Yes, north magnetic pole is my next goal. Either as one of the four who will try to reach this place or one of the members of supporting group. My position in this coming expedition will be cleared out during the next year. By any means, I want to participate in this project and do my best with helping to realize the trip. At the moment, I’m supposed to be one of the four people who will actually attempt to reach the north pole. However, after my unsuccessful expedition in Iceland, I’m evaluating my abilities and possibilities right now. It’s exactly how it’s said – more you try to accomplish or learn something, more you find out that there’s still so little you know and can do.

The original plan was to go to Spitsbergen Islands (Svalbard) for app. three weeks as a training. The year after would be the North Pole attempt. I am quite concerned though at the moment that perhaps it’s not enough. There should be more events (I mean successful events!) prior to the big particular expedition. I have a few ideas already but I won’t go into any details, mainly because I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with the guys from Cesty na sever (Journeys to the North) who actually invited me to this Magnetic North Pole expedition. What I could realease for now… Vatnajokull is not and will not be moved to side track. I’m not saying I’m going to Iceland next year again but I’m not finished as far as its traverse is concerned. I’m even playing with an idea to invite somebody along and attempt the crossing as two member team.

Of course, I will be describing everything on my website. If I make any deals with media partners again, it will be also available on their websites. So please keep in touch!

In the end, I would like to thank to everybody who was watching my expedition and supported me. I thank to my sponsors and media partners without whom this expedition would have not been possible. I also thank my family, above all, for being so patient and respecting my crazy ideas.

Everything went faster than I had expected so unfortunately, I had neither time nor energy to write messages. Here’s resumption of what have happened in last few days of the expedition…

Saturday. Even though I tried my best, my freezing bath in the river resulted in quite nasty cold. I was lucky that I was back in camp and not somewhere on the glacier where my cold could have been a problem. I was feeling so bad that most of Saturday I spent sleeping in my sleeping bag. Later in the afternoon I managed to get hold of Lada from Adventura who is driving Madla (terrain bus) in Iceland. It was great coincidence that he was in Reykjavik! We arranged that he would come pick me up from the bus station. I have one burden off my shoulders! Lada will be able to take my sled back to Czech Republic so I will save money on postage!

Sunday. I take a bus from Kirk to Reyjavik at noon. I get there almost exactly at 5pm. I’m still fighting the cold but finally, I can at least speak a bit without cough attack! Lada meets me as soon as I get off the bus. He says it was easy to find me, just look for pair of skis! We load the sled to the truck and discuss our fresh adventures in Iceland for a while. Lada talks about how he drives tourists around and how he became a guide, I talk about my attempt to traverse Vatnajokull glacier. Eventually, we move to one of local bars with pool tables where two Czech girls are supposed to work. According to Lada there’s also cheap internet there. That’s more important to me than a chat. I have to book a flight ticket home for next day. I spend the whole evening on internet in the end. It is not easy to find a flight under 1500 USD one way! After xx hours and xxx variations of flights I’m flying on Monday at 7.15h with Iceland Express to London Standsted from where I have to take a shuttle to Gatwick. The EasyJet flight to Prague is scheduled to take off at 18.30h. I managed to lower total price for flight with shuttle in London included for app. 15000 CZK. That is half price of IcelandAir flight ticket. The Czech girls. There was only one in the bar - Marketa. Even though I didn’t have much time we had a nice chat. She said goodbye to me with words: “See you next year!” She meant my next attempt to traverse the glacier, of course.

