It's 4am and I'm woken up again not by the gale force winds ready to blow away the tent with us in it, not by the -8C inside temperature, not by the frozen condensation falling on us but by the worst noise imaginable. It sounds like a polar bear, worse, Niall's overture of snoring and grunting. Amazing, especially as I have earplugs. Managed to get another couple of hours sleep, an extra one because Niall spazzed up setting the alarm on his £7.95 Argos supplied watch. Routine starting to kick in, tents and pulks packed in record time. Another corker of a day with sun and blue skies, T-shirts and shorts and an evolution of panda eye! After a chilly night the feet of powder that had hindered us the previous day had crystalised. We manage to crack out 18km in a straight line at 22km after detouring around millions of steep drifts otherwise known as sastrugi. Over 300m in altitude gained, woohoo! Rather than taking 4km shifts as leader we moved onto an hourly regime. I sense there may be a competition brewing as to who clocks up the most kilometres in an hour. Other than that the day went really well. Just about to pass a couple of guys who set off 2 to 3 days before us, making us the first to cross Greenland this year. To date this season two Greenland teams have been rescued, one due to frostbite and one due to mental breakdown. I just hope we don't run out of hot chocolate. To put this into perspective 25-30 take up the challenge of crossing Greenland each year compared with up to 500 who climb Everest.
Loving the sat phone messages.
Our position is 65 54.36'N 39 19.159'W
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I know the two guys who had to abandon (rescued seems a bit too dramatic a term!) their expedition due to frostbite were on a proper hard core speed crossing, not just trekking from east to west, they had serious weather, -35 plus wind chill through the day, not just -8 at night, they were unlucky and were actually still commended after their decision in a National Geographic review for their tenacity and will. I know this because it was me that got frost bite!!.....
ReplyDelete..Hi everyone, I’m glad to see the guy’s are safe and well and progressing nicely, I think if the weather stays good they should be over in less than 20 days easily, even though they’re doing a ‘normal’ crossing – I’d honestly like to see that too because it’ll prove a few things, and show how fast it could be done.
I got uncomfortable reading this, I think the ‘mental breakdown’ is a sensitive issue! Knowing those involved I’d been keen to find out what actually happened, I’m also gutted for the rest of the team. I don’t see why either our or their expedition needs mentioning in this context though, as neither bares any real relevance it just seems to create a false comparison, which exaggerates your cause slightly, and there’s no need. I definitely wouldn’t talk down a crossing of Greenland because it is a serious undertaking but Everest has no relevance either! Just ‘to put it in perspective’ climbing Everest is tougher and more technical irrespective of how many people have climbed it or attempt it! (Everest by the two most common routes is graded 4E and crossing Greenland is a 2D and I don’t think it should be a D!)
Don’t get me wrong, I wish the boys good luck for the rest of the crossing and of that they are safe. Just be careful.
Namaste,
Ben Thackwray