Greenland Expedition: from Tasiilaq to the Ice Cap in one Day

Departure from Tasiilaq: the Start of our Adventure

Today is finally the day: we have departed from Tasiilaq and are now in the wilderness of Greenland. The adventure began without too many problems. This morning, Rasmus unexpectedly showed up with his 4WD to take our luggage to the harbor. It took two trips with all our stuff. Arriving at the harbor, it turned out that the sea was quite windy, which meant higher waves. It took us an hour to pack our boat, and in the meantime, I had to settle up with Rasmus. Fortunately, the wind died down and we were able to leave.

A Special Boat Trip

With a small fishing boat in front of us and an equally small boat for our luggage, we started the journey. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any seals or whales along the way, but we did see countless impressive icebergs. One of these icebergs had just broken apart, which was a spectacular sight. After three hours of sailing, we reached the fjord near Isortoq, where we were dropped off. There we were, all alone in the vastness of Greenland, with our luggage on the rocks.

The Trek to the Ice Cap

From the rocks, we still had to walk 800 meters to the ice cap, a route that went uphill and downhill over rocks. We decided to first walk to the ice cap with some luggage, so that everyone knew where we had to go. After that, we would continue in relay form. During our trip, we met Oerlim Nilsson from Norway, together with his team of a Norwegian and two Irishmen. They had also just started their expedition across the ice cap.

Meeting other Adventurers

Back at our drop-off point, we met the team from Ousland Explorers with Kathinka. After a short chat, we started the hard work: transporting about 400 kilos of luggage over the rocks to the ice cap. We did this in six stages, and at two minutes to six “p.m.” we finally reached the beginning of the ice cap.

Setting up Camp

On the ice cap, we repacked our sleds and walked another 350 meters to set up our tents on hard ice. It had rained cats and dogs that day and we were soaked, but fortunately the rain stopped exactly at five o’clock, as Wouter, our Basecamp manager, had predicted.

Preparations for Tomorrow

We haven’t walked much more than those 350 meters today, but that gave us time to drain water from our sleds and dry everything. Tomorrow we hope for better weather and fortunately we don’t have to melt snow for water yet, because there is a glacier lake further on.

Safety First: Bear Watch

Bear Watch is also on the program: walking around the tent for an hour looking for polar bears. We hope we don’t encounter them, but we are prepared if that happens. So far this update from day 1. If you ever want to hear this story live, come to the Winter Adventure Fair on October 4th. Free admission! There you can hear more about our adventures and meet expedition members and guides from Arctic Adventure. I’m going to continue with dinner now. Until next time!