It was -50C this morning and with winds at around 30 knots, the wind chill factor had it feeling more like -70C. That’s the coldest it has been so far and is pretty difficult for us back home to imagine! At the time of the last reading at 1800 (GMT+2) the temperature had crept up to a comparatively balmy -42C.

If Spencer and Richmond had hoped for a lie in the comfort of their bunks this morning, they would have been sorely disappointed, having instead finding themselves having to make an early start carrying out repairs to the faltering Cat. They are hopeful that they have cracked it, but will have to wait until tomorrow to be sure. It takes about four hours to warm up the Cats in this cold and get them ready to roll. Tomorrow they will have to warm the Cat before they can turn the switch. If it doesn’t work then it’ll be back to work for the guys until they have resolved the problem.

Rob and Brian have been today working on getting the GPR running again and at last they think they have cracked it. They have tested the device in the warmth of the caboose and it’s working, but will have to wait until they have attached it to one of the Cats and started using it outdoors before they can be certain.

Ian has been busy putting together more excellent video and documenting the work in progress – we’ll upload his latest shortly. He also got out and about with a GoPro attached to a long stick and took pics of inside the mouth of some crevasses. They are truly jaw-droppingly stunning images, but you will have to wait a little yet to see those ones.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and as we all know the guys are not covering ground. Tomorrow they will hopefully be able winch back the two remaining two fuel scoots 150m from camp and be ready to set off to re-join the remaining six fuel scoots a short distance north and out of the worst of this crevassed area. Safety is obviously of the upmost importance and the team is focusing all their efforts on making sure their equipment is functioning correctly so that they are able to get off this crevasse field without undue risk. Hopefully they will get moving on Thursday morning, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that they do.