Hi BNH,

in response to your question: " So, tell me. Do you at least have a deck of cards to pass the time while you sit in a tent on an ice berg?" Yes, people want to know how I spend my time in a tent with an ex-paratrooper...

1. This floating thing was too flat to be called an iceberg... simply an icepan ! I got corrected a while back on that matter so I thought I would share the knowledge.

2. You should have seen the place, too bloody windy and cold to play cards, even inside the tent. there is no way we could have played cards in those conditions. If it is daylight and good enough to play cards, it's good enough for us to walk unless we are waiting for gear somewhere...

3. Now,yes, this might sound strange but actually, we both stayed in our sleeping bags/coocoons for the entire day and we exchanged about 5 sentences... Yes, I am capable of it. It was an incredible storm and I was surprised that the tent was not tearing in pieces. Having said that, to avoid going mad, I let the hours go by by listening for the first time on my IPOD to multiple books: travel stories (one funny enough of climbers pinned on the Annapurna for 5 days in their tent...), Killing Pablo and finally Black Hawk Down, strangely enough considering my mode of transportation on the next day.

4. On a side note, if you want to get more information on Brevig Mission, check this: http://bssd.org/kts/about_brevig.html video on http://www.bssd.org/qt/kts_med.mov

5. I am not sure, if I ever shared this with you, this video, made in Seattle on 1/26th right before I left. Akiko Fujita's story on on NorthWest Cable News' web site. You can view it on the link below:  http://www.nwcn.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.nwcn.com/nw_012606WAarcticjourney.wmv Check for the footprint patch on the sleeve.

6. If you want to read about other dudes that are having fun in their tent as we speak go to www.ousland.com and check the blog... Borge and Mike are definitely breaking new grounds: trekking to the North Pole in the Winter.

7. Finally, I just saw today the new draft for the website for Goliath Expedition, quite nifty. I will send you the new link as soon as we can publish it. No more mails after tonight ! Promise, got my sled we will take off in the morning and we are going to be on trail for the next few days between here and Wales...

Take care my friend, and my regards to everyone,

Dim Sum