Expedition Greenland: Surviving harsh weather conditions

A day without equipment failure

Finally, a day without equipment failure. That hasn’t happened very often yet. You’d think today would be smooth sailing, but not quite. Because when the gear works, the weather definitely doesn’t. It’s been blowing incredibly hard all day, diagonally from the front. Snow on and off, but sometimes you can’t even tell if it’s actually snowing or just snowdrift from the strong wind.

Hard-fought kilometers

We covered 16 kilometers, but those were 16 really hard-fought kilometers. Did I say 60 or 16? It was 16 anyway. It’s just so awesome to see how this team of legends doesn’t let it get them down and keeps powering through that wind without complaining. It’s really unpleasant to be outside right now, but everyone is keeping their spirits up and we crack a joke every now and then. Otherwise, everyone spends the whole day in their thick fur hats with goggles on and face masks in place. A hug here and there, a tap with a pole, or a nod like: come on, we can do this. And if someone struggles for a bit, someone else takes over some weight. It just happens without needing many words.

The team and how we get to know each other

It’s just super cool to see. A historian, a police officer, a firefighter, and a project manager together—you wouldn’t think they could become such a team. But here, those roles don’t matter anymore. Everyone is in the same boat, and the weather doesn’t care what anyone normally does at home. It’s a completely different way of getting to know each other, and I think a very pure way too. You see each other at the best and worst moments. There’s nothing else but us and the elements. That has its own charm.

Planning and consultation with Basecamp

For now, things don’t look much better for the next two days. So, after a lot of consultation with Basecamp, we decided to stop a bit earlier today and have a very short night from 6 PM to midnight. After that, we’ll head back out to try and find a window with a bit less wind and cover more ground. Sometimes we barely manage 2 kilometers per hour against the wind. But after all the equipment failure, we certainly can’t afford to sit out bad weather anymore. So we have to make do. As soon as we can, we go outside and try to put the miles in. When we can’t go on, we get into the tent, eat, sleep, recover, and get back out as soon as possible. We hope to reach Dye-2, the next milestone, within two days this way. And if all goes well, the weather should improve then too. But that’s still a long way off, so we’ll see.

Morale and team name

Despite all the setbacks and the weather, morale is still great. We’re having fun together. Most feel like a 9 or a 10, so that’s fantastic. We also came up with a team name: the All Inclusives. We’re all on an All Inclusive Holiday in the 5-star hotel you can see in the photo, with laundry and drying service, a buffet, and a choice of all kinds of treats from your day bag. We’re also All Inclusives in reaching our goal, in team spirit, and in doing it together. There’s even a drive-in for skis, by the way. But you’ll have to ask us what we mean by that when we’re back home.

Ski repairs

Since the rest are already fast asleep and we only have about 6 hours of sleep, I’m going to call it a night. You’ll hear from me again tomorrow, hopefully with at least another 15 or 16 kilometers in the legs, on the skis. Last night’s repairs seem to have helped. I drilled new holes in the ski—not with the hand drill anymore, because that broke, but by using a nail first, then a small screw, and then the large screw. From my Frankenstein-ski, which is held together with wire, I used the two longer screws to make the front of Niel’s skis sturdier. It held for one day. It needs to hold for two more days until we reach Dye-2, where we can hopefully find some more permanent solutions.