2023 Expedition commencement date: 24th April 2023.
Start Point: Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland.
End Point: Isortoq, East Greenland.
Distance: 575km
Duration: 24 days
23 April 2023:
After a great Icelandic ski expedition on Vatnajokull glacier with 2022 Greenland team members Maarten, Ronan and Jon, preparations are now in place for our 2023 Greenland ice sheet crossing.
David and Prokop are in Kangerlussuaq, on the west coast of Greenland, and tomorrow shall drive a short distance to the ice sheet edge to commence a 28 day ski crossing to Isortoq, a tiny Inuit village on the east coast of Greenland.
We will have a restful day today, a Greenlandic buffet by the lake tonight, and then an early start to the expedition in the morning.
Start Point: Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland.
End Point: Isortoq, East Greenland.
Distance: 575km
Duration: 24 days
23 April 2023:
After a great Icelandic ski expedition on Vatnajokull glacier with 2022 Greenland team members Maarten, Ronan and Jon, preparations are now in place for our 2023 Greenland ice sheet crossing.
David and Prokop are in Kangerlussuaq, on the west coast of Greenland, and tomorrow shall drive a short distance to the ice sheet edge to commence a 28 day ski crossing to Isortoq, a tiny Inuit village on the east coast of Greenland.
We will have a restful day today, a Greenlandic buffet by the lake tonight, and then an early start to the expedition in the morning.
24 April 2023:
The 2023 Greenland crossing expedition is now underway! From our starting point (Point 660) which is located on the ice sheets edge, we were greeted with some watery sections and dirt moraine (which required us carrying the sleds for an hour at the start of the day). So a tough day to start, but have made some good distance and set up camp at 67'08'11N 49'55'55W.
25 April 2023:
Today we made it out of the icefall at approx 1pm. Overcast conditions mostly throughout the day with some light rain and sleet. Icy conditions through the icefall - together with snow drift - made thing interesting whilst navigating through the crevasse zones. Once out past the icefall we were on the skis - and made some good distance into the afternoon (this is the furthest distance out after 2 days in comparison to previous expeditions- so off to a great start!).
Vse dobry ale tvrdy i na me
Our final position on day 2: 67'08'37N 49'34'40W.
26 April 2023:
We woke up today to find 10 guests surrounding our tent! Some raven birds had stopped by to check out our tent (and hoping to get their beaks into a few scraps of leftover chicken korma no doubt!). We headed off this morning into low light conditions, parting with the ravens who headed west, us heading east. With some ping pong clouds whirling about us we set off into the void. It snowed off and on throughout the day in warmish conditions, thermal tops only were required whilst skiing. The surface was soft - and put together with the uphill sections encountered at this early stage of the crossing - made for a tough day. We skied 20km by the time we set up camp in the late afternoon - which was a good result given the conditions.
Our final position on day 3: 67°06'25N 49°08'18W.
27 April 2023:
Sunny conditions today and we skied 21km in fairly soft snow uphill. About minus 10 degrees - so not too cold, a nice day skiing.
28 April 2023:
We stopped about 5pm today after a good day on a firmer surface together with less wind. This allowed us to cover good ground - and we are now approximately 100km from the radar station. We broke a ski binding early on in the day - so the spare ski was used for the rest of the day. We'll make the necessary repairs to the binding tonight (we have a number of spares so this is not too much of an issue). Nice sunny day.
29 April 2023:
26km covered today in sunny, cold and firm conditions. We skied from 8am to 6pm with breaks every 1.5hrs or so. News that we are the first crossing for 2023 - with one other failed attempt before us.
Our final position on day 3: 66°50'30N 47°44'57W.
30 April 2023:
Late start today as very windy conditions this morning (80km/h winds). So 2 hour sleep in - and then headed off into a strong headwind throughout the day. Skied (20km) to 6pm today through much sastrugi with few breaks.
furt do kopce sane stale tezky jsme uz osmnacet nm a radar je dva sto za radarem zrychlime zdravim vsechny po tydmu na ledu
1 May 2023:
A sea of sastrugi today - cold and windy. A tough day- we are definitely up for the fight the Greenland weather is throwing at us! The good news is the winds should be generally pretty light for the next few days so we should arrive at the Dye 2 radar station within the next couple of days - great progress so far.
Our final position on day 3: 66°36'52N 46°56'21W.
2 May 2023:
Another day of sastrugi today - 12 hour day (32km) to reach Dye 2 radar station.
