6633 Arctic Ultra: CP6 to CP7 (Inuvik to Gateway)

We leave the checkpoint at Inuvik just as the sun is rising, suitably refreshed and ready to tackle the remaining 100 miles. On leaving we're told to wrap up as it's -32'c further down the course, we heed their advice, wrap up and get going!  

We're both feeling great right now, we're ticking off the miles and dreaming of the finish line at Tuktoyaktuk. We're very confident........too much too soon?

We're sticking to our 2 hour on/15min off schedule and also adding in a quick stretch every hour; Hayley's ankle is sore and our bodies are tired, so these 2 minutes stretches really helped with the tightness we were feeling (in pretty much all of our muscles). The course is hillier than expected, we knew it was due to flatten out soon, and it didn't come soon enough as some of these hills were now taking their toll on us (the race director said this part of the course is undulating, not hilly, I beg to differ. It might be undulating in a nice warm 4x4 truck, but it's certainly hilly on foot, after 7 days of hiking).  

The route now is quite open, there is little tree cover and where there are trees they're stunted by the cold. In fact, the further North we've been travelling the less and less trees we've seen, I guess a result of the colder Arctic conditions as we move nearer to the Arctic Ocean.

We stop for a break and the offical photographer, Weronika, stops for a chat and takes a few photographs. As I'm changing my socks I notice some paw prints, I ask Weronika what they're from (she's a local, so knows her wildlife) and says they're too big for a coyote or wild dog, they're wolf prints! We hadn't seen any wolves so far (a colleague did see a big black wolf on Wrights Pass), but I was keeping my eyes peeled from this point on! Check out their paw prints in the photo below! 

It's now mid-afternoon and Hayley is starting to struggle. Her pace dropped dramatically and something had to be done, we couldn't carry on like this. I ask her to pull over, at exactly the same time we both say that she needs a sleep.....great minds and all that. We ignored the bivvy for the first time and simply lay face down on our sleds and were out in seconds. For some reason we both woke up after 5 minutes. I decided we needed more time, so set my alarm for 15 minutes and back to sleep we went for a super-quick power nap.

6633 Arctic Ultra: CP5 to CP6 (Aklavik to Inuvik)

As we set out on the ice road we know that this will be one of the toughest legs of the race as it's a 75 mile stage, which we know will take between 30 and 40 hours to complete (dependent on the weather conditions). It's about midday and we start off well, sticking to our 2 hour on/15min off schedule and we make good ground. As the evening and darkness approaches, my stomach starts to feel a little odd but I push that to the back of my mind and we push on into the night. 

It was about 2am and we hadn't seen anyone on the ice road for many, many hours, when a big 4x4 pulls up. Usually we don't know if this is one of the crew or a local until it stops, as the lights are usually too bright. This time it was a local, a younger guy and his girlfriend. All of our previous encounters with the local communtiy were brilliant, they were usually wondering what we were doing (strange people pulling sleds in the middle of the night) and offered us water and snacks. This stop was odd from the very beginning. They stopped and asked whether we were with the 'other group', I answered that we were and then they went on to tell me how they'd just pulled some of our colleagues 4x4 trucks out of the snow bank and they'd been offered beers in return for the favour (none of our crew had gone off the road). Something just wasn't right, so I thanked them several times for stopping, hoping they would move on, Hayley also added that our support crew were on their way (we had no idea if this was true or not) and we moved off. A very strange encounter and one we hoped wouldn't happen again.

We carry on into the night with no issues. Our medics pull over for a chat but we can see that they're distracted and have to shoot off quickly, we guessed they were needed elsewhere on the course but little did we know the ramifications that were about to happen to some of our colleagues on this early morning. 

At this point I must mention a slightly graphic situation that we all have to encounter in the Arctic, and one that many people have asked about.......going for a poo! Or as I was calling it, a "nature poo". Yes, sorry, but it's one of the most asked questions. How do you do it? Very quickly, is usually the answer. But there is a method and due to the extreme weather, you have to be prepared and get things done efficiently. Usually you get your tissues or wipes ready, pull over to a snow bank, whip your trousers down, do the deed, wipe, maybe add some lube to your butt cheeks, cover your poo with snow and put your tissues or wipes in a little bag (dispose of that later). And that's it......easy.  