Monday. Simply said, chaos! I’m already at the airport at 6am. The airport is really packed! I have a feeling that another volcano must have exploded in Iceland and so all the tourists are trying to leave at once. There are so many people everywhere that it is easier to get from one end of the terminal building to the other from outside. To walk through the terminal building would take almost an hour! I still don’t know what’s awaiting me in London. We take off with 30 min delay and after a while Vatnajokull glacier appears from clouds. I just stare at it asking myself if Marketa was right or not. I have neither energy nor enthusiasm to spend next several months by planning and preparing for the next attempt. We land at Stansted at noon. I collect my backpack and after bit of searching I get to bus terminal from where the shuttle to Gatwick departs. I have about four hours until my flight so I’m looking forward to some rest at Gatwick. Contrary is the case though! If the Reykjavik airport was really packed, Gatwick is entering the chaos state! What is worst there’s nobody from operating personnel or airlines’ staff to manage crowds somehow a bit. There are only four desks open for EasyJet and in front of them perhaps 300 people waiting! There are no belts or lines, no system, just crowd of people desperate to get to the desk as soon as possible.

I have flown thousands of miles in last five years and have gone through a number of terminals from Mexico, US to European ones but I had never before experienced anything like I did on Monday at Gatwick. What I consier really absurd - there were lots of old and disabled people everywhere. For example, there was an old gentleman standing right behind me with crutches and without leg. He was waiting there for the whole four hours (before I was checked in and went through security gate). I understand the situation and problems connected with flying at the moment but this was obviously poor service from the airport staff and single airlines.

I land in Ruzyne airport around midnight. I’m glad I’m finally back home but I have no energy to exult. At almost 2am I’m finally crowling into my bed. It affects my day today, of course. I’m half asleep, half trying to “tune” myself to new environment. Even to write this message, it took me almost three hours!

I will leave writing about what’s awaiting me and what my future plans are for tomorrow. I can say for now that it’s sure interesting!

A plane is taking off from Reykjavik in a little while. It is the plane which will take Pavel back home. He has been dealing with sled transportation in last few days so he couldn’t write messages – well, he didn’t write the one from Sunday.

He will be home tonight, he’s quite excited and he will write how his last few days have been during tomorrow. His message will include his trip from Kirk to Reykjavik, looking for guys from Adventrura and terrain bus Madla and today’s flight.

So a Dutch couple got it! They both brought a book to read with dinner and instead, they had to listen to chatty Blazek! I’m not saying I was by myself too long but I did miss talking to somebody a little bit. I am back in campground in village called Kirkjubaejarklaustur.

Morning. How I didn’t want to get up!!! When I finally crawled out of my sleeping bag I was sitting in front of my tent for a good hour or so and just staring at surrounding hills. It seemed like I couldn’t wake up. Nothing lasts forever though. I slowly packed up the tent, put everything that I won’t need anymore on the sled and about 10am, I headed to Laki crater. The ranger who helped me last week is supposed to come there. I’m hoping, with qualms, that he will help me again. It’s not like I’m lazy to carry the stuff by myself for the last 2 km. I just won’t have to leave anything unattended in the parking lot that way. I reach Laki crater and around noon I see the ranger. He immediately recognizes me and without hesitation agrees to take my sled. I thank him and when we say farewells an hour later, I’m giving him 9 l of cooking gas. He refuses to accept it first but I eventually manage to persuade him that I will not need it now anyway and I cannot take it with me to CR. In the end, he hands me a piece of paper with his name and address - he would like me to send him some photos from the expedition.

I arrive in Kirkjubaejarklaustur around 7pm. Before I get to the campground, prepare something to eat and take a shower, it’s almost 10pm. Snuggled in my sleeping bag, I’m trying to write a message for the website but I’m falling asleep.

I assume I’ll get to Reykjavik during tomorrow. With a bit of luck I could be home by Monday evening.

Photograpsh: bus operated by Reykjavik Excursions which takes tourists to Laki Crater.

I’ve done more than 30 km today. I’m camping close to the Laki crater where I originaly started. It’s a beautiful evening and I’m a little bit sad when I think that I’ll be sleeping in the campsite tomorrow back in the world of money, rush etc. I can tell that one week from now I’ll wish I’d be back here in my tent. Despite all the effort, bad weather and sore scratched legs, the life here has its irresistable magic.

I’ve been thinking all day today what I’m going to do after I return home. One of the first things I’ll do - I will make available all the information about how I’ve been sending my messages from here. I would like to modify and finish the whole system, write detailed manuals and offer it for download for free to everybody who would be interested. I believe there are a few climbers and travellers who would like to share their experience and adventures as well as a few people who would like to read their stories.

