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A Day on the Greenland Ice Cap

Today, I’m taking you along on our adventures on the Greenland ice sheet. It’s Friday, August 22, and I’m sitting here in front of my tent in the blazing sun recording this blog. But let’s start at the beginning. We set off at four o’clock this morning, which means we had to get up at half past three. Sometimes I think that if we just stick to the Dutch time zone, it feels like we’re leaving at seven o’clock in the morning, just like a normal workday in the Netherlands. But anyway, we’re in Greenland, not in the Netherlands. It was already warm when we left. I was leading, and after fifteen minutes, I had to take off my jacket, gloves, and hat. It was about four to five degrees above zero, even before the sun came up. An hour later, David took the lead, and the sun rose. At that moment, it got colder due to the moisture that came up, possibly from low-hanging clouds. Frost formed on the sleds, and we got colder too. So we put on our thick gloves, jackets, and hats again. Slowly it got a bit warmer again, and we walked five shifts without “skis”. We call this polar bear walking because we try to walk in each other’s footsteps to save energy. Just like polar bears that place their hind paws exactly where their front paws were.

The Challenge of the Elements

The weather here is unpredictable. We still have a day and a half of nice weather before a significant snowstorm arrives. Our Basecamp manager has checked the weather forecast, and we’ve decided to take a rest day on Sunday due to the potentially bad weather. During the last two shifts today, we skied. The sun was higher, and the snow became softer. The advantage of skiing is that with a bit of sun, you can see contours in the landscape, which helps with navigation. The Greenland ice cap is a vast white desert with no trees or other people. It’s quiet, no birds or other sounds, just the five of us talking to each other.

Statistics and Challenges

Today we walked five shifts and skied two, covering a total of 26 kilometers. We left at a quarter past four, and our workday ended at 5:30 PM. We have now covered 181 kilometers. Despite the cold in the morning, we burn alive in the sun during the day. The thermometer showed 26 degrees in the sun and 30 degrees in the tent. In the shade, it was 13 degrees above zero. Everything must be covered or smeared with at least factor 50 sunscreen. Unfortunately, I forgot to apply it to my right earlobe, which got burned. Tomorrow, another warm day awaits us before we have a rest day. After that, we’ll see how it goes. Until the next update!