From the Ice

The Ice Team might well have seen the sun for the first time in three months yesterday, but it is still dark most of the time. Image: Brian…

Last year, in a moment of madness Tris and I agreed to join a couple of others to do a relayed swim across the Channel in aid of Seeing is Believing. Well, the moment has nearly arrived and in two weeks our “window of opportunity” opens up. From August 20th we will be on call and ready for action; as soon as a slot appears Tris, myself, my brother Guy and Rob “The Torpedo” Dunnett w…

By Brian Newham The first sight of the sun after a polar winter is very definitely a significant moment. For the last few days we have been experiencing high winds and very poor visibility, and it’s been frustrating to know that the sun has briefly crept above the horizon and yet remained hidden from our view. Today our moment has arrived and we have enjoyed our first glimpse. Of course, it’s…

Resembling pancakes or lily pads, pancake ice grows from thickened grease ice, which is itself a thin layer of ice crystals on the water surface with a greasy appearance and like a slush puppy in consistency. The edges of pancake ice are upturned because they bump into each other as they gently move around in the sea. They are usually between about a foot (30cm) and 6 feet (2m) across. Pancakes…

One of the main aims of The Coldest Journey is to raise $10 million for Seeing is Believing, a charitable initiative set up to prevent avoidable blindness in the developing world. Please watch this moving video from everyone on the Ice Team about the charity and how you can get involved. The Challenge Yourself campaign aims to get people from all walks of life to set their own challenges and in…

Of all the chores we have to complete out of doors at our winter camp, re-fuelling is the most difficult; it is also the most important. No fuel would mean no generators and no generators would mean no heat. When it is -50 degrees Celsius outside, it doesn’t take long without running generators to drop the interior caboose temperature to below freezing. It is a good thing the Perkins generators…

For once we have light winds and the twilight this morning is quite spectacular.Having not seen the sun since the 9th May it is now getting tantalisingly close to the horizon. On the 3rd August  (or even sooner, these things are difficult to predict), we should get our first glimpse, weather permitting, of the sun as it nudges briefly above the horizon and thereafter our days will gradually…

Today was snow sampling day and it is something that we do at least every three days, more regularly if there is local snowfall, as part of our science programme. We are collecting snow samples for two separate research projects. One is looking at Moisture Transport by Water Isotope Analyses  ( for NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, USA and also Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences,…

While the team continue to carry out their daily science duties and general upkeep of the Ice Train, Richmond Dykes took some time out to remind us of his obsession with all things mechanical…TCJ Biography Adjustment – by Richmond DykesAs l may have mentioned in the past in my Coldest Journey biography I have loved all things mechanical, electrical and steam related.  As a rule of thumb,…

Photo by Ian Prickett…