The expedition is now picking up speed with steeper descent down the west side of the ice cap. Yesterday they covered 36 km in good weather conditions. It was the first day at camp where there was no wind and they walked around in their shirts since it was “too hot”. They were at 1,600 meters and planned to do
Author: Arctic Hiking
A turning point in the expedition
May 16 offered nice weather and the expedition covered 32 km in seven hours. They encountered more icecap “traffic” because they met two other groups and saw three others without meeting them. This day was also a turning point because now their heading is now more towards NW but also because the DYE2 station was on their way. The station
More coverage with better weather conditions and some decent
It can be a lot of work to wake up and dig out your tent is covered with snow during the night. This was the case on May 11. They woke up early and managed to ski almost 30 km in four 2 hour rounds. At the camp, they made a shelter because one more storm day was expected. People
Rest day and another birthday celebration
Each day we receive a message from the group via inReach technology and we also provide them with the latest weather forecast and maybe short news from home. On May 9 they noted that the uphill battle is over and it’s downhill from now on. They covered 22.7 km in seven active hours and skied in four 1-hour 45 min
Party time on the glacier
July 8 brought 21.4 km with good skiing conditions and the warmest weather in many days. -15°C in the morning and -9°C in the evening. They met the other Icelandic group crossing the icecap from west to east at around 10 am. There was a celebratory mood with laughter and fun. Icelandic and Greenlandic flags were waved and our group
Birthday celebrations
It was a cold morning on May 6 with temperatures close to -30°C. The weather was calm and the temperature went up to “comfortable” -14°C during the day. Skiing conditions were still unfavorable and Einar got tired of keeping the skins still under his skis. He decided to cut them on the long side which made skiing much better. They
Snowdrift and -25°C
Yesterday morning (May 5) our friends crossing the Greenland glacier had strong winds and serious snowdrift. Therefore they decided it would be better to rest rather than spend energy fighting the storm. They estimate that they have 3 more days to go before they get to the top of the glacier at 2,400 meters. When the top of the ice
Coldest day of the expedition
Yesterday (May4) was the coldest day so far, -23°C in the morning with temperatures reaching -17°C in the afternoon. Beautiful weather with NNW wind and heavy skiing conditions. The so-called sand-paper snow that many polar explorers know was problematic because snow becomes stiff and skis stop gliding in temperatures below -20°C. It was hard work to ski over 16 km
The 2,000 meters mark reached
The expedition participants woke up yesterday, May 3, with NW gale winds and -20°C. The skies were bright and beautiful weather. They put on their warmest clothes but soon had to take them off when the wind went down. The glacier’s surface was rough to begin with but got smoother later in the day, They skied 16 km in in
The going is rough
It was cold yesterday morning, -17°C and windy. At first the visibility was limited but after a while it cleard up. The glaciers surface is now rough with large sastrugies and heavy skiing conditions. In the afternoon they covered more ground and the day ended in 16 km in four active rounds of skiing. Relatively good achievemnet cosidering the cicumstances.
