The short version...

Home-made superhero

Spooky bushman

Deep snow on the ascent, Day 1.

More snow coming, Camp 1. (Marit)

Going uphill is hard work... Fresh snow, whiteout and lots of structures, Day 12.

Weather standby, Day 14.

Digging out the tent (Camp 12/13) after the storm, Day 14. (Marit)

A beautiful day with -26C in the morning, two days before reaching the highest point, Day 17. (Atle)

DYE II, an abandoned American military base, Day 23. (Marit)

Kitchen police.

Lunch time!

The last night on the glacier, Camp 27.

Challenging terrain on the last day, Day 28. (Marit)

Challenging terrain on the last day, Day 28. (Atle)

We made it!! Day 28.

Marit's skis made it too (sort of).

Marit's contribution to the Ugliest Fingers Contest.

Atle's contribution to the Ugliest Fingers Contest.

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Day 28: What an amazing final day! Yes, FINAL! We made it all the way off the ice cap at 21:30 after a long day of pathfinding in a maze of ice. Absolutely beautiful, but quite draining as it was up and down and around for the last 20 km averaging at a speed of down to 1 km an hour in the most difficult parts. At times we were wondering if the coordinates we were using were a practical joke, but it probably was not although it was more of a challenge than we had imagined. The weather was perfect and the famous melting water was nowhere to be seen! A no less than fantastic way to finish the crossing! Dist: 33.7 km (as a bird flys) Pos: N67deg09.179min W050deg03.276min Elev: 513 m

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Day 28: What an amazing final day! Yes, FINAL! We made it all the way off the ice cap at 2130 after a long day of pathfinding in a maze of ice. Absolutely beautiful but quite draining as it was up and down and around for the last 20 km averaging at a speed down to 1 km an hour in the most difficult parts. At times we were wondering if the coordinates we were using were a practical joke, but it probably was not although it was more difficult than we had imagined. The weather was perfect and the famous melting water was nowhere to be seen! A no less fantastic way to finish the crossing! Dist: 33.7 km (straight line) Pos: N67deg09.179min W050deg03.276min Elev: 513 m

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Day 27: Woke up to fresh snow this morning, which is not as intriguing as it may sound. In this game it is just a slowing factor and as it kept on snowing the visibility was quite poor. But, it was an exciting day today as we passed Dog camp, so we didnt mind too much. Dog camp was a white spot as any other, but what made it special was that we made a turn! Well, maybe not super exciting, but we are now working our way down for real! A bleek morning turned into a lovely afternoon and we have a gorgous view of the somehow changed landscape where ice is partly showing and the terrain is more hilly. We are very excited about tomorrow because we might get off the ice and finish the expedition. But, it is still about 35 km left and we are unsure about the conditions of what is in front of as well as how the weather will be.. So, the safest bet is Friday. Dist: 30.8 km Pos: N67deg09.346min W049deg16.403min Elev: 1073 m

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Day 26: We are quite pleased with the progress we have had lately. Today was another beautiful day and we are approaching the finish line. If the decent goes well we might be off the glacier in 2 days! If not we have enough food to stay alive for another month or so. We are not sure how difficult it will be to get off the ice, so it may take some time.. A minor concern is that Marits skis are about to break, but they have been holding up with cracked steel edges for a week now, so we recon they will make it all the way. Our main pain these days is our feet. Todays comfort food is pancakes! Dist: 34.6 km Pos: N67deg05.303min W048deg36.754min Elev: 1380 m

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Day 25: The warmest day so far! When the wind gave up and the mercury hit red numbers this we found it almost unbearable..but in a good way. Everything gets easier when it warms up, except keeping stuff dry. But the ski bindings are not fighting us anymore, neither are the zippers, matches or anything made of plastic or rubber, and going to the loo is almost pleasant. At present it is about 10 below which is still warm for being late. Todays snack winner was kangaroo jerky and the winning stride was the one reducing the distance left to the edge of the ice cap to less than 100 km! Dist: 32.2 km Pos: N66deg55.697min W047deg55.809min Elev: 1607m

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Day 24: A couple of inuits on dog sleds caught up with us this afternoon on their way to pick up some tourists in Kangerlussuaq. They came from Isortoq and told us that the British expedition that we killed time with in Tasiilaq got in trouble during the storm (a horrible piteraq, as they said) and had to be rescued. That made us realize how severe weather really was while we were sheltered by the tent. For the next 3 days or so we are headed towards a point called Dog camp and not straight towards the exit point of the glacier. This is to avoid problems with the melting water which has trapped expeditions previous years. Dist: 37.1 km Pos: N66deg45.626min W047deg19.858min Elev: 1776 m

400 km

Marit and Atle have according to the coordinates they've given, skied 400 km now. That means they have about 150 km to go - 25 km a day leaves only 6 days before they've made it!

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Day 23: A fabulous day! We arrived at DYE2 in the morning and spent a few hours to check out the bizzare abandoned military base. It sure was something else looking like a disaster had struck. Everything was in place but in a huge mess partly covered in snow, ice cold and dark. We spoke briefly with a guy working at the air strip (training base for planes going to Antartica) who is the only other person we met in 3 weeks. He claimed that we were the first to pass by from the East this year! We figured that it was in order to cook our only gourmet dinner of the crossing tonight with sirloin steaks, red wine and chocolate mousse as highlights. Excellent! Dist: 22.6 km Pos: N66deg34.599min W046deg37.935min Elev: 2017m

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Day 22: The highlight of today was most definetly when the roof of DYE2 appeared in the horizon at lunch time. It is the only landmark of any kind we have seen in three weeks and number 1 tourist attraction around here. We camped about 5 km away and are excited to explore the old military base tomorrow! We celebrated the grand view with pancakes for dessert. Dist: 28km Pos: N66deg29.618min W046deg09.415min Elev: 2132m

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Day 21: A long day in almost perfect weather. 17 below and just a breeze. We didnt get as far as we had hoped for today, and are a bit too far away from DYE2 to make it all the way there tomorrow. But we had a great day and enjoy being out here although our bodies are starting to complain.. Dist: 29.7 km Pos: N66deg29.925min W045deg31.631min Elev: 2242m

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Day 20: A cold windy day turned into an amazing afternoon.. minus 17C, a brilliant setting sun and no wind! According to the gps we have been going down hill all day, but we cant really tell..except that we are skiing with less effort and are getting farther. Dist: 31.6 km Pos: N66deg29.090min W044deg51.720min Elev: 2333m

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Day 19: Turens høydepunkt. At some point today we passed the highest point without knowing exactly when. The landscape looked the same, the horizon looked the same, the wind was constant, but slowly but surely the gravity worked less against us. The coordinates were off, so when the gps showed a steady decrease in elevation and we felt confident that there would be no more incline we replaced the short climbing skins with kick wax! What a differance that made! Finally we are skiing! Another highlight of today is that we are now a two digit distance from DYE2. Dist: 26.9km Pos: N66deg28.931min W044deg09.680min Elev: 2452m

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Day 17: Woke up to minus 26.5C and blue skies! Bitterly cold but beautiful. We are aproaching the highest point now. According to our coordinates we are two days away, but according to the map we are only a few vertical meters short of the top of our route! We are looking forward to some more speed as it is getting flatter and soon heading down hill. Dist: 28.1 km Pos: N66deg25.812min W043deg01.187min Elev: 2428m

200 km

Marit and Atle have now skied more than 200 km. 350 km to go.