Adventure on Greenland’s ice: 26 km in biting cold

Distance and conditions

Another record day today: we covered 26 kilometers. The weather is still calm and stable, nice and sunny during the day. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s minus 20 when you pack up your tent and minus 15 while we’re walking during the day. So everyone is still walking in full gear, wearing face masks and ski goggles. It’s often hard to see each other’s faces, but in terms of walking weather, it’s actually perfect.

Balance between warmth and effort

It’s a bit tricky to find the balance between the sweltering heat in your hardshell with the sun on it and staying warm enough. So a bit of ventilation without getting too cold and without starting to sweat. We managed it quite well.

Encounter with Ice Track and course

This morning during the first shift, we saw the Icetrek cavalry walking a few kilometers ahead to our left. We just did our own thing and followed our own course, which actually went quite well today. We walked a pretty straight line, we think, at least for us. And quite by surprise, we ran into Ice Track again at the end of the day during the last shift. Only they had already set up camp and we went one stage further. That means we’ve now made up for the time lost due to all the equipment failure, and that was a very nice surprise.

Outlook and margin

We still have little margin towards the end of the trip, but with the distances we’re making now, we’re doing really well. It looks like the walking weather will remain stable and good for at least another three days. So after all the bad luck we’ve had, that’s a real gift. In the evening in the tent, we have a sort of group meeting during dinner. Then we talk through the day together: what went well, what could be better, what can we still do to be even more efficient, to get that extra kilometer every day. What we come up with seems to be paying off reasonably well. Navigation is improving and we’re a bit more efficient in the morning, so there’s more time left for walking.

Motivation and uncertainty

This actually gives us a lot of hope that we’re just going to make it, provided there isn’t a two or three-day storm coming soon that keeps us stuck in the tent. But for now, it doesn’t look like it, so that’s great news.

Birds and thoughts

I heard from Basecamp that it’s indeed possible that birds actually live here. I wouldn’t know how, because it’s so desolate. It’s even more desolate than the desert, I think. In the desert, there’s still all kinds of life, and here there’s really only ice. And yet, we all saw a bird again today. The reactions to it were quite different. I thought: that’s actually quite beautiful, and I can see Jasmijn flying by for a moment now and looking at us. And behind me someone shouted: “Hey, do you want to eat that? Where’s the gun?” Something about different priorities.

Physical strain and shifts

The heavy eating has really started now as well. The toll taken by eight hours of actual walking and pulling a pulk a day is quite tough. The first shift is okay. In the second shift, you start to feel the weight of your pulk and most people get hungry during the day too. The third shift is hard, but at least you’re heading towards the halfway point. The fourth shift is even harder, but then at least you’re heading towards the noodle break. The fifth shift is just really unpleasant. And then we squeeze out the sixth shift as well, and then we reach a nice kilometer count and it’s the last one.

End of the day and routine

It’s quite tough. Everyone is really tired at the end of the day. And then, of course, food has to be made and snow melted for dinner, so the work isn’t finished then. But the routine is well established. Everyone is still doing well and having a good time. There’s plenty of chatting and eating, and we’ll just keep on trekking as you can see.