3 May 2023:
A day off today to explore the radar station and some much needed R&R. This will also will allow us some time for repairs to the ski bindings etc. No other groups here. We'll rest up and head off at 6am tomorrow morning.
Our final position: 66°36'52N 46°56'21W.
4 May 2023:
Skied 25km today to 66°28'17N 45°44'16W. Snow has mostly filled he sastrugi - so mostly flat going again. Some small birds keeping us company throughout the day, soft surface. On approach to the half way point across the ice cap!
5 May 2023:
A huge ski day for us - 28km covered today on cold sun filled surface. We awoke to diamond dust this morning (floating ice crystals) - and lots of ice on the top of the tent which unfortunately rained down on us once either of us moved. A great day and definitely on track to be halfway across within the next few days.
6 May 2023:
Nice start to the day today (7am) -sunny with no wind - what one would could call a perfect morning.... And then the headwind hit.......By the early afternoon it was a strong headwind that we fought our way into. Sastrugi has abated a little (thankfully) - but the surface was still quite soft - so it was a slog all the time up until we set up camp (about 6pm). A nice day nonetheless - with some nice freeze dry food and hot chocolate to cap things off...
7 May 2023:
Approaching the summit today - elevation at 2532m. A windy morning greeted us and a hard packed surface - best surface so far helped us to do 27km for the day.
8 May 2023:
Light winds today and some snowfall throughout the day meant some tough going through soft snow. A warm evening with a nice night once the wind died down. We have 200km to go which we are aiming to do over the next 7 days, which should bring us to the top of the icefall on the coming Monday night (15th) and than ski into Isortoq on Tuesday (16th). Our only issue for today was one of the ski binding bars has stopped operating properly on one of our skis - so we've rigged up a short term fix of putting the boot into ski, and then using a screwdriver to ram the bar shut. We still have 3 spare bindings so we can change it if necessary. Hoping to get a few days out of the short term fix we have rigged up and then change if necessary.
9 May 2023:
A 26km day today, to current location of 66 14 05N and W42 47 09. The distances covered are impressive to date given a team of two (lots of leading through the soft snow) and we are still on track to finish within 23 days. No wind and warmer conditions today as we head down the other side of the ice cap. We are currently at an elevation of 2280m. Tough going though as snow softens up - max intensity 10 out of 10 for today!
10 May 2023:
25km skied today in soft snow (tough going). Wind picked up late in the day but we are happy with our progress.
11 May 2023:
The ice cap bit back today - a very hard day. The cause - a combination of strong head winds, really soft snow, zero visibility and some large snow mounds. Hard day to lead, Prokop lead brilliantly today in such tough conditions - and we ended up with only 9km for the day (finished around lunchtime). We did pretty well to get 9km out of the conditions - fingers crossed they change for the next few days otherwise we'll have a slow approach into Isortoq. The early finish did allow us to fix a few gear problems. We still have an issue where a binding has rammed shut on a ski boot - which results it being stuck to the ski. This causes issues in putting up and down the tent - so not ideal. Thankfully we have down boots to walk about outside - so the issue isn't critical but something we'd rather not have to be dealing with (good news is the broken binding has lasted 200km or so- and we have 2 more spares). So after Day 15, we have 140km on the ice cap left...
12 May 2023:
Early start today, 3am rise and on skis by 4.30am. Very soft surface as we plowed ahead. By 4pm we are 26km closer to our target - which seems to be getting close now.
13 May 2023:
The surface finally has abated and firmed up a bit for us. Although windy all day we skied for 10 hours over sastrugi to cover another 27km.
14 May 2023:
31km over past 11.5hrs skiing. A cold wind from the north chased us to the south east. We are now only 60km from our target - and although we have our unusual dose of soft sastrugi to deal with - we are making great progress. Not far now!
15 May 2023:
22km over past 11hrs skiing. A cold windy start with soft sastrugi all day. Very tiring slog in soft snow.
16 May 2023:
32km over past 13hrs skiing in white out, lightly snowing on a soft surface. 4km up on the ice cap to go, then a 30km decent into Isortoq - which we are expected to arrive Wednesday evening. One more day to go (hopefully)!
17 May 2023 (Day 24)
Skied in brilliant sunshine down the 30km decent glacier towards Isortoq - Prokop’s assortment of waxes working fantastically to counter sticky snow. After another long ski day of around 11 hours, we reached land at Isortoq fjord, a beautiful mountainous area adjacent to an iceberg filled sea.
On reaching land, our expedition has come to a successful completion.
