North Slope news: 19 Dec. 2008

Talked to Cameron today at around 4:40pm AST. All is well with the boys at the Iko Bay hut. Their sleep cycle is a little out of sync since they left so early in the morning yesterday for the hut, so they're trying to get a little more sleep today in order to adjust.

They did go out looking on the bluff for a possible place to test out the paraglider tomorrow. The wind was good, but perhaps a little strong. Cameron hopes to test out the wing tomorrow, depending on conditions. The guys also saw two caribou today.

I'm told we'll keep the list of conditions to a minimum, so here's what I've got:

The sky was clear (about 5/8 clear), visibility was good, the temperature is 3 degrees F, and the winds are 3-10 mph.

I've informed Cameron of the weather forecast for Barrow for the next few days. The barometer is rising (this means no storms), with mostly partly cloudy weather through Wednesday.The high temperatures will be around 10 F and the lows around Zero F for the next week. And the winds will be about 10 mph from the SW on Saturday, and 10-15 mph from the SE on Monday. No additional wind forecasts are available.

Below are two links to the weather forecast (and current conditions in Barrow). You may have to click refresh on your browser to update the report:

NOAA National Weather Service: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=AKZ202

Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=99723

Below are a few more photos of the boys. Click photos to enlarge. Photos courtesy of Mark Hoffman.

Cameron pulling sled (a modified kayak, AKA the Pulkayak):


Chiu pulling his homemade sled:


The Gents' supplies before leaving Barrow: