X’GREENLAND 2024

FOLLOW DYLAN, SINDRE, RAMANAN, NEERJAI, ROY OVE & INE-LILL

day 15

Minus 17°C and sunny when we woke up this morning, with the minimum temperature last night down to minus 25°. That means frost on the ceiling and frost on the sleeping bags, but luckily there are good drying conditions in the tent in the evening, when it's sunny! And now we have  sun sun sun!

We skied about 17 km today and arrived at Dye2 at four o'clock after 7 legs! An absurd place in the middle of the ice. The surveillance system with a large radar on top was left in a hurry and the place stands there with beds, a bar, a pool table with beer on it. There are several floors under the ice. 

Tomorrow we start skiing towards the east side as we have been out about half the time we have food for. Next week is said to be with lots of sun as the terrain now calms down as it raises the last 500 meters till we are at the top in ca 5 days.

Day 14 - 17th of may

What a great day to wake up to, sun and a gentle wind and a mere – 15°C! That was a Constitution Day celebration in itself for the 3 Norwegians in the team. I blew the wakeup call (revelje) with a typical 17th of May trumpet! In hindsight, probably only heard Roy who is my tent mate 😊 The flag was hoisted and a Norwegian ribbon was placed on a pole.
We walked on windblown snow, and it has poor glide, but we worked on and managed 19 Km today after 9 legs. Full facemask at all time is still necessary to avoid frostbite.

At the end of the day we got a glimpse Dye II, an abandoned radar station from the days of the Cold War. It’s a huge construction out in nowhere and a stark reminder of  tentions in our world. – For us and our simple, compact living far removed from what goes on in the world – it is a great navigational point that for a day makes going in from super easy!

Now: Sun outside and happy skiers inside

Day 13

Finally the sun came back out again and we had good visibility. Now we can really see how powerful and large the Greenland ice sheet is as the plane rolls upwards and outwards in lazy dunes! Flat, but never flat.

We had a chilling -28°C tonight and the wind turned 180 degrees during the night to go with the change in weather. From a soft push from behind, we now had to head into standard, katabatic south-east wind.

Going to the loo became a fierce séance. In -28° we all very quickly learned that when the wind turns, the leeward toilet wall is on the wring side… The cold and windy conditions was demanding, and had to be tackled with respect,  and so we got off a little late. Still, we got in 9 full legs and over 20 km! The last three legs we used the moon as a guide, wonderful!

day 12

-11°C in the tent and total white-out when we got up this morning. And so it stayed all day, except for the last (no 8) leg then the sun finally appeared in the fog with a beautiful ‘’mother-of-pearl’ ring around it ( it is called that – others less romantic call it helo :-)

We still have somewhat heavy snow and trailbreaking. It apparently snowed all over the entire Greenland ice sheet a few days ago. So we hope soon the snow sets and will carry us in a better (and easier) way. But we got enough speed to manage 17 km today.  3 more days and we reach DYE.

Now we hear the calm rumbling from the burners in all the tents. I guess most people take a little stretch while they wait for the water to boil and for dinner to be ready – a true highlight!

A spacy PS:

You will probably think that the thing hanging down from Dylan’s sled is a piece from the tent, it isn’t. Dylan explains:
A few days before the trip I learned from a friend that there are micro meteorites found in Greenland. These are especially found on the lower melt zones of the glaciers.  To try to collect some I am dragging a small strong magnet behind the sled. We find out after the trip when looking in the microscope if we got lucky.

day 11

This was the heaviest so far! We really got our stamina and willpower tested to the full, but all prevailed and stood their ground!

We walked 17 km and 8 legs in fog and whiteout, with snow in the air and on the ground. On the positive side, the wind calmed down. But that made it too hot! To the extent that the chocolate melted in the sled.

As we got more and more snow, both sleds and skis sank in deep.  Everyone took turns going up front. It has been a ‘walk-straight-on-just the-compass-course’ for many days in a row now, and the skills have increased greatly in the team. Everyone is doing important work -  whitch is a huge part of carrying out an expedition together.

day 10

15 km of weather today. We've had everything from glimpses of sun to snowflakes and sleet with whiteout. The last hour was messy sticky snow and a heavy finish. We’ve been staring at the compass course all day. There are some tired but satisfied bodies in the tents now with a cup of hot chocolate.

