X’GREENLAND 2024

FOLLOW ROBERT, MAREK, ULRIK, AYUKA, AXEL, SATISH & ARNAUD

 

Breaking news! - First 5 back in Tasiilaq

A piteraq, is local, fierce and very destructive. This was the prediction we picked up some days ago. It will hot around midnight today.

A lot has happened today. As some of you may have picked up, a big storm is hitting the area tonight around midnight. This is what the locals call a piteraq. They are extreme catabatic winds that often hit very locally. They are normally not occurring at this time of the year, but with an unusually cold May, they will hit the Isortoq area Sunday and Monday.

Our 2 teams had a race against time to get down before it hit. After stunning days in already strong gale winds, they came down in time. When we saw that, we managed to get a helicopter to take them out of the area. It was only a small helicopter, so it has to make 3 trips. It has all happened so fast, but it was by far the safest and best solution.

So here is proof of the pudding, the first 5 setting foot in civilization, Beautiful Tasiilaq.

 

day 29 - Another day in paradise jajajaja...

Or I should rather say another windy wake up.
The weather hasn't changed much since yesterday, with really high winds. But at least it is sunny 
For those who don't like the wind, or even skiing in the wind, Greenland is not a place for you.  We have been sooooo lucky so far with the weather, and we are now paying the bill. 
A crossing without wind wouldn't be a real crossing 😉
Today we started our proper way down, and with a strong tailwind. Good that we put some brakes on our pulka... we are literally traveling with the wind.
I personally love skiing without actually seeing where I ski,  as the wind blows and carries all the snow in a thin cloudy layer just above ground...magical 😉
As we it gets steeper, we can cleary that none of us is a professional "pulka skier", but everyone found a way to move efficiently, with our without skis, and with more or less falls  😉
And for the first time in 4 weeks,  we got some views, with a few mountains and even the sea... i guess it must be the East coast 😉
As always it is si nice to get to camp,  even though the neighborhood is pretty icy.
Those noodles never tasted so good...

day 28

No white out today, but a little Greenlandic breeze.
It was actually a beautiful day,  for those who could only appreciate it. 
We woke up in the rumbling sound of a shaking tent. Not easy to find the motivation to leave the cozyness of our sleeping bags. But after a cup of coffee, and all our layers on, we found out that the show outside was as cold as beautiful. 
After having found our skis or ski poles burried in the snow, and fighting with our tent to make their fit in their tiny tent bags, we started skiing on a sea of snow, pushed a bit by a gentle 15-20m/s wind.
Sun, snow, wind....a beautiful mix, but pretty challenging mentally.
Setting up the camp in that wind was pretty challenging too, but the team did a great job, learning from their mornings mistakes 🤣

A good night sleep now,  as it seems that tomorrow will be a remake of today...

 

day 27 - to see or not to see (or was it be?🤔?)

Back in the cotton world ! And hopefully for one last time.
We spent the day skiing in a proper white out,  as you can see on the picture, with snow and a nice headwind... what else ?! No much to see other than the brand of the arctic bedding of the fellow skier in front of you... A perfect day to get lost in your thoughts... and already start processing this unique experience that is slowly getting to an end...
But we are not done yet, and believe me the hardest is still to come, as wind seems to be our next battle....

 

Day 26 - What a magical afternoon...

We had to wait 25 days to finally find the best skiing conditions. A bright sun slightly hiding behind a few clouds,   so we don't cook, and a light breeze to keep us cool so we don't bake...
It is so magical to hear the sound of the skis gliding on that fresh but already packed crispy snow, making our own trail through this white desert.
I wish this afternoon will never end... 
And cherry on the cake, we covered our first 30kms...
We all enjoyed it as much as we could, because we don't know what Mother's nature will throw at us in the next few days..

Sweet dreams... it is already snowing again as I'm writing ! 

 

Day 25

We already miss the sastrugis 😂
With all the snow that felt the last 2 days, we are now dragging our pulka into 60 cms of fresh snow, taking turns to break trails. Such a hard work... but a good way to test our team spirit.

It was beautiful though, the snow covered the entire ice cap as far as we could see, like a white blanket... and we were moving and navigating into that white ocean... with no other form of life than that little birds, probably snow bunting, who came to visit us at camp...

Lucky us, it stopped snowing late morning, and even cleared up later in the day,  so we set up camp under a (warm) sun...
We couldn't believe we covered more than 20 kms. Team work always pays back ! 

