Blog


		24/4 2008 Nuuk Yesterday, Per and Søren took the helicopter to Kulusuk, where Tasiilaq's airport is. There, they waited six hours (a bit of a habit by now) for the plane that took them to Nuuk. Nuuk's home to 15,000 people so it's a bit of a metropolis by Greenland's standards with an intersection, lots of taxis, a steak house and a hotel for sailors. In the spirit of blending in, they took up lodging at the sailors' hotel and are looking forward to an all-out attack on the steak house tonight. Tomorrow, they're making the trip home to Denmark via Sønderstrømfjord, expected landing around 7.30 pm. Thus, this concludes my blogging mission. I hope you've enjoyed it and thank all of you for loyally visiting. Cheers, Mads


		22/4 2008 Tasiilaq The helicopter arrived at 6 pm (6 hours later - but compared to 10 days, 6 hours seems trivial). The trip was beautiful beyond words with the ice, the icebergs and the sun forming a perfect setting to mark the end of the expedition. Søren and Per have booked themselves into a nice hotel in Tasiilaq. The hotel also had some 30 rich Americans and Brits staying and when they heard about the trip, our boys were treated to dinner and given the left-overs from the others' plates. Normally, that wouldn't be happening in the restaurant, but as Per put it: "We were starving - we didn't care". They've been to the hospital, where Søren got his fingers washed and bandaged up and had his feet checked. When I talked to Per, he was having a sight-seeing stroll around town while Søren was getting a massage. 22/4 2008 Last contest's winner Søren and Per reached the East coast on the 20th of April at 10.30 pm. That makes Jens Damsgård the winner of the contest with his guess of "18th April, 2 pm". Jens wins a t-shirt from expedition sponsor 66 North and a gift voucher worth DKK 500. Congratulations on that.


		21/4 2008 Physical de-brief In case you should be wondering, now that it's all over, it's been a pretty tough ride for the boys. Inhumane, one might say. Per has lost 8 kg and gotten himself frost damage in 7 finger tips. He also has frost bite 3 places on his head: ear, cheek and nose all got a tad too cold. Aside from that, he has a couple of blisters on his feet. All in all, nothing stopping him from a trip to the Antarctica in 2011. Søren's lost 8 kg too and has gotten about the same damage to the head. Furthermore, he has infections in both feet, 6 hurting fingers and has pretty much given up on counting the blisters and sores. It all sounds pretty dire, we know, but it's really not that bad and it's probably gonna be back to normal in 2 months time, while they expect the weight to be back on by friday if there's enough candy in Greenland. What's worse it that Søren's gotten himself second degree frost bite on his middle finger and a third degree one on the ring finger. It happened on a really cold day, but he didn't feel it happening and only saw it when he removed his mittens to change camera batteries - one finger was white, the other black. Neither a good sign. "Luckily", it doesn't really hurt and didn't hurt when it thawed up (which such things usually do - quite a lot, actually). They've been in contact with the doctor, who attends to Sirius, and he tells them that there's no infection in either finger, but that Søren might be looking forward to losing a couple of millimeters off of both fingers. 21/4 2008 End of the line... So there they were. On the frozen lake. Waiting. No dogs, hunters or sleigh tracks in sight. More beat-up and tired than they've been before, they decided to cook up a round of freeze-dried dinner and walk the last 8 km to the village, where they had pick-up. Luckily, they'd only just gotten the primus out of the pulk when the hunter appeared. It turned he'd been up on the ice to look for them. The trip to Isortoq ended up being an unforgettable end to the expedition, sitting as they did on the sleigh and watching as the sun set over the lake. They spent the night with the hunter and joined the family for a dinner of bread, sausages and dark bread. Just what they need after 21 days of freeze-dried food out of a plastic bag. Today, they spent US$60 on candy and sat down outside the shop. And finished all of it without stoppping for breath. That further elevated their moods - they're happy, proud and very grateful for all the encouraging messages y'all've been sending. Now, they're waiting for the helicopter (hopefully arriving soon) that'll fly them to Angmassalik/Tasiilaq where they're staying till wednesday, before they fly on to Nuuk. They're waiting along with another expedition that'd planned to cross the ice in the opposite direction - their tent, however, was destroyed by the wind so they had had to turn around and head back to the coast. The poor fellas had been waiting in Isortoq for 10 days for a helicopter.