One a bit more personal message in the end. My dad has a birthday today so, Happy birthday, dad!

My present situation has a big advantage. I don’t have to care what I eat so I’ve been cosuming my food supplies since the very morning, picking whatever I’m craving. Right in the morning I started with two rations of dried pinapple, one ration of prunes and dried strawberries. With that I was eating an apple energy bar and drinking extra thick cocholate milk. Just like Hilton! In case somebody is wondering about the chocolate milk, I took about a litre of dried milk with me (a lot of work to mix it!). The chocolate flavour comes from protein mixture for muscle regeneration. I’m supposed to take it in the evening, however, I couldn’t help it today. It simply tastes good!

When mentioning food and effort I’m quite surprised by a physical strain required for this expedition. If I’m leaving this place with some experience it is a fact that two hours of training every day which I was doing (in average) is not enough. If I ran 60 km every week until now I have to do twice as much before next expedition. That brings me back to food. Physical strain like this requires a perfect menu with good nutrition. I don’t want this to sound like a cheap advertisement as that’s not my intention at all! I am not obliged to anything like this by any sponsorship agreements. The food supplied by Enervit company is unrivalled so far. I tried several products during three years of preapartaion for this expedition and after a while I just threw it away. It was not possible to eat it for a long time. I’ve been eating three to four energy bars per day here in Iceland and I haven’t got tired of them at all yet. I got instant soups from Enervit too. I ate six or so before my departure for Iceland. I am not suffering with food here at all!

Note to the photo. To go accross these sand fields is not very pleasant. Dust picked up by wind dries my nose too much. I was bleeding from it all afternoon.

I set out along the river to the glacier for the seventh time. App. 2 km from the camp the river turns sharply south. Direction I need is north - north-east so it means I’m walking around. After another 3 km (air line) I finally reach a place where I can turn to east. From this particular position that’s the shortest way to the glacier. Another 2.5 km (air line) and I’m approaching the glacier. GPS gives me position and I’m transferring it into the map. The map I’m using is from 2003 and according to it I’ve been already walking almost 1 km on the glacier. It took me three hours to get from the camp to the glacier face. One can walk 5 km per hour on average. I’d count 4 km as the terrain is really rough here, so 3 hours times 4 km is total distance 12 km. Even if I counted 10 km it’s still two days of hiking with all the equipment. Water. I did not find a single source of clean water on the way here. It’s not possible to drink water from the river as it looks more like liquid mud. So far I was lucky as I could always camp at least 1.5 km from some place where I could get drinking water. I need daily 4 litres minimum. I drink more than 3 litres and the rest is used for cooking breakfast and diner. For the first day I can use water from the place where I’m camping at the moment. For the second day I would have to depend on the glacier. Food. I have 22 rations left. Two days to the glacier = two rations. I have to spare 3 - 5 rations for reserve. Ramaining food - 15 - 17 rations. With distance which I still have to cover in next days I could barely survive. Time. I’m already three days behind my schedule and with another two days spent getting to the glacier I would have only 1 to 3 days left as reserve. The reserve is important in case the weather is really bad or for any reason which could prevent me from pushing on. If I was half way in the traverse, it wouldn’t be much of a deal, however, at the very beginning of the expedition it is quite dangerous.

Based on facts mentioned above I’m getting into unpleasant situation. It would be very risky for me to backtrack this route in case I was forced to turn around. Simply said, to carry on doesn’t seem very reasonable at this point so I decided to turn around while it’s still possible. I am aware that many people may think my decision is coward-hearted but I will accept defeat and possible mockery than risking that my action will lead to dangerous situation. I had only one resolution before my departure - I have to be able to take care of myself no matter what!! No way that somebody will have to help me to get off the glacier!!! In the end I would like to point out that everything looks always very different from the actual spot than it may seem from the comfort of home.

