Our final day on our skis sees us camped in the valley just outside Longyearbyen.

A short 5km through the beautiful mountains of Adventdalen with a gentle snow falling.

We finish our expedition officially tomorrow when we arrive back in Longyearbyen.

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The wind started to get up soon after dark making us worry we might be in for another sleepless battering but it soon died away to ethereal stillness and we slept well.

Clear skies and no wind saw us through the whole day.

Making our way down the stunning Adventdalen back towards civilisation, we were treated to views of mountain peaks, high glaciers and a friendly dog sled team heading the other way.

A relaxing distance allowed us to just enjoy being in this amazing place.

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A sleepless night last night as 90-100km/h winds pounded our tent.

Terrifying at times as the swirling wind slammed down on us from the mountains above the valley.

We were on emergency stations through the night as violent gusts uprooted pegs and tore open our snow flaps. 

We would dash outside into the driving wind and snow to secure the tent then scramble back inside.

Our trusty Hilleberg was just incredible in the face of such an onslaught. 

The winds must have been bad because all the snowmobile teams we met today asked how we survived the night!

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What a day of contrasts!

Started the day with beautiful conditions – still, sunshine and finally back below freezing as is right and proper!

After yesterday’s warm temperatures though we weren’t surprised to find the tent frozen in solid to the snow!

A cheeky wee ptarmigan paid us a visit as we carefully hacked ourselves free of the ice and set off.

Conditions rapidly took a turn for the worst with howling winds bringing a wet sticky snow that froze onto our ski skins making it impossible to ski.

An emergency ski waxing stop helped a bit but we actually had to walk for a couple of kilometers before the freezing winds made the snow cold enough not to stick and we could get back to some proper skiing.

Gusting gales into the face and near zero visibility were the name of the game for the next few kilometers but as we neared the end of the day visibility has opened out and once again we’re surrounded by stunning mountain views.

A character-building day!

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We woke to the patter of rain on our tent, a rather unexpected occurrence on a polar expedition.

After such a wonderful clear day yesterday, we were greeted this morning with moody skies, rain and a gusting south-easterly wind. 

Memories of our Iceland expedition flooded back.

Thankfully our Arc’teryx gear is so adaptable to a range of environments, high polar caps to wet valleys.

We explored the Fulmardalen valley to the base of the Marmorbreen glacier before making camp.

We will start our journey back to Longyearbyen tomorrow, temperatures are due to fall to the -20’s so we’re looking forward to more polar conditions to come.

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An epic day today!

With mist clinging to the tops of the ice domes, we decided the time was right to head for the valleys and began our descent of the Rabotbreen glacier.

We knew it’d be a big day, at the snout of the glacier was a complex moraine field with an ice lake at its centre.  

On our way up a week ago, we’d managed to sneak up the side of the frozen lake but some parts had been pretty treacherous and we’d only just made it through.  

By luck, today was by far the warmest so far – a tropical zero degrees!  We couldn’t trust the ice so we’d have to find another way through.

We didn’t want to get caught in the moraine overnight, too high a chance of a bear stumbling upon us unexpectedly, so we knew we’d need to push through whatever we found. 

The weather smiled on us and we were treated to stunning views as we descended off the tops.  Sure enough, the ice lake looked decidedly dodgy so we had to find another way through.

We managed to pick up some snowmobile tracks and with some extreme effort a shire horse would be proud of, we hauled our sled up steep mounds of moraine, found a gully and made it through!

We’re now back nearly at sea level and have been treated to a white ptarmigan and some reindeer antlers!

Strong winds forecast overnight so we’re battering down again but really satisfied after a long day and enjoying our change in environment.

No Suunto stats today.

Suunto Stats