		20/4 2008 8.35 pm A ray of light and hope Finally, the big, fat, white lady shows herself from her kinder side: two hours ago, weather got better and Per and Søren saw the first rocks, which boosted moods and instilled optimism in the boys, being as they were worn down from white out and bad visibility. They were awfully beat up and weary-headed and Per had been dealing with nausea to top it off. Furthermore, they were pretty nervous: in an area filled with crags in the ice, it's kind of unpleasant having a line of sight below 5 m. Again, big lumps of snow was getting stuck under the skis but they, once again, came up with something: Applying benzine to the underside of the skis. That sure set 'em gliding. After 16.5 hours and 55 km, they've finally made it down from the ice cap and are standing on the middle of the frozen lake, where they have their rendezvous with the catcher. There were only 8.5 km to Isortoq, but that was more than they could manage now, so they were hoping that the catcher had understood that he was to meet them now and not at 1 am. As of tomorrow, they will have their cell phones back on the grid and I'm sure a congratulations would be much appreciated by the snow-weary travellers. Per's cell number is +45 2162 5666. They made it.


		20/4 2008 4.00 pm In the middle of a rain cloud Søren and Per have skied 18 km in the last 6 hours, so doing the last 16 before 1.00 am (where they have a pick-up with the hunter) should be doable. The hunter doesn't speak Danish, so they're hoping he's understood their appointment. In keeping with their tradition of "couldn't get worse", their expected view of ocean, icebergs and stone is replaced by 5 m line of sight and rain - not what you'd expect in Greenland in April. 20/4 2008 10.00 am White out With their bellies full and only a few bags of freeze dried foood and some candy left in the pulks, the boys got moving at 04.00 am. The snow is better, but they're dealing with white out, so seeing in heavily impaired. They've done 18 km so far, so there's 34 km to go before they reach the position they're being picked up by a local hunter and his dog sleigh at 01.00 am tonight.


		19/4 2008 Everything looks up... right till it looks down again After another night of hard wind, the snow got harder yesterday, meaning that our boys only had it up to the middle of their shins. In these fortunate circumstances, they put 30 km behind them. Visibility, too, was better. For the first time in recent memory they were seeing beyond 100 m and sometimes they had lines of sight above 5-6 km. Unfortunately, it's been snowing all night with no wind, meaning lots of soft, deep snow for the lads in the morning. 10-12 hours of wading comin' at 'em.


		18/4 2008 Just when they thought, it couldn’t get worse… It did. In a bad way. Just now, they thought things couldn’t get worse. In fact, they were hoping for a pleasurable experience going downhill with the sun on their faces and the wind at their backs. That, however, was not what turned out happening. Quite the contrary. In soft and heavy melting snow 40 cm deep, skis and pulks get stuck in their tracks, leaving our boys to plow forward, fighting to drag their legs with them. It is, they say, like walking in water up to your knees. But worse. According to Per, the only good thing about yesterday was that it was warm: at -2 degrees, it felt warm, but the snow got heavier and harder to cross. It’s hard as H**l – we tried it a couple of times at Sirius, but never more than 6 hours a day, whereas our boys Søren and Per pulled 10, although it paid off with only 21 km. All the while, the wind was busy going every way but the right one. Justice doesn’t seem to have made its way to the ice. The boys usually say that their mood is proportional to the speed on the GPS, but yesterday that just wasn’t working for them – it wasn’t moving anywhere near fast enough. So instead, they chose to look to reducing snow depths for encouragement. They have 110 km to go and with rations and flight tickets planned for finishing before the 21^st, weather and snow had better be favoring them more than it is now. Cross your fingers, dear reader, for our boys. They need all the help they can get.