Here is a little greeting from Roy (70 years old), he says: Here it is good, but it is a bit heavy. But that is how it should be over the Greenland Ice. Loves all of you at home.

We always say it is a small world, and (obviously) Norway is even smaller :-)
My tent mate, Roy, who I have never met before, has many, many summers rowed and sailed and refurbishing the very special boat from Nordland called Lofotr.

That is the same boat that Rita and I (Ine-Lill) rowed all along Norway for 3.5 months last year. All the way from the very southern tip at Lindesnes to the very top at North Cape. It turns out that Karl Jan, from whom we bought the Lofotr, is Roy's uncle! This summer, Roy will probably come to Lofoten for a reunion with Lofotr. Feel free to see pictures of the boat and the trip here: #BaklengsMotNord

Lofotr is a historical Viking museum based on a reconstruction and archaeological excavation of a Viking chieftain's village on the island of Vestvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago.

It is said of the Nordland boat is described as seductively beautiful. But it is also seductively dangerous. A dangerous boat in unskilled hands…

day 9

What a great day! 15 km and 7 legs. Woke up to minus 8 degrees and a bit windy. We started off in partly cloudy conditions, but that changed to more and more into a beautiful sunny day.

Snow drifts on the ground, which makes it easy to find the right direction. Still some fresh, semi-deep snow to pull the sleds through, though.

The whole team contributed to making tracks and took turns being at the front; the orienteering is going better and better for everyone, top team spirit. The sun is warming the tents now, nice and warm inside :-)

Team 2 Cool

day 8

Another -15° night. W woke up to beautiful weather, a completely blue sky, and a little wind from the side that gave just the right amount of driftsnow so that the navigation went very smoothly.

Everyone contributes to navigating and breaking trail. We still have some fresh snow, but it is somewhat more packed which we can happily appreciate :-)

White plains here are absolutely magnificent and powerful.

A small bird came out of nowhere and tried to enter the ranks. It must have  gotten on the wrong course. One bird here makes us more attentive than 100 at home, it feels good to have few things to focus on, mindfulness in practice.

Team 2 Cool

day 7

Minus 15 and no wind and sun when we got up! Departure 8.30 on dry snow, not even a draft, but best of all: no sticky snow! Skis glided – what a joy.

We now have a turned our compass and course towards Dye2, an we will stay on that bearing for many days.

We set camp after 6.5 legs (a leg is 50 minutes). The revelation was that now, well out of the icefall, the there were finally plenty of som and no ice screws were needed to secure the tent!

Dylan impressed hugely with his surprise to the team, a self-made replica of the snow goggles Nansen wore during the crossing of the Green Ice in 1888. Nansen was inspired by the Inuit when he had these glasses made. The glasses were used on the last half of the leg and the thoughts went to the pioneers and the tough task in unknown land they went to.

Team 2 Cool

Day 6

Team 2 Cool is fully operational. Today we met a warm sunny morning and 10 cm fresh powder. Great conditions and progress in the morning. Lots of clumping and sticky snow after lunch. Hard work was done by all!

Made camp and built the best toilet using the ‘natural features’ of the glacier (a friendly & tiny crevasse). Now we rest in the warmth of the tent where it is 23 degrees C. Ready for another day tomorrow!

Dylan and Sindre

day5

Ram writes: Day 5, and it was the first taste of a semi-white-out. Visibility was not the best which made navigation a bit tricky, at least for some of the relative novices in the team. Each team member navigated a leg with some better at it than others.  

Navigating without a distinguishing feature on the horizon, with no sun as a reference point whilst pulling a 70-80kg sledge through the overnight soft snow has its challenges.  

Six legs later, we’re now warm and toasty in our tents munching on whatever it is that we have to get through for the day. Eating our allocated kilo of food is equally as important as any other aspect of the expedition.

