Start of our Arctic expedition in Kangerlussuaq

First meeting and flight to Kangerlussuaq

Hi everyone, it’s so cool that you’re listening to our blog. This is our first update from Greenland. Henk-Jan has already shared some details about our preparations back in the Netherlands. This morning, the whole team flew from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq. It’s a great international team with a Brit, Neil, two Danes, Malene and Christian, and two Dutchies, Jasmijn and me. It was a bit strange to meet each other in person for the first time at the airport, especially when you’re about to embark on such a big journey together. But given the international mix of our group, it was actually impossible to meet in person any sooner. It’s really nice to see that everyone is super enthusiastic and that we had a great vibe right away.

First impression of the ice sheet

From the plane, we were able to see the ice sheet for the first time on the east side of Greenland, where it wasn’t cloudy. It’s truly indescribable. The glaciers and the crevasses were quite visible on that side. Once you pass that area of crevasses from the side, all you see is one vast, stretching white plain. We flew over it for at least another forty-five minutes. You look down and think: we’re going to walk here. We’re going to ski across this for 30 days, in the middle of nowhere.

Other expeditions and start date

As it turns out, we’re not the only ones doing this. There were no fewer than three other expeditions on the plane, and everyone is starting on May 1st. So we’ll have to see how that goes. On one hand, it’s nice to know there are other people nearby. But on the other hand, we’re also here for the solitude and the vast wilderness. I think it’ll be fine, though, because every expedition follows its own plan and roughly its own route. Everyone has a different pace. We won’t be tripping over each other, hopefully.

Hassle with boxes and logistics

The start was also a bit ‘Greenland style.’ After being picked up by our logistics partner Chris, it turned out that the boxes sent ahead—which were confirmed to be here—weren’t that easy to find. There were four boxes here in this building and three more in that room. I said: ‘Well Chris, we’re still three short.’ He had to scratch his head for a bit and eventually said: ‘Wait, maybe there are more over there.’ We went to another building, and lo and behold, there were the three missing boxes. So, all’s well that ends well.

Unexpected hotel change

After that, we thought: okay, now we’re heading to our hotel. But that wasn’t the case at all. Our hotel has actually been taken over by the military. Chris had to put us up somewhere else. We ended up with a similar location, and actually, it’s even a little bit better. We were supposed to have three rooms in the first hotel, and now we have five rooms in this one. That means we each have our own room, which is quite nice considering the prospect of sharing a tent for a month.

Preparations and the first day

After we arrived, we got straight to work. Today we unpacked all the boxes and sorted our food. That was a job that took about two and a half hours. First, we took all the food out of eight of the boxes and sorted it neatly. Then, list in hand, we each filled thirty daily bags with breakfast, a snack, an evening meal, Haribo bears, a bag of chips, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. There’s all sorts of stuff in there. After that, we were pretty much done. A few more things needed to be bought, but it was a long and busy first day, also with a three-hour time difference. It’s three hours earlier here than in the Netherlands. We ate at 6:00 PM local time, which is 9:00 PM European time. So everyone was nice and tired. We’re heading to bed now, because tomorrow morning we start at 6:00 AM local time. You can do the math yourself to see what time that is in Europe.