		17/4 2008 Doesn’t it ever go downhill in this place? Yesterday, they did 32 km – as usual with a head wind and, to top it off, soft snow 10-20 cm deep. They’re still 2000 m above sea level. That way, they’re counting on terrain to drop 1.5 % till they get to the coast. Cheers ‘em up.


		17/4 2008 Morning rituals Yes, we know you’re thinking that everything seems to be ritualized. It is, however, very much so. Stuff gets repetitive. This is how everyday starts: At 7 am alarm clocks go off, Søren breaks out the Iridium phone to call weather services in Sønderstrømfjord and then tries to wake the hibernating polar bear on the other side of the tent (that, dear reader, is Per). The water in the bottle inside the sleeping bags (now cold but blissfully not frozen) goes into the oat meal mixture and breakfast is ready. While they sleep, their sweating and breathing sends loads of moisture and steam into the air, which gets everywhere. In the cold, it freezes. Therefore, to keep it from melting and soaking everything, they don’t turn the primus on in the morning. Yes, it is f***ing cold. And it doesn’t get better when the frozen clothes and boots have to be put on. Before tugging in for the night, they pack all their gear into the pulks, in case the tent should collapse – that way, all their precious gear won’t be distributed randomly across the ice. That way, when Per goes out to dig the guy lines and pegs, the sleeping bags and mats just need to be packed on the pulks (still parked in the vestibule) and they can go. 50 minutes after waking up, they’re on their skis and on the road.


		16/4 2008 Evening rituals Depending on the weather, they stop after 10-13 hours, when Søren’s ski pole goes and stays horizontal, click out of the skis and give one another a hug, congratulating on work well done. Per then walks 4 m into the wind and drives a ski into the snow, while Søren unpacks the tent and ties a guy line to the ski to keep it from getting blown away. The tent is rolled up around the poles that just need to be clicked together before the tent is virtually standing. The bag from one of the pulks goes into the tent to keep it on the ground and the pulks get stacked and go in the vestibule along with Søren, who does the interior decorating. Simultaneously, Per ties the guy lines down to skis, pegs and anchors, piles snow onto the storm flaps (extra fabric sown onto the bottom of the tent) to keep snow from blowing in and builds a snow wall to direct the wind over the tent. Once inside the tent, they take the filt inner socks out of the ski boots before they freeze and get stuck. Then, 2.5 hours of boiling water and melting snow begins. They need 1 L for dinner, 2 for drinking at night, 4 for the next day’s thermos and finally 2 for the water bottles that go into warming the sleeping bags before being drunk and turned to oat meal to start the day off.


		16/4 2008 Just like a glass of milk Søren is back in top shape, almost magically transformed. He was literally piling forward up ahead in front of Per for all of 13 hours yesterday. According to Per, it was all down to Søren’s impressive effort that they made it the 42 km – it definitely wasn’t down to nice and pleasant weather. It was windy and even though the wind ”always” blows down from the top of the ice, they have yet to experience a day with calm or winds at their back. What they had instead was ”white-out” – the condition where everything is white and the blowing snows make it impossible to discern horizon or terrain contours. Sometimes, they had 200 m of line of sight, other times they felt like they were walking on the bottom of a glass of milk. The stomach mounted kajak compas froze and consequently stopped working, so to keep on track they had to stop, pull out the pocket compas and wait for it to settle. That takes time and time spent getting bearings is time spent getting cold, so they came up with something: they duct taped the GPS to Søren’s forearm (it calculates direction on the basis of measured coordinates instead of measuring analoguely against a magnetic north like a normal compass), so he can check direction while skiing. Clever, huh? They have 160 km left to go and I don’t know whether they were dreaming or tripping when they told me that they’d manage that in 3 days if the weather worked in their favour: 2 days of 40 km and 1 day of 80.


