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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