What was it like to live in the Arctic? Read the team members' diaries and find out!

Sunday, April 4, 2004
The team said goodbye to their friends and families today as they left Britain and flew out to the Canadian Arctic.

Monday, April 5, 2004
Matthew - It's day one, and we're here, we're finally here! We're all exhausted but we're taken aback by how great this place is. But I must admit I didn't think it would be half as cold as it is. I was really worried, but as I stepped off the plane I thought this is alright 'cos I had my thick jumper on. But then it just hits you... it burns your face! I feel a lot better now 'cos we've got all this kit, big furs and Michelin man jackets and it's alright. We're all real glad to be out here - this is what we wanted, this is all of our dreams to be out here, and today that dream started!

Tuesday April 6, 2004
Jennielyn - We're making jelly tonight for Fabian's birthday, so that'll be good. It's lemon and lime - sounds really gorgeous. I haven't had jelly in ages! I don't really eat jelly but it's like a treat when you're out in the Arctic. I'm really looking forward to it, I can't wait to see his face 'cos I don't think he suspects! It's a surprise. We also got him a little card. What a way to spend your birhtday, out on the husky dog sleds! It's excellent.

Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Adam - I am trying to get to know all the dogs on our sled team. My favourites are Kow and Vixen... Kow is dead calm, a really cool dog. Vixen keeps fighting with the others. He also bites his tail in the night apparently, which is a bit weird.

Matt - Today is the coldest of any day. Minus 20 degrees. Doesn't sound that bad but with the wind in your face it becomes about minus 40!!! Man that is cold!

Fabian - I feel happier about things today. I'm havin a lot more laughs and I feel more active. Yesterday I was in tears after my mum sent me a birthday card. I'm feeling good today, although my feet are freezing!

Thursday, April 8, 2004
Alex - We've had a good day today and we are all getting along quite well. I really enjoyed pulling the sleds today. Tea was nice too - beef stoganoff or sweet and sour - yummy! Our tent is great too, much better than the boys' one.

Emily - It's our first night out in a tent which is really scary. It doesn't have a floor either so we are sleeping directly on the snow. I don't mind though and I will sleep easily tonight as I am absolutely knackered.

Friday, April 9, 2004
Lewis - I haven't been happy today and I've had a rough time today. I'm also on cooking duty tonight which is a pain. I have to fix my nose guard for my goggles too, but the others keep asking me for hot drinks. My boots froze last night and had ice blocks in them. That won't happen again!!

Saturday, April 10, 2004
Jennielyn - Today's been really hard today as we had to build an igloo. I've been making bricks for the igloo and it's not as easy as it looks. It takes ages and you've been so careful and tried so hard and then it breaks! It took me about 25 minutes to cut out one brick, I'm not exaggerating! And then after all that it broke! I'm going to sleep in the igloo tonight. I'm going to try it out 'cos I know I'll so regret it if I don't. What a brilliant place to sleep, and I know I'll be warmer in the igloo rather than in a tent.

Sunday, April 11, 2004
Emily - It's been our first day on expedition and I've really enjoyed it. We've been on our sleighs with the huskies. We've been having the best time ever, I was singing the whole way on the sledge. We've now got to our destination for the evening and we're setting up camp and we've just got all our tents up and it's really nice and cosy. The girls are all cooking in their tent and the boys are all cooking in their tent.

Monday, April 12, 2004
Fabian - I think at the moment the expedition is going really well. It's much better than the training. The more I want it to end and go back home, the more I want it to slow down. The six hours husky sledding went really quickly, it felt more like three hours. I think it's going to go really quickly so I've got to appreciate it more. I'm having so much fun doing the expedition. People are realising that it's going faster and faster and we need to appreciate it. I need to get my camera out and take a few pictures.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Adam - It's been a good day today but the girls have been arguing with us. The girls set up one tent and the boys set another tent. They'd dug three holes and we'd only dug one as the girls had the ice pick, but we set ours up and the girls' was a shambles. They said it was 'cos we hadn't helped them, but they didn't help us, so why should we help them?? I think we've really annoyed the girls for some reason and they've gone mad! I'm going back to my tent now to have a hot chocolate and get some food down me!

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Matt - Today I did the best thing I've ever done in my life. I drove the dog sled team on my own - it was amazing. So much fun! Tiberius, who's our lead dog, I thought there was no way he'd listen to me. I thought he'd just stop and go to sleep as I've seen that happen before, but he was listening to everything I said. He kept going and if I told him to go faster he went faster.

It was just amazing and I was pretty chuffed! I don't think people realise how much effort goes into driving them when you're rocketing down and looking all around you, making sure you dodge the rocks and lean the right way - there's a lot to do but it's so much fun. I loved it and I can't wait to go on the dog sled tomorrow.

Thursday, April 15, 2004
Courtenay - Today was probably the best day of dog sledding. We went over the most amazing hills and the most amazing scenery. First it was uphill which was quite hard but then it was downhill. It was quite tricky actually 'cos I was on the back and you have to steer and use the right brakes.

Friday, April 16, 2004
Emily - I've had a really good day today, it was so cool. It was the last day on the huskies which was quite sad. In one way it was sad as it was the last day with the huskies, as I really love them, but it's good as we're moving onto the next phase. When we got onto the flat sea ice we had to go and find the big box with our food in it. Ond once we found it, it was really cool as we felt really rewarded, and there was a little surprise waiting for us.

Our families had sent us little packages from home. Mine had a card from my sister, a card from my mum, some chocolates, a magazine - it was so lovely to get that from home. There was also a little video message from home, which we're going to watch tonight and I can't wait to see it! It's so nice to get something fronm your family that they've put together and it made me so happy.

Saturday, April 17, 2004
Jennielyn - Hi, it's day 13 here in the snowy Arctic, and it's snowy outside, and even though you'd expect it to snow in the Arctic I haven't seen it snow until now. It's really gorgeous. We've been stuck in the tent all day, and not been out once. We haven't been out once 'cos last night it started snowing, and there's been a snowstorm.

I like being out and about but there's nothing you can do, you can't help the weather. I just really hope it doesn't snow tomorrow 'cos I really want to get out there. In a way though, staying in the tent all day has give us a chance to repair ourself, 'cos you get really worn out in this trip 'cos we work really hard. Today's been like our catch-up day to get well and get warm.

Sunday, April 18, 2004
Matt - Today's been a bit of a bad day for all of us, 'cos we found out that we won't be able to do the polar bear tracking because of the bad weather. I think we're all feeling a bit down 'cos we've been sitting in the tent for the last 48 hours as there's a blizzard going on, and there's nothing we can do about it and we feel useless sitting here.

We just want to get on and go to the glacier and get on with something that we set out to do. This blizzard is just getting everyone down as we can't do anything - you can barely walk outside and you can barely see. If the weather is clear tomorrow we can get out of this place, and go up to the glacier and get on with our project. We're just all hoping that will happen tomorrow.