		15/4 2008 Daily rituals They start on their way at 9 am. Søren leads the way, keeping track of time and the 53 minutes of walking and the 7 minutes of break, while Per, slightly behind, doesn't bother with time. He knows that every time Søren's ski pole juts out horizontally to the side, the watch is being checked and the closer they get to the break, the more frequent the checks. In a good hour, time is checked 3 or 4 times. In a bad one, where the break is looked forward to, he checks at least twenty times. When the ski pole stays horizontal, it's time for a break, so they get close witht their backs to the wind and try to stay warm. Every break needs an intake of something. And even with 5 thermos, 4 RitterSport, 4 energy bars, a bag of candy and a bag of peanuts, strict rationing is needed to stretch it for 11 breaks. So this, dear reader, is how it's done: 1st, 2nd and 3rd break: 3 gulps of water (running on breakfast) 4th break: half an energy bar and 3 gulps 5th break: 5 jelly beans (3 of which are saved in the right mitten for when times are tough) and 3 gulps 6th break: the rest of the energy bar and 3 gulps 7th break: half a RitterSport and, you guessed it, 3 gulps of water 8th break: just like 5th break 9th break: life is now hard, so they eat a whole RitterSport and 3 gulps 10th break: the last energy bar and 3 gulps 11th break: the peanuts and 3 gulps More breaks: hard luck, buddy 15/4 2008 Ferrari and Scania The strategy of carrying both a pulk and a back pack seems not to be working, as it makes balancing hard and makes Søren anxious: will the back pack's added weight on the skis make them susceptible to breaking. So today, wednesday, they're packing one 15 kg Ferrari-pulk and one 45 kg Scania-pulk (Scania is a Swedish producer of heavy vehicles like trucks, busses etc.). Due to the vindskagler criss-crossing the ice, it's hard to stay on track as they have to keep turning and when the wind blows and snow blocks their line of sight, things get even tougher. So today, the plan is for Søren, the born path finder, leads the way with the Ferrari pulk and blazes the best possible trail through the vindskagler while Per, hauling the Scania pulk, follows behind. Søren is feeling better, luckily - a good, long night of heavy sleep has worked miracles for both of them. 13/4 2008 Spring... as if! When Per and Søren came out of the tent this morning, weather was almost spring-like and warm and there was actually not even a need for hats. They wondered, in response to this pleasant change, whether the tent might have flown south overnight. So they called weather service and were "comforted" to know that storm was the order of the day for two days to come. In response, they packed down all their gear and got going, wanting to make the best of the fortunate weather. Unfortunately, they were meeting belts of "vindskagler" (we can't find the English term for it, but a vindskagel is like a sudden drop-off or tiny "cliff" on the horizontal snow where the ground suddenly rises or falls some 40 cm). When the wind blows, vindskagler are often created as small elevations in the snow, being frequently flat on one side and vertical on the other. What Søren and Per are facing now, though, are knee-high and vertical on both sides. If you want to avoid breaking the skis, you have to turn your side to the vindskagel and step onto it one leg at a time, walk a few steps untill the vindskagel ends and then turn your side to it again, step down and then move on. It's troublesome and takes ages. But seeing as how they have only one low-weight ski as a reserve with them (it's cut down to 1 m lenght to save weight) they really can't take any chances and risk breaking them. The weather was a pleasure, at -15 degrees celsius, making it possible to stop for lunch and prepare a freeze dried dish for lunch. Nice! In the course of the afternoon, the temperature dropped some 20 degrees, taking it back under -30, and Søren, who's been hauling around some flu-ish disease, got cold and was unable to get warm again. Thus, after 10 hours and 30 km, they stopped for the day. Søren is okay and, as they say, in one piece, but the last couple of days have been hard and have taken their toll on him, so tomorrow they're packing all their gear onto Per's pulk so Søren can save some strenght and get back in shape.


