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.

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Day 16: A gorgeous day on the glacier. Sunny, minus 20 and 5 knots wind. On days like this it is hard to remember how nastt today we had a superb day and the others are in the past! Dist: 26.7 km Pos: N66deg21.654 W042deg24.909 Elev: 2334 m

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Day 15: This morning history seemed to be repeating itself. We got up at 5 to make the most of the day, but we soon realize that we were prisoners of the tent for a while. By noon the wind had calmed, so in hour and a half we were heading West. It turned out to be a nice day indeed. The sun came out and Greenland held its breath! For a few hours we didnt even wear our jackets. Minus 18C is not as cold as it used to be (suspecting that being dirty is starting to pay off). Dist: 16.4 km Pos: N66deg15.647min W041deg53.035min Elev: 2201m

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Day 14: Who would have thought, another windy day! At one point we were convinced that it had calmed enough to get going, but the wind averaged at 35 knots so we kept waiting. In the afternoon it was down to 25 knots so we dug out the tent and started skiing at about 1530. The weather was mildly unpleasant, but safe. A lot of hasle for a few hours of skiing and 9.7 km progress, but so much better than being idle. Pos: N66deg12.282min W041deg32.795min Elev: 2124m

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Noen personlige beskjeder (mest fra Marit): ASTRID: Tusen takk for hjelpa med bloggen! Vottene er prima og varme selv om de er frosne og må bankes i fasong om morgenen. INGVILD B: Trakta redda livet mitt her om dagen (eller iallfall en del verdighet). Termotrekket mitt forsvant i samme storm:( FREDRIK: Gorillastæsjet funker flott. Digg med musikk i teltet! ROBERT: Takk for hjelpa med utstyret. Dunjakkene og labbene er i særklasse! Og soveposen min er ikke for varm. AogB: Teltet er bunnsolid! Vi prøver å ta godt vare på det. KASK gutta: Har bodd i balaklaven siden første dag, så testinga tas på alvor! Tok den av her en dag, og det var et syn for guder! Thumbs up for ulla deres! MARI: Bamsemoms er sannelig ypperlig turmat, sel

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Day 13: Waking up to strong winds made us wait for an extra hour or so before deciding to get up and get out when it seemed to have calmed. When the sleds were dug out and everything was packed but the tent the wind rose again and we saw no other option than wait. And that is how today was spent. We moved back in again about 1530 when we decided we wouldnt get anywhere today and built an extra snow brick wind shield as the wind had turned a bit. It seems to be calming down now so we are looking forward to a wonderful day tomorrow where we can hopefully catch up some lost tim

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Day 12. Another day in complete whiteout with the wind back up at 15_20 knots. We are starting to realize that this might be what we have signed up for.. The terrain was the same as yesterday with one exception: it was snowing heavily all day so we had to plow our way across the straturgs. And the funny part was that every bump came as a surprise as all we saw was white. We made it 17.6 km closer to the goal and made it above the magic altitude of 2000m which we are now celebrating with drink of whiskey. Pos: N66deg10.151' W041deg21.359' Elev: 2064m

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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

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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!

Pakketur/ turpakking

We have both spent a lifetime perfecting our last minute abilities, and we have not stopped yet. Finalizing the preparations was not done last week, to put it that way. We’d like to thank everyone that has contributed these last weeks to get everything in place, such as making and packing food, getting all spare parts we want to bring (but not use), getting the communication up and running, and making sure that all electronics will charge. Thanks to Uhrweder and Powertraveller that have provided us with solar cells with accessories, we are powered up the entire trip! (Forøvrig ingen nevnt, ingen glemt – As for the rest of you, you know who you are – Thanks:))

The last night in Trondheim we spent, against all odds, packing and getting ready. Although, we failed getting a good night’s sleep, we were overwhelmingly pleased with the outcome! As we have a good amount of experience bringing overweight on planes, our packing was no less than genius, and consequently SAS did not charge us more than 500 NOK for our luggage mountain:) 

The bags are in Reykjavik, waiting for us to buy some more stuff to stuff in them..!

  

It is factual that bringing such a pile of luggage makes travelling more interesting. Especially, when getting from one airport to the other in Reykjavik (to do an early check-in for the flight the next day) and then getting to the hotel involves three bus rides and a few stretches of walking! We are certainly looking forward to getting on the glacier and start pulling our goods rather than carrying everything.

Yesterday was another long day of travelling… or waiting for flights to be more precise. We made it to Greenland, which was quite exciting actually. But, after that, not much have happened. We never thought that we’d be down for weather on day -1, but that is actually the case. Our helicopter flight from Kulusuk to Tasiilaq was cancelled after 8 hours in the airport. As for the luggage we are not sure where it is anymore... Some is here at the hotel, some is in storage at the airport, and some has probably made an earlier flight (knock on wood, because it is nowhere to be seen!)

For the moment we are waiting for news from the airport saying that they will fly today, which is not certain. The good news are that the forecast looks better next week, and that we are happy to be on our way although we have two more flights getting to the planned starting point in Isortoq.
 

Last test before leaving for the big adventure

Last Sunday we tested all essential equipment that we are going to drag across Greenland. Part one was to make sure the sleds were working properly and run a load test.

