It sucks all the energy out of you when it is minus-40 degrees. You're trying to get out of your sleeping bag and there is ice everywhere. Getting dressed . . . you really have to concentrate. It was exhausting . . . but we hung in there. We're here now.

Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea, is smirking. That's what polar travel is all about.

We were battling a negative ice drift,

Suddenly, about two miles from the pole, we started to come across open water. One of the sledges ended up getting dunked in water, and some of the dogs as well.

We were really fighting until the end. Even so close to the pole, I wasn't so sure we would make it.