		12/8 2008 Where's the top? It's pretty flat, but the 13 hours spent skiing 43 km today brought them up to 2500 m above sea level, ie. 100 m more than yesterday, so they celebrated reaching the top a little to early. Nonetheless, the distance to Isortoq is now shorter than to Sønderstrømfjord and that's bound to boost the mood. As Per put it: mood and motivation = GPS distance measure. The further, the merrier. They've now had two days without strong winds, but just to keep them on their toes, it's about -35, so they've actually been walking in their down jackets. They take turns going forward and every hour they switch places, performing in the proces the ritual high five witht the ski poles. And they've introduced good night hugs. Cute, huh? There is no official record for crossing the ice coast to coast, so the boys are - even if they don't cross as fast as expected - going to apply to Guinness to have their time and route accepted in the Book of Records. That way, at least, there's going to be a consensus and, untill someone breaks it, a record to their name. Reading this blog, you're probably thinking of crossing attempting it right now, aren't you? 11/4 2008 Chocolate eggs, tea, chocolate... Uhmmm... They made it! They've reached the top. Laying down 44 km in 13 hours, they made it to 2398 m above sea level, the highest point in the area. They were, no wonder, pretty hyped and happy, but would of course have preferred getting there four days earlier. That aside, it did trigger the prepared feast of freeze dried food like momma used to make, a chocolate egg each, followed by tea and chocolate. Inside Per's egg was a bad-ass Shrek figurine, who now lives in Per's sleeping bag. Søren got something undefinable - the poor guy couldn't figure out what the "ages 3 and up" toy was. Sitting up there on the ice, they've done the math on their trip so far. In the 12 days they've been on the go, they've had: - 3 days below -40 degrees celsius - 3 days without strong winds - 3 days stuck in their tent as the elements raged around them They have: - eaten half the food - burned 3 liters of petroleum - used 1/4 of the toilet paper (that would, however, also be a bad thing to run out of) Finally, Søren and Per have ordered me to thank all the nice people who've sent them SMS's - that makes them happy. 11/4 2008 Last chance to guess In co-operation with 66 North, we have a t-shirt and a gift voucher worth DKK 500 to the shop. To win, guess when the expedition get to the East coast. Send your answer to x-ice@madsp.dk. 10/4 2008 SMS to X-ice The satellite phones from X-ice's telecommunications partner GreenSat are making it possible for the boys to receive SMS. Send a free SMS here 8816 4149 2549. It'll make them happy. 10/4 2008 Hot or not? Today's weather meant another day pinned down by the storms. While the morning looked good, temperatures high at -25 and winds pleasant, winds picked up just as they were getting ready to go. According to the weather service in Sønderstrømfjord, the wind should calm down and with only 30 km to the top that would definitely be nice. Seeing as how there's not much to do in a tent in a snow storm, the lads have created the following list of "X-ice hot or not": Not Wind from North Wind from South Wind from East Leaky thermos Halb-bitter RitterSport (50% cacao) Frozen boots (it takes 15 minutes to get the damn things on) Yellow snow in the tent vestibule Hot Urine bottle (works, gross as it may seem, as a heater in the sleeping bag) Tent (red, but insanely durable) Felt inner socks for the ski boots (nice and comfy inside the tent) Recorded books on your iPod Spaghetti Bolognese (+250 g of margarine) Downhill New US$1200 sleeping bags (even if their supported temperature is only -35) Shell pants and shell jacket (ice can be shaken off and then they're ready to go - thank you 66 North) 9/4 2008 Where's the mercury? And why are there feet on my stomach? Sometimes things get simple in a depressing way. Like when you have a thermometer that only goes down to -30 degrees celsius and the mercury bar in the thermometer that shows how cold it is disappears. That's when you know it's cold. Real cold. Greenland cold. This morning, to illustrate, they had to stop after 15 minutes. Why? Because Per simply couldn't get his toes warm. So they stop, Per drops the socks, throw them under Søren's jacket and onto his warm belly. It worked - and on they went. It is surprising, however, as the ski boots have a thick inner sock made of filt and with tow pairs of woolly socks underneath and a high activity level, you wouldn't have expected it to be a problem. Quite the contrary, actually. Luckily, in that light, they can look forward to the day after, when the same cold feet have to go into a pair of moist, cold socks and further into a pair of frozen boots. With the temperature between -30 and -40, standing still isn't exactly an appealing option, so Per didn't have time to tell a whole lot before they had to get moving again. Except for the above anecdote, he did have time to tell me (and thereby us all) that they are less than 200 m from the top and might get there tomorrow. Prepare to break out the tea and chocolate! 8/4 2008 Under the weather - for a change They only made it one hour further yesterday before wind speeds picked up so excessively as to force them into the safety of their tent. Too bad, because they were making excellent time and feeling good and the wind was coming from the South and not the East (meaning that they had it coming from the side as opposed to the much less pleasant head wind, they've been dealing with). And then today, the wind just picked up again again and turned. Not quite what you're wishing for when you've turned your tent with the side to what is now the main thrust of the wind and your snow anti-wind wall is being bypassed. None of that changes, however, and they stay stuck in the tent while nature cools off. So there they were in the tent all day, trying to hold onto the poles to keep everything from flying away or being pushed down. And then what do you do? You talk about what the heck gave you the bright idea of going across Greenland, why you left the books behind to save 500 g, when the weather would look up and everything they could come up with. But in the end, you just realise that you might as well just wait. Sit down and wait. And wait for better weather. In the mean time, however, you might as well enjoy the comfort of your sleeping bag... 8/4 2008 When will they get there? In collaboration with the expeditions clothing partner 66 North a new contest is on. If you can guess when the boys will arrive at the East Coast, you stand to win a 66 North t-shirt and a gift voucher worth DKK 500. Send your answer to x-ice@madsp.dk before the 11/4/2008. And in the mean time, go to www.66north.com or www.66shop.dk to find out how you'd want to spend your gift voucher. 8/4 2008 The weight of pulks on their shoulders (or the snow) When the lads left Sønderstrømfjord, the the two pulks together weigh 89,5 kg. That means the Hans and Inger Jessen gave the best guess: 91 kg. The 89,5 kg were made up of amongst other things: - Food: 35 kg - Fuel: 16 kg - Emergency backpacks: 18 kg 7/4 2008 Tooth brush recovered 43 km. That's how far they got yesterday. And -30 degrees celsius. That's how cold it was - the lowest of the expedition so far. Today has been a blast. 32 km i 9 hours so again they were aiming for more than 40. And there's only another 300 vertical meters to the top. Weather service has promised them storms tonight again, so they're aiming to build a wall of snow to protect their tent (they'd have liked to do that before too, but the snow's been too powdery). Per's tooth brush is recovered. Even though sharing is caring and life in a tent is pretty communal, there is a certain comfort in a personal tooth brush. Good for them. At today's lunch, the rationed chocolate was supplemented by a wholesome near-gourmet treat: 250 g of margarine. Disgusting? Yes. Nourishing and warming? Yes too.