It was so much fun that we are all excited to do it again tomorrow 😅

 

Day 24:

Heavy snow and high winds were in forecast for this morning so we decided to sleep-in few more hours and start late afternoon. We started skiing around 12pm and winds slowly died down around 2pm. We covered 9km in total over 6 legs/6hrs. 
Beautiful day with stormy skies. Everyone were excited to sleep in extra and that extra rest helped to plough though deep snow later in the day. Overall a great day. 1 day and 9km closer to Isortoq. Excited to see what tomorrow brings our way! Everyone is in great spirit! Ciao!

 

day 23 - Another day,  another battle...

After an unique breakfast, which recipe is kept secret in Oslo, we are ready to face the sastrugi infantry that took position in front of us...
As we got off the tent, we were happy to see that Mother's nature was willing to give us a hand, as it was snowing... All those little ice soldiers got burried under snow, and we spent our morning skiing across an empty battle field. 
Unfortunately, Mother's nature decided to test us, and didn't tell us where the switch was to turn the snow off.
So it kept on snowing for the whole day, with no other views that the top end of our skis, the only contrast with the white curtain in front of us. 

We set up camp just before getting burried as well,  and just on time before the wind picked up...  Stormy night ahead... we might have to shovel our way to the East tomorrow...
But for now,  we are enjoying the cozyness of our  sleeping bag while listening to the snow crashing on our tent.. 

 

day 22 - last day of sun (in a while)

Another day spent in the sastrugi field. 
This time, we faced the sastrugi infantry, hundreds and hundreds of small ice soldiers surrounding us, not willing to let us pass.
We fought them with our skis, ski poles and pulkas, trying to make our way across this army of ice crystals...

Nobody really won this battle,  but we left most of the infantry behind,  and set up camp after a good 26 kms of fighting...
Time to recover now, as we can see a lot more ice soldiers as far as our eyes can see on our path for tomorrow
The chicken masala has never been so good than tonight !!! 

Great job team...

 

day 21 - sastrugi day

What a day !
We have been pretty lucky with the weather so far ( as long as you don't mind crispy cold mornings ), and haven't seen any sastrugi...
Well,  this was before today ! 
We just spent the day skiing across a huge sastrugi field. It seems that they all gathered here and waited for us ! 
Up, down, around, ... repeat ! Our pulkas felt heavy just like the first days...
We lost a battle today,  but we haven't lost the war yet...

The team did amazingly well as we still managed to cover a decent distance, but I can promise you that we will all sleep well tonight, recovering for another battle tomorrow...
The sun still stand high above the horizon as we all go to bed...

 

day 20 - the eartern side

Do you know what?! The East side looks really similar to the West side so far 😁
We skied our first 28 km on the East side today, under the sun and kept cool by a refreshing Greenlandic breeze.
It was obviously a big day for us, even if we don't feel that we are going down yet. But it was an even bigger day for Robert, who found out how to ski. 19 days in, and Robert realized that he could actually glide with his skis 😁😋 ( After long negotiations, we finally convinced him to take his long skins off... )

We got to camp pretty tired, and were all happy to crawl in our tent for a well deserved dinner and hot chocolate.
I can promise you that we are all going to sleep well tonight.

 

day 19

Tonight we are sleeping on the "summit ridge" after a pretty good day on skis...
Tomorrow, we will start our loooooong way down on the East side...

The diary is cut short as it is heads down now. We all focus on moving east as far as we can before a serious weather change on Saturday morning that threatens to dump a load of snow on us.

More to come

 

day 18

Another freezing morning followed by a boiling afternoon.  Once the wind calm down, the -15°C actually turns into feeling like a +15°C. Another one hour skiing, and we would all have ended naked on our skis....
After having found the perfect place to camp, we treated ourselves with waffles, jam, whipping cream,  and even some Indian delicacies...
What a great way to end the day....

And tonight, we are going to sleep with the moon.

 

day 17 - Ski, pee, drink, eat, repeat....

A rule from the past (?) at DYE II

It has been 5 days now that we are skiing under a polar high pressure, bringing lower and even cold temperatures ( -25C ), but a sunny blue sky. ( you cannot have it all here :-)
We know that we will end up paying the bill sooner or later, when a low pressure will cross our path by the end of the week,  so we try to enjoy it as much as we can..

