Article about the expedition in The Four Wheeler by Michael Rudd:
http://www.fourwheeler.com/eventcoverage/greenland_ice_225/
First and second day:
Friday May 14, 1999
Everyone and everything is here in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, at last. To get here we had to fly from Iceland to Copenhagen, spend the night there, fly to Søndre Strømsfjord in Greenland and finally take an hour's flight on to Nuuk. Not such a long journey, but it takes a long time to get here. Addi and Freyr arrived first, on Monday, followed by me (Ingimundur) and Valdi. Copenhagen was cold and it was raining cats and dogs into the bargain, which made the Icelandic spring we left behind feel like summer.
We've more or less collected up all the equipment we need for the journey by now. The ship carrying the superjeeps docked in harbour today after being delayed by three days due to bad weather at sea. That hasn't upset our plans, and tomorrow morning we'll start loading the jeeps and the trailer. While I'm writing this a few of us are at the harbour examining the barge we've been lent for towing the jeeps in to the head of the fjord; more about that later.
Yesterday the weather was very good, which is hardly worth mentioning except that it gave us the chance to hire a helicopter for a two-hour reconnaissance trip to take a look at conditions on the glacier. We sent Addi on the flight because he likes helicopters and gadgetry so much. The findings are top secret so far, except that we'll be keeping our plans unchanged and aim to depart early tomorrow morning.
Monday is two days away and there'll be plenty to report about before then.
Sunday May 16, 1999
At 12 o'clock today there was a press conference. It went very well and we managed to get across everything we wanted to say. Hardly anyone challenged us and people in general were pleased with our expedition. To show how incredibly light the trucks are, we drove over Allan's hand. This caused such a stir that we ended up having to drive over his hand 9 times. The public came along after the press meeting and showed a lot of interest.
After the press conference it was time for the final loading and preparation of the superjeeps. This lasted until the evening, it's incredible how much preparation a single trip like this can take.
In the evening when everything was ready we just made it to the closing celebrations of the KNI anniversary, an impressive show with Danish and Greenlandic entertainers.
Third and fourth day:
Monday May 17, 1999
Woke up at 06:00 to be ready to board the boat at 09:00. There was no problem in hauling the trucks and trailer onto the barge. Our helicopter winch gear, designed by Freyr, proved very effective for lifting. The tugboat towed the barge 80 km into Godthabsfjord. We left at 10:00 and by 19:00 the tugboat couldn't go any farther, so we kept on sailing on the barge all the way to the head of the fjord, where we beached the barge on the incoming tide. Once we had put the gangways down we managed to drive virtually straight onto dry land. The shore was pure glacial drift clay and high tide was approaching. We had to hurry up to the nearest ice ledge and make our first camp there. We couldn't have left things any later because we ended up trapped on the shore, with our kitchen tent floating on an iceberg. The weather was quite innocent that night, a southwesterly 3.5m/sec and temperature -4 °C.
Tuesday May 18, 1999
Now we're at our overnight stop, location 64:51:05N and 50:58:25W thanks to the Magellan GPS which we trust in these unfamiliar parts. We only managed 13 km in all today. So we've completed 93 km of the 800 km route to Isortoq. This means we're at least half a day behind schedule. Weather 18:00 hrs: SW 5 m/sec, temperature -4 °C, visibility more than 10 km, high cloud, almost no precipitation, barometer 1005 millibars.
We're on day two of the expedition now and everything's starting to slip into place. It's a good team here and we work well together. Admittedly we've got a lot of equipment with us and the trucks are quite loaded, but things are getting organized and it's better to have a definite place for it all when we reach the icecap and the weather can turn treacherous.
While Addi and I am doing the diary, Freyr and Valdi are overhauling the superjeeps by testing the wheel bolts, checking the steering, etc. Freyr came in just now especially to ask me not to drive away while he was lying under the jeep. For dinner this evening we had boiled light-smoked Greenland trout, and potatoes in their jackets. Danish "roulade" for dessert. Our camp is on a grassy, frozen patch of marsh that we came across. Most of the next sites will probably be on ice or snow. It's 23:56 local time now, probably time for bed.
We hope you enjoy keeping track of what we're doing and don't underestimate all the comforts we enjoy at HOME. All of us on the expedition send love to our wives, especially Freyr.