Part two was to teach ourselves how to pack the tent. Here is a picture taken when we were satisfied with the packing procedure:) (We are planning to keep the tent poles in place at all times, and Atle is doing his polar expedition pose.)

Satellite phone setup

Success! You are now reading the first message sent from our laptop and satellite phone that we will use on the trip. We are planning to do daily updates, BUT don't panic if we are silent for long periods (this message is primarily for our mothers). Batteries might be hard to charge, the laptop is not state of the art etc etc. Of other safety equipment we are bringing are each our PLB's (Personal Locator Beacons) that are designed not to fail in the harshest conditions and will send an alarm signal to the Greenland rescue central if triggered.

Et møblert hjem

I dag hentet vi siste rest av utstyret fra Sportsbua, så nå er det bare å pakke (samt veie lasten:s)! Atle kom i formiddag etter en lang reise, men er så oppspilt at han helt har glemt at han er jet-lagged. Jeg har akkumulert en real doning med utstyr over de siste månedene, så det er mangt å utforske:D Han har akkurat undersøkt nødbivuakkene og konkludert med at vi ikke skal brenne ned teltet. Det er jo en god plan det:) Det eneste vi har ødelagt i dag er en mp3-spiller (den brant!) og den ene primusen. Greit med alt som er unnagjort.

Nok en nydelig dag!

Terje sjekker at jeg ikke har sluntra unna, og strødd løypene under veis. Han kunne med tilfredshet konstatere at alle åtti kiloene med strøsand fortsatt var i pulken ved ankomst dagens høyeste punkt.

Syforening med Nippi

I dag lærte Nils Petter meg å reparere en ødelagt kylling. Kan vel kanskje ikke skryte på meg at kyllingen ble like hel (den kom tross alt som filet), men om Atle finner på at han skal kutte seg opp, vil jeg ikke nøle det grann med å ta tråklenåla og leaderman'en fatt:)


Dette bildet har til hensikt å berolige Atles pårørende, selv om det kanskje ikke er så lett å se at stingene er svært pene. Når det gjelder min egen mors (og evt. andres) bekymringer, kan jeg berolige med følgene aksjonsplan:

A - Ikke skjære meg (det er denne jeg går for)
B - La Atle sy om han passerer audition
C - Sy sjøl

Pike søker ballast

Det finnes mange måter å pløye marka på... Jeg vil si at trekketreningen har tatt seg opp betraktelig etter at jeg kom fra Innsbruck, hvor dekkbildet stammer fra!













Stort sett har treningen bestått i å trekke med seg døde gjenstander som har lite å gjøre ute på tur, så da er gleden stor hver gang noen har lyst på en tur i pulken. Man skulle jo tro at det ikke skulle være så vanskelig å lokke med seg venner på tur, når det ikke en gang kreves at de beveger på seg, men det har det faktisk vært! Heldigvis er det noen som er sporty og stiller som ballast og trivelig selskap. På fredag hadde jeg en strålende tur til Rønningen med Siv på slep. Tror ikke hun direkte mistrivdes heller:)




















Nå er det ikke lenge til vi drar, men det er fortsatt åpninger for en guidet pulktur for den som ønsker å benytte seg av dette unike tilbudet... Bare å melde seg!

Route across Greenland

We will start in Isortoq and head well into the icecap before turning west. The Dye2 is an abandoned American radar warning station we are going by. The point were we get off the icecap is about 40km from Kangerlussuaq. The magnetic declination will be more than -25deg West to start with and increase to up to -30deg W, meaning that we are heading about west (290deg) on the map, but we will walk on a 320deg reading on the compass (hmm, or will it be the other way around). Lower in the picture you will see the starting point and ending point used by Nansen.

Attracting curious looks from the locals

The black swans of Perth are not the only ones who has eyed me with some
suspicion and curious interested while I've been training.

Dehydrering av mat

Å trekke med seg alt man har tenkt å spise i løpet av en måneds tid, er vel ganske nøyaktig like lystbetont som det høres ut til. Vi har ennå ikke prøvd det, men tanken på å begrense vekta har slått oss. Det hjelper ikke stort at vi satser på dagsrasjoner på 5000+ kcal per pers, og i tillegg må ha med oss fjorten dagers nødmat for å oppfylle ett av forsikringsselskapets krav.

Som konsekvens har tørkemaskina, som vi har vært så heldige å få låne av Anders L og Birgit, gått i ett den siste tiden. Joda, man får kjøpt alt man trenger i butikken, ingen tvil om det. Men det er faktisk sant som det har blitt meg fortalt: Å tørke mat er som å gå på topptur! Her trengs det mulig en forklaring, så jeg skal prøve meg.. Det er ikke det at oppoverbakkene er like kjedelige som å stå å se på at banan tørker. Tanken bak Merricks utsagn er grunnet i at 'you must earn the turns', hvilket ikke lar seg oversette spesielt godt, ei heller forstås spesielt godt av dem som ikke noen sinne har giddet å ta fellene fatt. Uansett, moralen i denne utbroderingen er at mat man tørker selv smaker mye bedre:) Er du i tvil, stikk innom for en smaksprøve!

Gulrøtter