A scorching sun and deep, soft snow conditions made today pretty tough. Towards the end of our third hour of skiing, I turned back to Tony. I didn't want to admit it, but I was finding the combination of heavy sledge, sticky snow and steep incline worryingly difficult. Sweat mixed with sunscreen trickled down Tony's face and two tiny suns glinted back at me from his dark Oakleys. He flashed me a smile.
"Bloody hell, mate. I'd forgotten this is actually quite hard work."
I leant into my harness, the weight of the sledge biting into my hip bones. "Remind me why we do this again."
Despite the banter, I think we both spent much of the day reflecting on the enormity of the challenge we've set ourselves in Antarctica later this year. We took it in turns to lead, swapping places every hour. Normally I relish being in front, but today it was a relief to follow the tramlines Tony's sledge was forging through the snow. The sun was merciless and despite the Legionnaire's-style hats we brought with us this year, we're both feeling a bit frazzled this evening. It seems odd that, on an expedition deep inside the Arctic Circle, we're more worried about sunstroke than frostbite (during the day, at least – it's well below freezing at night). Lying here in my sleeping bag on top of millions of tons of ice, with the climate doing what it's doing, it's hard not to wonder what the future holds for this incredible place.
— Filed under Greenland
The sun is still shining brightly enough to compete with the cold and our tent door is open, giving us an unrestricted view down towards the sea. Tony is lying in his sleeping bag singing Gnarls Barkeley's 'Crazy' to himself and I have my lucky tent hat on. All is right with the world.
Today was a testing session before we head off into the interior. An experimental snow melting system is hanging from our tent ceiling and we've built a version of one of the depot markers that we hope will guide us home from the pole later this year.
Asnes, our ski maker, have kindly given us some new skis with a short skin system that should mean greater speed. We decided to give them a test drive on a day trip to a nearby ridge. Gliding along, achieving rare moments of grace, I was reminded what skiing can be like when you are not dragging a 400lb sledge. Simply glorious.
As we climbed the ridge we came across some fresh tracks made by an arctic fox. Before I saw one in 2001, I'd imagined them to be like a white version of a fox, but I couldn't have been more wrong; they're tiny, like a white chihuahua with huge ears. As cute as they sound, they're a worrying sight, as they spend their time following polar bears and scavenging on seal carcasses. We decided to keep our eyes open.
As we descended towards our little red tent in the distance, the clouds came rolling up from the sea and engulfed the world around us. For a while it was difficult to see where the clouds ended and the ice began. We skied along in silence, watching the skyline shift and swirl before us. All is definitely well with the world.
— Filed under Greenland
The good news: after a short but breathtaking helicopter flight from Tasiilaq to the eastern edge of the Greenland icecap, Tony and I are safely ensconsed in our trusty red Hilleberg tent, with a view to die for. From the door, we can see all the way to the ocean, with its white lilly pads of ice interspersed with a deep blue. Right now, the temperature is just below freezing and the sky is perfectly clear. To top it all off, we've figured out how to charge our mp3 players using our solar panel.
The bad news: I've forgotten my mp3 player…
— Filed under Greenland
Hopefully writing this won't jinx things, but I'm typing this on my laptop after finding a patch of bootlegged wifi at Reykjavik's domestic airport – we've checked our bags in (we have 104kg with us here and another 100kg or so that was flown out as freight last week, including our two sledges) and it looks like we *might* be about to get on the plane…
[Wednesday morning update - we spent the night at the Hotel Nansen in Tasiilaq and we're about to load up the helicopter for the flight out to the Greenland icecap itself. If all goes to plan, the next update will be from our tent.]
— Filed under Greenland
Our flight from Reykjavik to Kulusuk, Greenland on Saturday morning was cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather. At the time, I don't think either Tony or I realised just how big a blessing in disguise that delay would be. We've been holed up in a hotel (paid for by the airline) for two days, working feverishly to fix the hundreds of loose ends our rushed departure from the UK had left undone. Emails, calls, last-minute shopping, gear modfications and even a few hours to do the one thing our schedules haven't permitted until now – relax.
I'm typing this from Tony's laptop before we fold it closed and head for the airport again in twenty minutes. We've been assured that the weather in Greenland is good today, so I guess the next update will be from the icecap itself, via our trusty Iridium satellite phone…
It's on odd feeling, being sat here on the verge of switching from plush hotel room to tiny tent. Warmth to cold, noise to silence, complexity to simplicity. To recycle a line I used in an email yesterday, we're about to to be cut off for a month, launched into a low-stimulus, low-communication world of big snow and big sky like some kind of cheapskate astronauts.
And the countdown has started. I'd better get packing.
[Afternoon edit: famous last words... our flight has been cancelled again (zero visibility in Kulusuk, apparently) and we're spending another night in Reykjavik. Which would be great, were it not for the fact that we haven't brought much in the way of casual clothing. I'm sat here, in an awfully trendy cafe, with my fur-hooded, logo-plastered jacket slung over the back of a chair...]
— Filed under Greenland
It's just occured to me that I haven't mentioned this at all yet (the last few weeks have been rather busy) but Tony and I are off to Greenland again for a final training expedition before heading to Antarctica in October…
I'm writing this quick test post using a PDA and our Iridium satellite phone, sat on a kerb outside Reykjavik's domestic airport, waiting for our flight to Kulusuk. Providing it all works ok (once again, we're using homebrew software, and the excellent WordPress to update the site) I'll write more soon…
— Filed under Greenland
A quick update, as my mum was complaining that I hadn't blogged for yonks… I'm back in NYC again – Tony and I spoke at a big fundraising dinner last night, and we're busybusybusy following up with all the fantastic people we were lucky enough to meet. Went to a wonderful TED evening on Wednesday night (Tony has written all about it) and we have non-stop meetings until our flight home on Tuesday night.
Must dash. More soon…
— Filed under Miscellany