6633 Arctic Ultra: CP4 to CP5 (Mid-Point Peel River to Aklavik)

We set off from CP4 and it got dark very quickly. The fatigue was setting in, so we decided to bivvy up quite soon after setting off. As before, the alarm was set for an hour and I was asleep as I my head hit the pillow. On waking, it was freezing again, maybe -25'C and it took us a while to warm up this time, but we got there, eventually. 

So far the arctic weather gods had been fairly kind to us, that was about to change! As we progressed through the night the wind started to pick up, nothing too serious but as soon as daylight arrived the winds started to really smash us. No matter where we were on the ice road, it seemed like we had a head wind. The wind was turning into a storm, snow was whipping across us and it was a real grind. It was head down action for hours, driving onwards, hoping that the storm would blow through.......but it didn't. This was a tough slog, I wasn't sure how long we could keep this up for! For a second the wind seemed to subside, we were knackered, so Hayley and I took the decision to try to bivvy out for an hour, hoping that when we woke the storm would have disappeared. 

Whilst setting up our bivvy systems, some snow got blown into our sleeping bags, this had to be removed quickly as we couldn't allow our down sleeping bags to get wet, that could be catasrophic. Snow removed and we were both asleep within minutes. 

An hour passes and we're back on the ice road grinding out the miles. The wind has died down a bit, it's still pretty strong but not a patch on the previous few hours, so we try to make headway whilst we can........except that we're knackered. The snow storm had really battered us and taken a lot out of our bodies. We're eating well but it just feels really hard. After a few more hours we decide to have another bivvy, we get off the ice road onto a soft snow bank and set up camp. We decide to eat first, then sleep. Whilst doing this more snow gets blown into our sleeping bags, which we have to remove quickly to avoid ruining the thermal properities of the sleeping bag. We decide on 2 hours sleep and, again, I'm sleeping like a baby before my head hits the pillow! 

Next I hear Hayley shouting to me, "Mark, Mark, get up, I'm freezing cold, we need to move!" I think it's a dream, I stick my head out of my bivvy bag and see Hayley staring at me. She's cold. Very cold. We need to move. We need to move fast. 

6633 Arctic Ultra: CP3 to CP4 (Fort McPherson to Mid-Point Peel River)

As we leave CP3 we're told that the weather is quite mild, so we delayer to get ready for the new ice road section of the race. We're guided out of Fort McPherson by Tim, Emily and Mimi and down onto the ice road. This mild weather wasn't quite as mild as we'd been told so we quickly changed back to our warmer clothes and donned our headtorches as the darkness was setting in.

I've mentioned the 'ice road' a few times, so I should really clarify what it actually is. The ice road is a huge frozen river (the Peel River), where the ice is a couple of metres thick, all covered with a few feet of snow. In the winter the municiples of Fort McPherson and Aklavik essentially each drive from 'their' end to meet in the middle (over 150 miles long) with huge snowploughs to create a road that the villages can use to get around a bit easier. This is usually done in the middle of March, but the area supports the 6633 Arctic Ultra race so much, they open the road early especially for us.  

As we get onto the ice road we notice the banging and cracking noises from the ice as we move across it. This is quite disconcerting initially, but we soon settle into a rhythm and forget all about it. The start of the ice road is very rough, not the smooth glass-like surface I was expecting, so we grit our teeth and haul our pulks over the rough ice for a few hours. 

The rough ice turns into smooth ice and we're able to settle into our routine again of 2 hours on/15min rest, during one of these stops I have to take a look at my left achilles, it's really sore and I'm not sure why. I take off my boot and sure enough I have a small blister appearing, I put a plaster on it and then take a look at my boot, there must be something rubbing? Sure enough, one of the straps from my ice spikes was in the wrong position and was rubbing through my boot, however on looking again, the ice spike was on my foot back to front. In our rush to leave CP3 one of the team put my ice spikes on my boots for me, and I didn't check them, my fault, always check your own kit. Lesson learnt, no big deal, time to crack on with this night section. 

The Northern Lights were now bouncing around the sky and the offical photographer, Weronika, stopped us and asked if we wanted a picture. Even though it was quite cold and we didn't want to stop too long, we obliged and she produced the amazing shot below.