This won't be my first time to Alaska. Over ten years ago, on my first sled-hauling expedition, I spent 19 days on and around the Baird Glacier, with my climbing partner Chiu Liang Kuo. We hauled our climbing gear in tiny kiddie-sleds bought for $20 at a gas station in Portland, Oregon. We learned a lot about managing these loads, and how to wrestle them through crevasse terrain, something that helped a lot in Iceland. But this time, in Alaska, it'll be dark, winter, and rather than crevasses, I'll be worrying about falling through the sea ice, and running into polar bears.