I will spend 3 to 4 days backtracking the route to the spot where I started. I assume it will be another week before I manage to return to Czech Republic. I don’t intend, of course, to stop sending messages to the website. If anybody wants to say something I will try to respond. As I mentioned already, comments are being forwarded to my satellite telephone.

It was raining hard all night and even though I had been sleeping really well before, this time I couldn’t. More rain means only one thing - more water in the river! I crawl out of my tent at 9am when suddenly, the sun comes out. It’s almost like a magic! The sky is nice and blue. I don’t want to waste a minute so I’m loading my pockets with all necessary stuff - GPS unit, PLB, food for half a day, a hat, pair of mitts and on my back, I tie 30m climbing rope. I start running towards the river and stop only at the spot where the wildest stream joins the river flowing from direction of the glacier. From the fork, a few tens of meters down the stream, the river slightly touches the rim of the glacier plateau and the bank ends with rock ledges. I have a plan - I tie the rope onto one of the ledges and with help of the rope will make my way across. I will use rope not only for managing the balance in the wild current but also for safety in case I lose balance and the river tries to whisk me away. Although I consider myself a good swimmer I don’t think there would be a chance to resist without the rope. After a while I find a good spot and tie the rope around ledge closest to the river. I try the rope resistance by proping up for a few times. It all looks good. I take off my boots and glance at the watch to see what the temperature is. It says 12 degrees but if the watch is on the wrist it’s probably at least two degrees lower. I get in the water. I guess I don’t have to mention that it’s cold! First six meters it’s alright and I’m not rushing it. My plan seems to work so far. The rope is tied around my waist and I’m holding both ends in my right hand. My left hand is holding a pole and checks the deepness in front of me. When the water level is amost up to my crutch and part of my jacket is soaked I’m starting to get really frustrated - I will not let one river to stop me indeed! I didn’t hike more than 50 km and carried almost 100 kg of equipment to turn around and take it all back again! Part of my fleece and outer jacket are already in the water and I’m just angry fighting my way to the other bank. When I’m about two thirds there I run out of rope. At that moment which seems to last forever, I recall one shot from movie Cast Away where Tom Hanks is trying to safe Wilson (football) which is being carried away by the sea. Tied to his boat, he has a choice - untie himself, risk drowning and try to save Wilson or sacrifice Wilson and save at least himself.

I turn around and as soon as I’m stnading on dry land I’m starting to jump like crazy not even bothered to put my boots back on. I have to get some blood flow into my almost white frozen feet. Something is clear to me. Even though I had enough rope, to wade across this river for a few times could mean risking hypothermia, not to mention that if anything happened to me during next 40 - 50 km on the glacier, this would be the only way I could backtrack. Vision of overcoming this obstacle.

I’m back in the tent around 3pm and I can feel consequences of my bath. I have a headache sore throat. I’m not doing anything but resting until the evening. I don’t want to make my cold get worse. I will try to traverse the lava bed tomorrow and hopefully, I’ll manage to find a way around the river and finally approach the glacier through other route than the one I had originally planned. I know there are a few encouraging comments after I posted my last message. So at last - I AM NOT GIVING UP YET!!!!

It’s not very easy to write the message today. Not only wasn’t I able to move a meter forward but what is worse, my way is blocked by a river!

