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SKI GREENLAND 2003

Traversing Greenland on Skis 2003

An expedition to cross Greenland's ice cap
from the east coast to the west coast, skiing while pulling pulks ( sleds)

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Eventually we will add a slightly expanded version of the trip report to give a few more details.

For now life is a bit busy.

Unlike Nansen our modern world of technology enables us to stay in touch from any where in the world.
Like all modern day explorers we will be carrying a satellite phone and calling in occasionally to give an update of the trip.
Once the trip begins you can come to this page to check on our progress.

Day 1 Thurs April 24

Our helicopter flight from Tasiilaq to Isertoq was a regularly scheduled flight leaving at 1000. We were told it was ready to leave so hurried down to the Heliport a couple of blocks away. We hauled our sleds from the ware house to the heliport in a couple of trips each. Everything was weighed and excess baggage paid one more time. We were then told that the flight would be delayed. Not sure why or for how long.

While waiting for the flight we were asked by the airline if we would be willing to fly with and hold a small (maybe 2 year old) native girl. The people with this girl didn't speak any English so we weren't sure if she was with her parents or if he was flying back to Isertoq to her parents.

We probably left Tasiilaq about 1200 but not really sure what time it was. We were more concerned about just getting there and getting started no matter what time it was. The flight was about 20 minutes flying over open water and frozen sea and pack ice along very spectacular coastal mountains still covered with snow. Just as we approached Isertoq we could see in the distance the ice cap and glacier were we were to start.

In Isertoq we landed on a small hill just out side the village. Weather was very nice sunny and warm with no wind. There were probably 20 villagers standing out waiting for the Helicopter to land. We are not sure who ended up with the little girl. They loaded up the cargo that wasn't ours including a outboard motor onto pushing sleds and pushed everything into town a few hundred yards away.

David stayed with the equipment to protect it from potential roaming dogs while Mike walked into town to find out about getting a boat ride. He was eventually successful at finding someone that was willing to take us to the glacier right away. We started pushing our sleds into town and eventually loaded them onto the local push sleds and a local man helped us get them to the dock.

After loading into the boat we were off to the ice cap. The water in this little inlet was very open with only very small pieces of occasional ice floating around. It might have taken 20-30 minutes to get to the end where there was about 1/2 mile of sea ice (about 8-12 inches thick probably) still in place before the edge of the glacier. After pulling up to the edge of the sea ice and throwing out the anchor we unloaded on to the ice and said goodbye to civilization.

A little bit of time was spent packing and getting fuel poured into bottles and then we were off to the ice cap. On the way across the sea ice there were boot tracks that we saw probably from local hunters. Then about half way across we came across two sets of very large prints that we think were probably Polar Bear tracks as they were to large and far apart for a person. They were very fresh and not going our way so we kept on skiing. Our goal was to get above 500 meters this night so that we would be above were bears normally would go.

It wasn't long before we were at the edge of the ice cap. We crossed the sea land transition across a few small cracks and started up a steep slope along the edge of the glacier and where land was still showing. We made one last quick stop to fill a water bottle with running melt water and then said goodbye to the few rocks that were still showing.

Day2   Fri April 25 Coordinates called in Mid day N 65 degrees, 49 min, .577 sec., W 38 degrees, 57 min, 73 sec.
           They are about    17 miles up on the glacier. Weather has been great, they are through the area with potential for
           crevasses and polar bear danger. No bears seen.

Day3 Sat April 26 Position N 66 degrees, 05 min, .091 sec., W 39 degrees, 24 min, .887 sec. Elevation 5390
Weather conditions: Light fog, about 6''- 1' of snow on ground. Skied 17.8 miles

Day4 Sun April 27 Position N 66 degrees, 18 min, 120 sec., W 39 degrees, 40 min, 623 sec.
Weather conditions: AM 6 degrees F with a 20-25 mph headwind. Skies clear. Traveled 16.8 miles.

Day5 Mon 4/28 Position N 66degrees, 29 min, .007 sec, W 40 degrees, 01 min, .626 sec
They have been skiing about 12 hours each day. Traveled 16 miles

Day6   Tues 4/29 Position N 66 deg, 40 min, 464 sec, W 40 deg, 30 min, 044 sec
           Weather conditions have been great. Daytime temp in the 20's, sunny and warm
           Elevation is 6,964 feet. Traveled 18.5 miles.

Day7 Wed 4/30 Position N 66 deg, 50min, .662 sec, W 40 deg, 49 min, .900 sec. Elev. 7400ft
Weather and ski conditions remain good. Traveled 18 miles.

Day8 Thur 5/1 N 66 deg, 57min, .670 sec, W 41 deg, 24 min, 812 sec. Elev. 7760ft
Weather conditions: cold: 3 deg at 10pm, cloudy with light breeze. Traveled 13.9miles breaking through 2-3in of new snow.

Day9 Fri 5/2 No Position called in

Day10 Sat 5/3 N 67 deg, W 42 deg. Traveled 15.6 miles. They are 145 miles onto the ice cap. Elev. 8300ft
Weather conditions are still good. Temperature is cold -10 at night.

Day11 Sun 5/4 They have crossed the halfway point!! Position N 67 deg, 05 min, .696 sec, W 43 deg, 13 min, .937sec.
Elev. 8,170 ft. Traveled 19.8 miles. A strong wind blowing from the side and tail.

Day12 Mon 5/5 Position N 67 deg, 06 min, 254 sec, W 43 deg, 51 min, .857 sec. Traveled 17 miles
Weather stormy - ground blizzard most of the day.

Day13 Tues 5/6 Position N 67 deg, 5 min, .647 sec, W 47 deg, 39 min, .218 sec Traveled 21.4 miles Elevation 7,580 ft.
Had a tailwind but encountered hard sastrugi which was very hard on their feet.

Day14 Wed 5/7 Position is N 67 deg, 04 min, .691 sec, W 45 deg, 24 min, .295 sec. Traveled 20 miles. Temp -1 deg F
Routine is waking up between 4:15-4:45am; 3-3 1/2 hrs getting ready and then skiing from 8:30a-8:30p. Feet are tired.
They saw several flocks of geese yesterday, moving from east to west.

Day15 Thur 5/8 Position N 67 deg, 05 min, .094 sec, W 46 deg, 08 min, .793 sec. Traveled a tough 20 miles with snow squalls and face
wind. They are about 105 miles from the end of their trip - I think they're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Day16 Fri 5/9 No report

Day17 Sat 5/10 No coordinates to report. They have reached a road cut for a vehicle test track on the ice cap. Route will follow the road
from now on. Traveled 19.3 miles. Trucks travel this road to the test track so the men are seeing other people for the first time in 2
weeks

Day18 Sun 5/11 Traveled about 19 miles, with very windy, white out conditions. Temperatures much warmer, they are below
5,000 ft elevation and on their way to sea level. About 48 miles yet to go. The plan is to be finished late Tues or early Wed.
Stay tuned!!

Day19 Mon 5/12 Stormy conditions yesterday, white out, nasty stuff, but made 19 miles in spite of all of that! They slept inside last night -
came upon an emergency radio repeater station with 2 cots in it - luxury at its finest!! They saw 4 Norwegians yesterday w/sled
dogs that were laid up from the weather.

Day20 Tues 5/13 A contact in Kangerlussauq will pick them up at the ice edge tomorrow (Wed), mid-day.
The ice edge is about 18 miles from town. As of this morning, they have 27 miles to go.

Day21 Wed 5/14 Finished! At 11am Greenland time the men took off their skis, they had reached the western edge of the ice cap.