23 05 99

Position: unknown

(Diane's note: Transmission was not very clear. I was unable to make out the position co-ordinates)

We had a late start again this morning because once again we had very strong winds during the night and snow all around our gear. We had a hard start with a steep slope; it was a real grunt to get going!

A couple of major elements of progress today. First of all, we finally lost sight of the ocean which is great; we can still see some of the higher coastal mountain peaks, but we're very definitely moving inland now.

Secondly, as we progressed through the day we realized we seem to have finished that really hard first section. The way ahead of us is starting to level out. Obviously we will have some smaller steeper climbs ahead of us, but it's pretty much a steady climb from now on.

We've gained a 1000 feet of elevation today which is really spectacular. We've only travelled 9.35 kms. which doesn't seem much, but given our late start, our elevation change and our huge loads, we're pretty pleased with that.

As we approached the last two hours, the wind began to rise and went up to 15 knots and then 25 knots. We finally made camp in about 30 knots of wind. It may not sound a lot but it's a pretty powerful wind, with the snow raking over the surface in spin drifts. It made making camp difficult. When we had to take the tent poles out for example, we had to tie the bag down. If you let anything go it was gone for good! In spite of being very careful we've actually lost a couple of small items.

We're not at times making a lot of distance but we're very encouraged and in good position and very happy about things.

(End of transmission)

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