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Day 11. An absolutely day, and the first of its kind! During the last 6days we have spent almost 3 full days in the tent hiding from strong winds so progress has been slow! But yesterday we got to see the best of what Greenland has to offer. 15C below and hardly any wind, and the sun felt great! The snow was heavily affected by the previous stormy weather and like a frosen chopped up sea which is a challenge to ski across especially with sleds that are still heavy. We struggle to eat everything on our huge diets (5000/6000 kcal) so the weight reduction of the sleds could and should have been greater. At present we are forcing down the breakfast oatmeal which we have never managed to finish.. Current position: N 66deg07.426'

100 km

According to the coordinates from Marit and Atle, and some pre-assumed coordinates, they've skied about 100 km this far! 450 km to go.

Day 9

I dag har vært en tung dag m mye vind og tungt føre. 2 mil 200m opp. Whiteout. Kryssa Polarsirkelen. Noen frostskader og gnagsår ellers all good.

Today has been a hard day, lots of wind and slow snow. 20 km and 200 m up. Whiteout. Crossed the Artic circle. Some frostbite and blisters, but except from that all good.

Position: N66deg01.412' W 040deg22.501.
For Google Earth: 66° 1'24.00"N, 40°22'30.00"W

Bad Weather

Update by Astrid, Marit's sister.

Marit and Atle are still having some troubles updating themselves, so I received an other phone call last night.

They've been stuck for 2 days, day 5-7, in the tent because of bad weather. Marit could tell me that they had been outside the tent two times each during the two days, to shovel snow to keep the tent from being buried in snow. Apparently the wind has been pretty strong, so they hadn't dared to stand up when they were outside, just crept around the tent. Finally, on day 7, they kept going, though in total 'white out'. It had been a long day Marit could tell me, and the had gained 'a few kilometers' as she said. I imagine that the snow is pretty deep... Most important, they're both good!

Check it out in Google Earth. Latitude: 65°59'13.00"N, Longitude: 39°57'58.30"W

SMS from 881631672441@msg.iridium.com

After 3.5days of strugle in deep heavy snow up a climb of more than 1000m in a complete whiteout we were done with the initial steep ascent and could make the turn and head West straight for DYE2. Today the wind picked up. We put up the tent in 30 knots with a windchill of 38C below. It feels good to be inside! The weather has not been ideal for solar power so the pc is down and blogging is difficult. Current position: N65de@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

2 days on the go

Update from Astrid, Marit's sister.

I got a phone call from Marit today. Marit and Atle are on their way! (Seems like the weather finally cleared up for a while so the helicopter could take off). They've been on the go for 2 days she said, and reported that they're good! They did though have some problems updating the website, so we'll see if they can figure it out. It was a short talk, so that's about it.

Still waiting

There isn’t much doubt that we are ready to get going… In fact, we are anxious to get going!

We were hoping to fly out yesterday, but the flight was cancelled due to weather at the last minute. We even checked out of the hotel, but as it turned out, for no reason other than getting a different room upon return. Today was another day of disappointment and our chat with the one pilot working out here was not very encouraging either. Although the weather forecast for the next couple of days does not look that good, there is slight chance for flying tomorrow.

The last couple of days have been spent going back and forth to the heliport and chatting about the weather with the heliport staff and other travelers. We have also seen the last few remaining sights of Tasiilaq and visited every public building there is, except from the library which will be open tomorrow for two and a half hour.

We have been building up a vast amount of energy since we got here, and are certain that we are ready to leave Tasiilaq!

While the batteries are charging…

Our solargorilla absorbing solar energy while everyone else is in idle state on weather standby. (We did not bring wall plugs.)

..we are making time go pasted, by climbing the highest point in town...

...and visiting the grave yard.

Main road to the grave yard. It will be very interesting pulling heavy sleds going uphill in these conditions!

After three days in Tasiilaq there is not much left to see or do.

Waiting

Marit cannot make the boat go anywhere.

We are still waiting for the weather to improve for helicopter flights. Yesterday we spent the day exploring Tasiilaq. It’s not a large community, so it did not take long. Main events were to explore the harbor and cheer for the winner of the local dog sled race. We also explored other options for getting onto the ice cap that does not involve helicopter, but it does not look good due to some fjords with open water. With the current weather forecast it looks like the first option for getting to Isortoq is on Monday, but the backlog is building up, so Tuesday or Wednesday might be a more realistic.

Tasiilaq - our new home for a while

Yesterday we made it to Tasiilaq, which is one step closer to the starting point. Now we are only one flight away! But, as it has turned out, ONLY is not a valid word in that sentence. Arriving at the heliport in Tasiilaq we learnt that a group of Italians had been waiting for a flight to Isortoq since Monday, and after hours and hours in the 20 m2 waiting area, we started to realize that Isortoq was farther away than we had thought.

Although the weather is unsuitable for operating helicopters, it is not all that bad, so we have been looking into finding other ways to get to Isortoq. From what we understand, the only real option will take about 3-4 days and involve dog sledging and boats across the semi-frozen fjords. An adventure for sure, but as it seems both complex and long-winded to begin with, hoping for a problem-free transfer in bad weather is far-fetched. So, here we are, in Tasiilaq on the Angmagssalik Island hoping for the weather to clear. The heliport is closed until Monday as the forecast is not looking good.

The good news is that we were reunited with all of our equipment last night, and that we have full board and lodging paid by Air Greenland at the nicest hotel in town!