And today,  we celebrated it with 8h of productive skiing, closing up to the 25 kms mark pr day. A couple of days more, and we are hoping to reach "the summit", the highest point on our path, before starting our slow descent on the East side...
But one day at a time. For now, we are enjoying a well-deserved rest ( and eventually a sip of whisky ) in the cozyness of our tents...

 

day 16

Today was another day in paradise. We started with a polar-beautiful, sunny day, but very cold. Much colder than minus 20C and with just a light wind. Afterward, the wind died down almost completely, and it felt warmer and warmer due to the baking sun – even if the temperature stayed really low.  

We did 8 full legs and we skied more than 23 kms. We are all well! 

Robert

 

day 15

After a nice and relaxed, but crispy cold morning, we took off a bit later than usual. 
We left Dye II in our back to venture into the unknown again.... no more point in the horizon to aim at for the next 2 weeks or so, except for the sun.
Ski conditions are surprisingly better. Not long after we left Dye II, the snow packed and got a bit harder. So we ended up our short day of 6 hours of skiing with 18 kms in our pocket. And very happy with that. On top of that we went from a freezing cold start to a "baking on the ice" afternoon as the  wind died out. 

Greenland is full of surprise... and magic ! 

We ended the day thinking of all our Norwegian friends who must be partying now, celebrating this special patriotic day...
Tonight, the Norwegian flag will stand proudly at our camp...

 

Day 14

DYE II... the mystical DYE II... The one and only target that was in our mind for the last 13 days. 
We started seeing his rounded white head after our second leg of the morning, and spent the next 4h aiming for it... the easiest navigation ever, at least on a clear day.
Once we set up camp at its base, we spent the afternoon traveling into the past.. this is such an unique place, where time stopped in the late 1988.
We won't tell you more, as you have to come and see it for yourself :-)

Really cold, but glarious sunny day ( -24C), - happy explorers....

 

day 13

It was a very cold, but absolutely epic day. We were zombi skiing after lunch when the double polar halos appeared in the sky! One halo was around the sun, and another huge halo all across the sky. AND, it had the rainbow-colored edge!! The standard rainbow also decided to show up next to the halos. It was gorgeous.

We all stopped to snap a few photos and skied on with renewed sprites. We did 23km at the end. :) Another cold day tomorrow and we will be reaching DYE II! A big (in all senses) milestone.

Ayuka and the Ravens Team

 

day 12

We started off with total whiteout this morning. It resulted in pretty creative, snake navigating while staring down at the compass holder. Still, we did well and covered 20km!
My glaciology science project is going well. Today I collected the sample #4 and even had time for a first photo with the Explorers Club flag ;) 
Upon returning, I will really need to get a good facial back in NY to recover from the skin being constantly beaten caused by Greenland's harsh wind, sun, and cold!

But all is well, and I hope to be at DYE II in 2 days.

 

Day 11

Windy and cold day,  we skied 20 kms. 
White sky meets the white ground, couldn't even tell the snow pattern this morning. Challenging to navigate.
Dehydrated under nose and smelly feet are part of our identity now.
Sparkly snow crystals lifts my spirits always this afternoon. 
Windy and flappy tents this evening. 

Ayuka and the Team

 

Day 10

We got a bit of everything today: we woke up with very light snow, and started skiing with wind and almost white-out conditions before it cleared up to give some space to our beloved sun...

We can feel that we are slowly getting higher as the snow pack is getting slightly harder.... which obviously makes our lives easier, as our "belugas" (sleds) are gliding faster and easier....
Nobody...nobody for miles around... just us, and the power and beauty of nature, rocked by the songs of the wind and the cracking sound of the snow...

Life is good up here...

 

Day 9

Another day in paradise. 
Ski, pee, drink, eat,enjoy,...repeat !
And that's what we have been doing for the last 2 days.  Sun, blue sky, not a single cloud, and a light breeze to remind us that we are still in Greenland...
Such an amazing feeling to make our way through this white ( and almost flat 😉) desert, leaving a temporary track that disappears behind the horizon.....
We all enjoyed it as much as we could,  as we know it doesn't last very long here

Can't wait to see what tomorrow will throw at  us....
The A-team..

 

day 8

What a day to be alive !
We were ready for a big battle, prepared to drag our pulkas in deep sticky snow for the entire day... Instead, we spent the day sunbathing, gliding through this powdery snow... 
We should thank the light wind that was blowing most of the day, for packing and keeping the snow as cold as possible..