I personally love the porridge mix (with a slab of butter and brown sugar) for breakfast, instant noodles (with a chunk of cheese and cured meat for lunch) and Kvikk Lunsj (pronounced Quick Lunch) chocolate bars (imagine Kit Kat as a chocolate bar) for snacks.  Eating to maintain your calories is a full-time job!

The forecast for the next couple of days looks sunny.  It hasn’t been that cold either and hence most of the team haven’t had the chance to test out the comfort limits of our sleeping bags.  I’ve been sleeping with my shorts and T-shirt in my inner bag (with vents open).

Team spirit and morale is high and looking forward to tomorrow.  C’mon Day 7!

Day 4

What a dream day! -15°C this morning and a clear sky. Dry, pristine snow with some ice swells here and there as decoration.
We are now mostly on the plains as we have cleared the lower icefall. We are gaining altitude all the time on long dunes. Wonderful feeling!

The day was a little windy but sunny. During lunch, we pitched a tent to shelter, but we also kept rapid turnarounds when needed. It was cozy with six people in a tent. 
Had a ski ‘tip hiccup’ when a sled hit (attacked), but we fixed that with glue and tape, no problem for ‘team 2 cool’ :-)

day 3

Absolutely top work by ‘team 2 cool’!
The day began challengingly with rather sculptural ice. Fantastically beautiful formations and nice blue colors all around. It's like a huge and nice maze that we solved together.
But then it gradually got better. We have gotten through the worst now, and we have even camped in a flat place! Tomorrow is the last day we see land with rocks and mountains in the distance.

Fantastic weather in camp: windless and few degrees minus.

Day 2

Great teamwork today. We fought our way through the ice-labyrinth and met a couple of dead ends, but we kept our spirits up.
After pushing, hauling, and lifting interchangeably up the lowest part of the icefall, we have now come up to a slightly flattened and kinder area. We even found a space for all the tents that was almost horizontal! Ice screws were used to plug as this is a very icy icefall this season.
Didn’t get very far today, but it’s an important progression. Minus ten this morning warmer out of wind now, some snow in the air.

Ine-Lill and Team 2 are cool.

Dag 1

Very good to get going. and what a lovely start! Really bumpy road, but all equipment was packed well and withstood it – puh 😊
Saw arctic foxes, musk ox and reindeer from the car on the way in! We really are in the wilderness now! That became even clearer as we suddenly saw the daunting and wild inland ice.

We put on our skis right from the start and walked over a small meltwater lake before we met some small moraine ridges where we helped each other over. Great teamwork!
Now in the tent, all are warm and soon full! Minus 7.5 degrees and a slight breeze and great atmosphere.

Greetings from ‘Team2cool’

ALL TOGETHER NOW:

On Thursday, the ‘Saints came marching in’. On Friday, only Neerjai is the last arrival. Then all was here, and the focus was now on the final details.

Most came Thursday and got straight to work. Everything was lined up so that tents, equipment, food, fuel etc etc, could be set up and prepared.

The team also got time for the first celebration! Sindre turned 30 and the team sang, flagged and held a chips party mix extra gathering.

Saturday, we head out. It’s a 45km drive from Kangerlussuaq through rolling hills, often with musk oxen and other animals. Then, halfway, the first glimpse of the inland ice appeared. That is real goosebump time.

But Friday is the last chat, details, plans, and landing everyone on the same platform before the weekend starts.

Stay tuned.

PACKING, FIXING, PREPPING

It was all hands on deck. All those who had arrived threw themselves at getting ready physically, working on lowering shoulders and mentally starting the digi-detox and get their minds into the team & Greenland frame.

MEETING UP

As everybody is on their way toward Greenland, the team leaders have already set foot in Kangerlussuaq. The rest will follow during the next days.
All the cargo with food and equipment was there waiting and intact! So now the real work begins to piece together every small detail for the trip. By the end of the week we should all be set for the crossing.

Stay tuned!

AROUND THE WORLD, DAY -8

Last frantic packing. calls and checks. Guids heading for the airport today and the rest following over the next days. This is countdown time and drams and endless preparatiobs are about to become real - and serious.

Stay tuned and follow the team here!