To accomplish the crossing in 24 days with consistently difficult surface conditions is a reflection of the daily intense effort put into the expedition by the team.
On 18 May we took a helicopter to Tasiilaq, for an exit flight to Iceland in a couple days.
Note from David:
Thank you to Andrew Paabo for putting this blog together, you’ve a real skill in expanding a few words sent by satellite phone into something far more colourful.
And thank you to Prokop, your daily superhuman efforts always impressed greatly. The expedition would not have succeeded without your consistent dedication to crossing the ice sheet.
Thanks for following this journey.
David
Note from Prokop:
"Massive thanks to you for the biggest adventure of my life. I will remember fondly. It was a pleasure to be on your team".
The 2023 Greenland crossing expedition is now underway! From our starting point (Point 660) which is located on the ice sheets edge, we were greeted with some watery sections and dirt moraine (which required us carrying the sleds for an hour at the start of the day). So a tough day to start, but have made some good distance and set up camp at 67'08'11N 49'55'55W.
25 April 2023:
Today we made it out of the icefall at approx 1pm. Overcast conditions mostly throughout the day with some light rain and sleet. Icy conditions through the icefall - together with snow drift - made thing interesting whilst navigating through the crevasse zones. Once out past the icefall we were on the skis - and made some good distance into the afternoon (this is the furthest distance out after 2 days in comparison to previous expeditions- so off to a great start!).
Vse dobry ale tvrdy i na me
Our final position on day 2: 67'08'37N 49'34'40W.
26 April 2023:
We woke up today to find 10 guests surrounding our tent! Some raven birds had stopped by to check out our tent (and hoping to get their beaks into a few scraps of leftover chicken korma no doubt!). We headed off this morning into low light conditions, parting with the ravens who headed west, us heading east. With some ping pong clouds whirling about us we set off into the void. It snowed off and on throughout the day in warmish conditions, thermal tops only were required whilst skiing. The surface was soft - and put together with the uphill sections encountered at this early stage of the crossing - made for a tough day. We skied 20km by the time we set up camp in the late afternoon - which was a good result given the conditions.
Our final position on day 3: 67°06'25N 49°08'18W.
27 April 2023:
Sunny conditions today and we skied 21km in fairly soft snow uphill. About minus 10 degrees - so not too cold, a nice day skiing.
28 April 2023:
We stopped about 5pm today after a good day on a firmer surface together with less wind. This allowed us to cover good ground - and we are now approximately 100km from the radar station. We broke a ski binding early on in the day - so the spare ski was used for the rest of the day. We'll make the necessary repairs to the binding tonight (we have a number of spares so this is not too much of an issue). Nice sunny day.
29 April 2023:
26km covered today in sunny, cold and firm conditions. We skied from 8am to 6pm with breaks every 1.5hrs or so. News that we are the first crossing for 2023 - with one other failed attempt before us.
Our final position on day 3: 66°50'30N 47°44'57W.
30 April 2023:
Late start today as very windy conditions this morning (80km/h winds). So 2 hour sleep in - and then headed off into a strong headwind throughout the day. Skied (20km) to 6pm today through much sastrugi with few breaks.
furt do kopce sane stale tezky jsme uz osmnacet nm a radar je dva sto za radarem zrychlime zdravim vsechny po tydmu na ledu
1 May 2023:
A sea of sastrugi today - cold and windy. A tough day- we are definitely up for the fight the Greenland weather is throwing at us! The good news is the winds should be generally pretty light for the next few days so we should arrive at the Dye 2 radar station within the next couple of days - great progress so far.
Our final position on day 3: 66°36'52N 46°56'21W.
2 May 2023:
Another day of sastrugi today - 12 hour day (32km) to reach Dye 2 radar station.
3 May 2023:
A day off today to explore the radar station and some much needed R&R. This will also will allow us some time for repairs to the ski bindings etc. No other groups here. We'll rest up and head off at 6am tomorrow morning.
Our final position: 66°36'52N 46°56'21W.
4 May 2023:
Skied 25km today to 66°28'17N 45°44'16W. Snow has mostly filled he sastrugi - so mostly flat going again. Some small birds keeping us company throughout the day, soft surface. On approach to the half way point across the ice cap!
5 May 2023:
A huge ski day for us - 28km covered today on cold sun filled surface. We awoke to diamond dust this morning (floating ice crystals) - and lots of ice on the top of the tent which unfortunately rained down on us once either of us moved. A great day and definitely on track to be halfway across within the next few days.