It’s been raining hard pretty much since the morning so I had to stay in my tent the whole afternoon. It was starting to look better around 11am but before I could pack my stuff into the backpack it started to rain even more. I tried again around 1pm and despite the rain I headed towards the glacier with the first load. After app. two km I came to the river. The view I had wasn’t really optimistic! I could see a huge plain spreading in front of me with many creeks and rivers in all different sizes. I can feel shiver going down my spine and I’m wondering if I can manage to get over this obstacle. After a while I’m taking my backpack off and setting off along the river to find a possible crossing. After 30 min walk I see a possible place to wade across. The river is divided into two streams here and both of them look quite shallow. I hesitate a bit as the current seems still a little too strong but then I realize that this cannot surely stop my expedition. A bit like in a daydream, I’m taking off my boots, socks, rolling up my pant-legs as much as I can and using my poles eventually entering the river. I cannot see the bottom, water is dim and so cold that after a while my toes are starting to get numb. I’m slowly approaching the other river bank. I check deepness of the water with my pole, make a step forward, try the deepness again, make a step forward. I’m not even third way accross, water’s already up to my thighs and the current is so strong that I’m struggling to keep standing on my feet. I’m still trying to poke with my pole in front of me to check the deepness but when I find out that it’s getting deeper and deeper I give up and turn around. Once on the shore again, I quickly put my boots back on and immediately start walking to warm up my frozen feet again. It starts raining again and visibility is so pure that even though it’s only one km away, I cannot see the face of the glacier any more. I put my backpack on again and feeling bit shaken I walk back to my tent. Of course, I cannot help thinking what to do next.

I decide to wait until tomorrow. Perhaps the weather will improve. If it doesn’t rain over night the water level should go down a little bit. It’s 4pm and it looks much better outside. I cannot resist going to have a look at he river again. I try to go the other way this time though, against the current, at least 4 - 5 km. Perhaps the water will be more shallow over there? I hike light, leaving my backpack behind sticking in my pocket only GPS unit and PLB, just in case. From the place where I tried to wade across earlier, the river turns sharply south and flows along face of the glacier. As far as I can see, there’s just a net of rivers and creeks 30 - 40 m wide in some spots. After walking for one hour and half , it should be around 5 km, I give up again. Honestly, I cannot even imagine how I would be getting here with all my equipment. There’s no way here. The river flows closely along lava bed at some spots and I’m forced to climb over rocks in size of a car there!

On the way back, I try on several spots how deep the water is. At one point I’m almost falling into the river. One of my poles is disappearing in wild current only half a meter from the shore (I almost followed) without even touching the bottom! It was enough for today.

Back in the tent I’m preparing some rise for diner and entertain myself with some reading. I will wait unitl tomorrow. So far it doesn’t look very promising. While I’m writing this message, it’s pouring outside again!

I was working a bit later today and covered 6 km in total. I admit I can feel it a little bit! My calf muscels are a bit sore but what is worse, I’m starting to have blisters on my feet. The biggest two are about 2×3 cm each. I’m not even feeling or having any troubles with the other five or six. They are just there - perhaps for fun? It is not so much fun with the two big ones but so far, it’s not that bad. I pierce them twice or three times a day, get the liquid out, put some medication cream on and in the end, put some baby daper rash powder on. The last procedure is especially pleasant as the powder has strawberry scent (And I heard that feet usually smell pretty bad from hiking boots! Every time I take off my boots in the evening, the only thing I can smell are strawberries!) First few steps after the treatment my walking is not very good and it does hurt a bit but after a while it seems as I’d have no blisters at all.

I was going to attach a photo of my blistered feet to this message but I acknowledged in the end that it’s perhaps not the best idea. I am attaching the other picture instead which I’d call “Alone”. The truth is though I’m not really feeling alone. Although last time I saw a person was on Thursday, and I doubt I could meet anybody within 50 - 60 km, somehow I’m just OK with that. I guess it helps me a lot that so many people have been checking out my website and adding comments. Unfortunately I am not able to read all of them right now as I just don’t have enough rechargable batteries for PDA and satellite phone with me here but the most interesting ones have been sent to me in form of text messages. I found out yesterday, for example, that my expedition website was even visited by Mr Sura who also left a very nice comment there. I think it was one or two years ago when Mr Sura reached North Pole. Even though it was a commercial expedition guided by very experienced Polar explorer, he accomplished something that only very few Czechs have so far.

Back to my daily routine. I am only 4 km far from the glacier right now and I can even see its face from my tent. If everything goes well I will probably sleep on the ice tomorrow night! There is still quite wide river ahead though which l’ll have to wade accross. Once on the glacier, I will be finally done with all the shuttling back and forth carrying 30 kg heavy backpack.