As the journey departure date drew closer there were preparations and alterations to complete. I replaced an improved sled brake and set up a new tent with its modifications.

With any new tent it’s guaranteed I’ll have to make alterations and additions, a wide snow skirt on to the fly for a start. On the inner I run webbing loops around the base and up over the top where the poles run and thread 4 mm cord through the loops for extra stability. Greenland storms are like no other. They are brutal.

I’ve been rolled in a tent and it’s super scary. Years ago, suspended in the warmth of my kitchen, I fastened an old helicopter cargo net to sling all my clothing and gear into so the lot would dry overnight after training runs. Now I have English Braids pulpit netting up there, the stuff used to stow gear on board boats. I also cut and shaped more of this netting big enough to throw over and secure my tent at four points in terrible storms.

Tent makers’ guy line adjusters are always chronic. I replace them with Line-Lok tent cleats from Clamcleats.

There was more food to pack. Dehydrate 900 grams of vegetables and my Excalibur dehydrator from UK Juicers brings the weight down to 170 grams. One kilogram of pre-cooked meals with loads of meat goes down to 200 grams.

10 metres of 10.5 mm black static Beal rope always trails behind my sled. It’s a rope that’s there to be grabbed in the event that dogs and sled head off without me. The rope is of the highest quality. Beal rope is also attached to a red snow anchor that enables me to safely secure my sled and dogs to a halt.

On the subject of safety inside my tent, always at hand, is an Ocean Safety fire blanket ready to extinguish misbehaving stoves.

Never trust a satellite phone. Sure enough handset design changes but guaranteed reception does not. It remains dreadful. Since ACR Electronics, Inc. make the best personal location beacons available worldwide I packed my ACR MicrOFix.

If anyone is going to get cold, it’s me. You’ll find more fat on a butcher’s pencil. Rab down jackets and Vapour-rise have protected me for years. I also packed my sleeping system including mats from Multimat inside a Rab bivi.

For breaking trail in front of my dogs I packed Tubbs Mountaineer snowshoes.

I’ll run 12 of my dogs throughout this journey. Like the other 11, Yogi is fit, excited and raring to go too after another winter fed on Nutrience.