camp stove. Each morning, Jade melted snow and fi lled


thermoses to carry during the day. T e rest of the hot water she used to make hot chocolate and high-protein oatmeal. Dragging heavy sleds over the ice required


lots of calories. Jade’s “day pack” of food included high-energy nuts and dried fruit, salami and cheese, energy bars, wheat cookies, and a big block of chocolate. When everything was ready, the team broke


down their camp. T ey stashed the water bottles inside their parkas to keep the water from freezing. T e team was on the move by 8:45 a.m. Each day, they aimed to ski for eight, 45-minute sessions. T ey took breaks in between to eat and drink. T ey couldn’t stop for long, though, or they would freeze.


At the end of each long day, the team put


their tents up as quickly as they could. T ey shoveled ice onto the wind fl aps to keep the wind from blowing snow under the tents. T ey lit the stoves to warm the tents and make more water for the evening meal. Wet gear was hung on a makeshiſt


clothesline inside the tents. Dinner was dehydrated food like soup, pasta, and chicken, heated in water. Because it’s always daylight during Arctic


spring and summer, Jade wore an eye mask at night to block out the light. Most nights she was so exhausted, she fell asleep immediately.


Racing Against Time T e team's progress wasn’t steady. T e weather and the terrain were full of unexpected challenges. For one thing, the ice wasn’t always a fl at surface. Jade was caught off guard when she fi rst came upon a 5-meter-tall pile of ice. She'd never seen a compression zone before. T is can happen when one piece of fl oating Arctic ice driſt s up against another. T e collision causes the ice to splinter, and it creates piles of jagged ice slabs. Finding a route around this mess would have


taken too much time. So the team looked for the best place to climb over it. Jade had to take off her skis and haul her heavy sled up and over the ice. T is happened again and again. T e team encountered many compression zones. On another day, Jade came across an open


water lead. T is is a wide gap in the ice where deep, dark, ocean water is exposed. To cross the gap, the team had to tie their sleds together to make a raſt . Guide Eric put on an immersion suit. He


swam through the freezing water, pulling one end of the sled raſt across the gap. On the other side, Jade’s father held the line. T en one by one, they crawled on top of the sleds and pulled their way across the gap.


ADVENTURER DVENTURE


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