Fifth and sixth day:
Wednesday May 19, 1999
So here we are by the camp fire in the middle of Lake Taserssuaq, jotting down notes in the diary. Anyway, down to the hard facts. Firstly, our location: 65'06''54N, 50'51''20W. Today we conquered a whole 32 km along the Narsarsuaq plain, one of the few places mentioned on the map. So we've covered 125 km of the 800 km journey. We're at an altitude of 75 m a.s.l., temperature -9°C, barometer 1009 millibars, light cloud, no precipitation.
Valdi is still trying to measure the wind velocity, but hasn't realized that it's completely calm.
We were relieved to complete the final 14 km up to the lake. Just before we went out onto the frozen lake we had to cross a huge river and couldn't find a snow bridge on it anywhere. Valdi was sent across and Freyr after him. When Addi came across last, the ice on the riverbed gave way. The truck sank down much deeper when that happened, but managed to get the front wheels up onto the riverbank, and we had to winch it up from there. The rear went down so deep that the groundsheets, sleeping bag and rifle got wet. Once we made it onto the frozen lake things went much better. Our speed went up to 30-40 km/h. In the middle of the lake we decided to put up our tents. From here we can see the Sarqoap Semessua creeping glacier, which rises 900 metres over a 40 km distance. We plan to drive up it to ascend the Greenland icecap tomorrow.
Today we finally reached the long plateau that Addi has been talking about so much. He was right after all, so he was probably right when he said he'd seen a gyrfalcon yesterday too. Oh yes, I mustn't forget to mention the polar bear tracks I came across the day before yesterday. Of course you're like a total beginner in this country when you see your first reindeer tracks, so I didn't dare mention it until today. When I was checking out the route over the first hills I came across some tracks and naturally my first thought was a polar bear.
How could it be anything else after all those rifles and ammunition that we'd loaded into the trucks and all those tall stories that we'd heard? First I took a careful look all around, then crept along over the hills in brilliant sunshine in the middle of the day (can't you visualize it?). A little farther on there were so many tracks that I could tell it had to be a whole family of polar bears. Then I took a better look and could see even more tracks, like a huge polar bear party had been going on. No, it couldn't be, so I examined the tracks more closely and saw that they couldn't be made by a 500 kg, heavy-footed polar bear. I was relieved, but not completely convinced, or perhaps I half-wanted to meet a bear, that would certainly have been quite some experience. There's still a chance, of course, because we still have a long way left ahead of us.
Probably time to call it a day and hit the tent, because tomorrow's an important day when we take on the unfamiliar creeping glacier complete with fissures, polar bears and all the trimmings.
Thursday May 20, 1999
Night is falling again so it's time to "confess all." We didn't put many kilometres behind us today, but they sure were good ones. We started the day by getting up and bending our frozen shoes into shape so we could get them on (sounds good, doesn't it, but just you try keeping your slippers in the freezer tonight). Soon after that we woke up properly and had breakfast which for most of us was muesli with milk power and water (hands up if you fancy that). There was hot coffee, tea and cocoa too, with bread and jam and other luxuries just like back home, except it was kept overnight in the freezer and not the fridge.
Our ascent of the glacier was simply the most incredible that any of us has ever experienced. Even Valdi was impressed. The edge of the glacier was almost a sheer face with a kind of ramp winding up to the snout. It was obvious this was the only place to go up. At the foot was a sandy slope ending in a hairpin bend to the right, onto a ramp that lay across an ice bridge with a brook underneath it and clusters of icicles to the left. Afterwards was an ice-covered, split springboard and immediately after it a left turn for the last sheer slope, with cones of ice, sand and mud and so narrow that Freyr mangled the left running board out of shape (now he'll be told off for that when he gets home). Freyr was towing the trailer with the oil and stuff, so we had to winch him for the last part up onto the edge.
Next act was skiing down the ice fissures on the edge of the glacier, with Valdi and me in the leading roles. Believe us, that little slope certainly brought out the adrenaline. The final act in the day's performance was to drive a few kilometres up onto the snout of the glacier to put up our first camp on the icecap, which we named Camp Nansen. Today we conquered 22 km and our present location is 65°15'11"N and 50°32'74"W. In total we've travelled 147 km of the 800 km from Nuuk to Isortoq. Ahead is the white horizon but mountain ranges are still visible on either side since we're still on the creeping part of the glacier at an altitude of about 470 m a.s.l. The temperature is 15 degrees of frost and the weather is bright and clear after the wind dropped towards evening, barometer 967 millibars.
