18th February
This morning was very cold but bright.
 
Tent life revolves around my stove and lantern. All day I've been looking forward to seeing some of the pictures I've shot. Digital cameras are the only way to go. The wait after a long journey is always an anxious one. With a digital I can make sure I've got the pictures right and send them almost immediately.
 
Valuable stove heat helps air my clothes too. Despite the wonderful wicking properties of my clothing daily I strip off everything to a baselayer and peg my clothes to dangle and air above the stove. I've been trying out the Horizon range of socks. As usual I've been layering them. First a polypropylene liner pair, next a Coolmax polyester sock then a loop stitch insulating Outlast/wool blend sock. The idea is for my socks to remain dry by creating a flow of moisture away from my feet to keep them warm. It'll be interesting to see how these socks fair in the future when I'll be skiing next to the dogs for up to 12 hours a day and without being washed for months on end.
 
Once aired I stuffed superfluous clothing into a dry bag, fed the dogs and then myself. I then zipped myself into my sleeping bag and fired up my laptop. The tents temperature dropped as usual as I melted more snow to boil and pour into my steel flasks ready for breakfast.

Laptops have been an integral part of my gear for years. They're vital for communication and sharing my experiences with the outside world. Using IT delicates in extreme cold has created a minefield of problems in the past. Rugged laptops are now available but in the past for fear of creating a short circuit due to condensation I used to wait nearly five hours before booting up in the warmth of my tent.

The Panasonic CF-18 Toughbook I'm using now struck up in less than two hours. I'm safely storing data, this diary and downloaded digital images from my camera on to its system. It's important to monitor each dog to achieve ultimate performance. I used to use just a notebook with simple headings such as name, age, weight and comments and initial entries described dogs' general condition, worming and vaccination dates. On my laptop it's easy for me to archive or email all my data if necessary.
 
One of the other things I had on the go while doing all this was baking some bread with a 10", 750 gram Backpacker's Outback Oven. It's an ingenious system for creating a wide variety of meal options from simple ingredients.
 
One of the last things to do before sleeping was to sort out my contact lenses. I wear CIBA Vision disposable contact lenses. Outside of my tent spectacles would freeze to my face.