Getting stuck in the snow: a day on expedition in Greenland

A short day despite an early start

That was actually a very short day for once. Despite getting up at half past one in the morning and being on our way by four, we actually got stuck in the snow around nine o’clock. In the sense that when fresh snow falls and temperatures are around zero degrees, the snow starts sticking to your skis and skins like crazy.

So after walking three one-hour shifts, with a little break in between, we had to take the skins off because the snow started sticking. And actually, during the fourth shift, the snow started sticking to the bare skis as well, to the point where everyone felt like they were walking on high heels.

Pace and fatigue in the team

That wasn’t exactly the plan, of course. Actually, we were still making pretty good progress. We were still going between 2.5 and 3 kilometers per hour. It just took a lot of effort and energy.

The whole team is quite tired by now and somewhat ready for a rest day. But then again, if a storm is brewing for tomorrow, you’re not going to do that on Saturday; you’ll do it on Sunday.

Decision to make camp early

So we had a quick chat and decided to make camp very early today. We already stopped at 9:45 this morning. It’s three o’clock now and we’re going to bed. And then we’ll get out again at eleven to continue walking at one in the morning.

We hope to be able to walk until the moment the storm arrives and set up camp just before that.

No normal day and night rhythm

It’s actually quite funny to say ‘well, goodnight’ to each other now at three o’clock, after we’ve finished dinner. But because we have no reference here in terms of time, other than what we’re doing ourselves, and everyone is tired anyway, it just feels like we’re going to bed in the evening.

It doesn’t really matter whether you go to bed at three in the afternoon or eleven at night, because it’s light anyway. So in that sense, you have no real grip on what time it is and what a logical daily rhythm should be.

In fact, it comes down to us walking when we can at the moment, when the wind, precipitation, temperature, and other conditions allow it. And as soon as that’s not possible, we make camp and do our ritual as if it were evening.

Food, energy, and few moments of rest

It’s a bit harder right now to find the motivation to finish your dinner. But anyway, that’ll be fine, and everyone did their best to get it down, because all that food is also incredibly important for your recovery.

We have about 6000 kilocalories per person per day with us. You see in the first week that it’s hard to get through all of it, not just because you’re not that hungry yet, but also because we’re still figuring out what to eat when.

It’s quite a lot of food that you have to find a moment for to eat. And there’s actually very little rest. Because if you’re not skiing or having a 10-minute break between skiing, then you’re setting up the tent. Or you’re melting snow. Or you’re changing your clothes or carrying out small repairs.

Before you know it, it’s already bedtime to get your 8 hours of sleep. Especially because we’ve had to keep pushing our rhythm forward due to the weather and snow conditions. That means there has been very little relaxation time.

Extra time and the plan for the storm

So making camp early today and getting up again at eleven—which means, let’s see, we have 13 hours between stopping and getting up again—means there’s also a bit of room to relax, take a little nap, and do some things you normally don’t get around to.

So we’re heading out again with full confidence tonight at 1 AM. Then we’ll try to do a full day, or maybe even an extra shift, to get in as many kilometers as possible before we have to make camp and dig ourselves in for the storm that awaits us.

And luckily, that storm will pass quite quickly too. The wind picks up very fast, so somewhere between 10 and 12 tomorrow morning, the wind will really start to pick up. Then it’ll be a real storm for about 8 hours, and after that, the wind will die down again.

So it could just be that we get up around 2 AM on Monday night and then can continue again at 4 AM, while we’ve actually had a kind of rest day.