6 May 2023:
Nice start to the day today (7am) -sunny with no wind - what one would could call a perfect morning.... And then the headwind hit.......By the early afternoon it was a strong headwind that we fought our way into. Sastrugi has abated a little (thankfully) - but the surface was still quite soft - so it was a slog all the time up until we set up camp (about 6pm). A nice day nonetheless - with some nice freeze dry food and hot chocolate to cap things off...
7 May 2023:
Approaching the summit today - elevation at 2532m. A windy morning greeted us and a hard packed surface - best surface so far helped us to do 27km for the day.
8 May 2023:
Light winds today and some snowfall throughout the day meant some tough going through soft snow. A warm evening with a nice night once the wind died down. We have 200km to go which we are aiming to do over the next 7 days, which should bring us to the top of the icefall on the coming Monday night (15th) and than ski into Isortoq on Tuesday (16th). Our only issue for today was one of the ski binding bars has stopped operating properly on one of our skis - so we've rigged up a short term fix of putting the boot into ski, and then using a screwdriver to ram the bar shut. We still have 3 spare bindings so we can change it if necessary. Hoping to get a few days out of the short term fix we have rigged up and then change if necessary.
9 May 2023:
A 26km day today, to current location of 66 14 05N and W42 47 09. The distances covered are impressive to date given a team of two (lots of leading through the soft snow) and we are still on track to finish within 23 days. No wind and warmer conditions today as we head down the other side of the ice cap. We are currently at an elevation of 2280m. Tough going though as snow softens up - max intensity 10 out of 10 for today!
10 May 2023:
25km skied today in soft snow (tough going). Wind picked up late in the day but we are happy with our progress.
11 May 2023:
The ice cap bit back today - a very hard day. The cause - a combination of strong head winds, really soft snow, zero visibility and some large snow mounds. Hard day to lead, Prokop lead brilliantly today in such tough conditions - and we ended up with only 9km for the day (finished around lunchtime). We did pretty well to get 9km out of the conditions - fingers crossed they change for the next few days otherwise we'll have a slow approach into Isortoq. The early finish did allow us to fix a few gear problems. We still have an issue where a binding has rammed shut on a ski boot - which results it being stuck to the ski. This causes issues in putting up and down the tent - so not ideal. Thankfully we have down boots to walk about outside - so the issue isn't critical but something we'd rather not have to be dealing with (good news is the broken binding has lasted 200km or so- and we have 2 more spares). So after Day 15, we have 140km on the ice cap left...
12 May 2023:
Early start today, 3am rise and on skis by 4.30am. Very soft surface as we plowed ahead. By 4pm we are 26km closer to our target - which seems to be getting close now.
13 May 2023:
The surface finally has abated and firmed up a bit for us. Although windy all day we skied for 10 hours over sastrugi to cover another 27km.
14 May 2023:
31km over past 11.5hrs skiing. A cold wind from the north chased us to the south east. We are now only 60km from our target - and although we have our unusual dose of soft sastrugi to deal with - we are making great progress. Not far now!
15 May 2023:
22km over past 11hrs skiing. A cold windy start with soft sastrugi all day. Very tiring slog in soft snow.
16 May 2023:
32km over past 13hrs skiing in white out, lightly snowing on a soft surface. 4km up on the ice cap to go, then a 30km decent into Isortoq - which we are expected to arrive Wednesday evening. One more day to go (hopefully)!
17 May 2023 (Day 24)
Skied in brilliant sunshine down the 30km decent glacier towards Isortoq - Prokop’s assortment of waxes working fantastically to counter sticky snow. After another long ski day of around 11 hours, we reached land at Isortoq fjord, a beautiful mountainous area adjacent to an iceberg filled sea.
On reaching land, our expedition has come to a successful completion.
To accomplish the crossing in 24 days with consistently difficult surface conditions is a reflection of the daily intense effort put into the expedition by the team.
On 18 May we took a helicopter to Tasiilaq, for an exit flight to Iceland in a couple days.
Note from David:
Thank you to Andrew Paabo for putting this blog together, you’ve a real skill in expanding a few words sent by satellite phone into something far more colourful.
And thank you to Prokop, your daily superhuman efforts always impressed greatly. The expedition would not have succeeded without your consistent dedication to crossing the ice sheet.
Thanks for following this journey.
David
Note from Prokop:
"Massive thanks to you for the biggest adventure of my life. I will remember fondly. It was a pleasure to be on your team".