What a treat it was... gliding on this sparkling ice cap, under a perfect blue sky, using the sun to navigate through this magical icy world..
We won't see the stars tonight,  but we saw millions of the shiniest ones on the ice... and now in our eyes ! 

Please Mother's nature, send us more day like this....

 

day 7

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Marek today. He injured his hips, was I a lot of pain and could neither walk nor ski. Really sad so early in the trip. It was the reason for the day in the tent yesterday. The weather was too bad for any helicopter to land in our area.
We wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.

Once left alone on this white desert, it didn't take long before we all clipped on our pulka and started skiing... after a day in the tent, I guess we all felt the need to get some exercice. 
And what exercice !!! 
We spent the afternoon dragging our pulkas through all the fresh snow that fell last night. They never felt so heavy...
Breaking the trail was obviously challenging for the one of us that was leading, but stopping skiing would make it very difficult to start again, as the snow would stick and pile under our pulkas...

Slowly but steady, after 5h of intense effort, and a good well earned 10kms of ground covered, we were happy to setup camp and have dinner...
It was impressive to see the team working so well together, helping each other and taking turns when one of us would get "stuck".

No need to tell you we will all sleep well tonight. 
Hopefully we'll get more "glide"

 

DAY 5/6

Nice relaxing day in the tent for the team, after 4 days of pulling our heavy "beluga".
A well deserved rest while watching the snow falling for the first time since we stepped on the ice cap and wiping off our tracks...
The day is spend on taking care of our feet, reorganising our gear and fixing minor breakage... without forgetting our whisky our fireball tasting evening. 
I think we are all gonna sleep well tonight, ready to break the tail tomorrow.

Arn and the A-team.

 

day 4

Day 4 was a beautiful blue sky day. We skied 18 km in 6 and a half hours, the longest distance thus far. The team is looking strong, and morale is high!

Starting the day at 8:15am, the plan was to work on 5-50min legs before lunch (with 10min breaks). And 3-50min legs post lunch. The plan was well executed minus few minor bumps - the team is slowly working towards efficiently navigating on ice and quickly turning over camps. 

Camp 4 setup with kitchen area and bathroom is looking great. Its snowing this evening for the first time since we got on the ice. Excited about learning new skills navigating in this weather (whiteout) tomorrow.
More tomorrow!

 

day 3

We finally reached the top edge of the ice fall and made our first ski tracks on the ice cap. What a relief to trade the crampons we were wearing for the last 2 days and finally get on our skis...
Heading 125°, we all take turns every hour to keep the right direction and lead the group at their best pace... We stop every hour to refuel on food and drink.

After one and a half day on ice,  it's a real treat to ski on snow,  which is now all around us. 
We skied right next to a huge water hole called "moulin", last thing we'll see before entering the "deep white".
A big thanks to our guide Arnaud who skied back to get a shovel that fell off one of our sled 1h before we actually realized it... any piece of equipment is so precious here, and our shovels are an important part of our routine duties. 

Now,  we have all our shovels to set up camp and enjoy a sunny evening. 

Axel and the team.

 

Day 2

First hour - brutal! Steeper sections and sled carries. After 2 hours we found passage between icy walls and progressively got higher onto flatter glacier. Still on crampons though. Where did all the snow go? 
Everyone is still feeling upbeat and strong.
We are all looking for the flatter terrain ahead of us. 

Marek and the ‘Ice-Cream Team’.

 

day 1

Here we are.... After hours, days, weeks and even months of preparations and logistics, we finally took off from Kangerlussuaq this morning to reach the magical Greenland ice cap. Not only is the road beautiful,  but we even got to see a few muskoxen, reindeers, and arctic hares - all still dressed in their winter clothes... 
Nothing surprising: even if Spring has been around for a while now,  the temperatures today are a good reminder that winter doesn't want to give up... all benefits for us,  as this is what we need to cross the ice fall and keep our feet dry... 

We didn't even have to carry our gear across the moraine to access the glacier,  but instead, pull our pulkas on a frozen snowy ground. We couldn't have hoped for a better start. A quick and almost sunny launch, soaking into the beauty of this majestic ice cap,  we started making our way through this mighty ice fall... 4hours of pulling,  hauling, pushing, braking, ‘cramponing’,... and guess what, even smiling... later,  we found a small place between crevasses that could welcome our tent... what a day to be alive ! 
Can't wait for tomorrow...
Arn and the team...

 

ready to go

Last meal. Last toast. First group photo. No way back :-)

 

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 -7

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!