Awaiting us tomorrow is to finish threading our way along the fissure zone above us, then getting as far as we can on the icecap itself.
Once again, love to all our womenfolk.
Seventh and Eight day:
Friday May 21, 1999
We've made good progress today. Woke up at 6:30 as usual. Valdi cooked some particularly good porridge. We set off at 9.00. Postponed our morning aerobics until lunchtime because everyone was impatient to get going. The fissures up the creeping glacier turned out to be quite full of snow, but we ran into a few pits of slush and had to winch ourselves out of them. After driving 8 km from the rim of the glacier five reindeer appeared out of the blue. Driving conditions were great and by lunchtime we'd covered 45 km. After that we couldn't see land any more, nothing but snow on the horizon everywhere. The incredible driving weather continued and if we go on like this we'll make up for the delays that have occurred. Twice today a DAS 7-50 passenger aircraft flew low over us. We've had plenty of publicity here in Greenland. Our camp is at an altitude of 2,200 m, location N65'17''68, W50'15''41. We're on the edge of a crest whose exact height is unknown, somewhere between 2,500-2,700 m. We drove 150 km today, so we've finished just under 300 km of the 800 km route between Nuuk and Isortoq. We were asked to carry a bag of official mail to Isortoq. Outside at 20:00 hrs the temperature's -17°C now, calm and clear.
The lads think I'm in a bad mood because I had to tell them off once today when I thought they were driving rather too fast. We have to keep the speed down, we're so heavily loaded. I towed the trailer today. You never cease being surprised at what these trucks are capable of, especially witnessing a truck that weighs more than 3 tonnes fully loaded and towing 1.5 tonnes behind it at 40 km/h without blinking. Now the frost is down to 21 degrees and it's 20:15 hrs. It'll be cold tonight. But such heavy frost means calm weather and good driving conditions. The barometer shows 771 millibars at this altitude. Now the temperature's 26 degrees of frost. It'll be cold sleeping in your underpants tonight. Dinner will be Greenland whale meat, seal's blubber and something nice for dessert. Ingi doesn't feel that a meal's complete he's had three desserts to make a French-style five-course meal.
He's an incredible epicure, and the rest of us all benefit from it. Freyr must be feeling bad at the moment because he didn't get to tow the trailer up onto the top of the icecap, but he'll find something else that needs doing, like putting the oil into the new glacier equipment. Valdi always says yes even when he ought to say no. Well, time to stop, dinner's here and I'm sure Ingi needs to send a romantic message.
Sunday May 23, 1999
If you could see where I'm writing this I probably wouldn't need to say anything else. I'm sitting here in the middle of the DYE-3 radar station, dressed up against the cold and writing this diary with wizen fingers. I've found an old central heating boiler and kindled it. I don't know whether that's any improvement - the boiler itself is roasting hot but the boiler room's freezing.
A couple of things have happened since the last diary entry. We survived the mighty frost in our tents and all slept without stirring. It's incredible how deeply some people can sleep. I have to sleep beside Valdi and since I'm always the last one into the tent, he's started snoring when I come in. No matter how much noise I make, he never wakes up.
I woke to find a new day had dawned. The frost had dwindled, I had to laugh at myself when I looked at the thermometer after we left the tents. Wow, getting warmer, only minus 19, I thought to myself. Look how quick humans are to adapt to conditions. No more complaining that it's only +10°C, but thankful that it's only 19 degrees of frost.
After the night frost it took a while to start the trucks. We had to pour hot water over the induction manifold in the truck we call Pamela to get it started. The other two started up straight away, but spluttered a bit at first.
In Saturday's good weather we set our course for the DYE-3 radar station which was 154 km away. On the way we crossed the crest of the icecap, but had to find out for ourselves the highest point and measure it. We had some idea but the maps we have only show estimated altitudes and point out that they aren't necessarily correct. At 14:00 hrs we reached what we considered the highest point, 2,740 m above sea level according to our Magellan GPS 315 measurements. This was a definite milestone, so we had a meal there and took the appropriate photos. Now it's downhill all the way.
There's a storm outside, but not a raging one. I'm sitting alone here now in the pitch black heating room.
Goodnight from us, you can wish us goodnight too, we need it.