		6/4 2008 Last chance to guess Monday is your last chance to submit a guess: how much did Per and Sørens pulks weigh when the expedition started? Send us your answer to x-ice@madsp.dk 6/4 2008 The big, fat, white lady Now we're rocking! The wind has calmed to almost a still and the lads can see far, meaning that it no longer feels like a constant uphill climb. They're making good progress, getting down 30 km in 8 hours and hoping for at least another 10 in the next 4. But everything is down to the weather, because the weather decides everything up there, on the belly of the "big, fat, white lady", as Per most affectionately calls Greenland. And she is, I guess, both wide and fat. Yesterday, they only managed 3 hours before winds picked up - the last half hour it was blowing so fiercely that they had to fight their way forward, getting that stinging sensation in the cheeks, preparing only for the next gust threatening to so catch them off guard and send them to the ground. On Søren, that stinging feeling turned into a 2x4cm liquidy frost bite, while Per only got a small red spot. Now, Søren got a bit of sports tape on his cheek and Nelly to his name, proudly named after most excellent, awesome rapper Nelly (picture below).


		5-4 2008 Under the weather... The expedition was stuck in place under the weather most of the day yesterday. By 6 pm, however, the weather calmed down, so they packed up and got going. It was, as they said, amazing. They still faced a head wind but being of a mere 5 m/s, Per described it as felling almost like being pushed forward after all the time they'd spent in hard head wind. They were literally blazing away, laying down 4,2 km in a mere 50 minutes, untill the winds picked up again, so in the next two hours they got another 4 km untill it got so stormy that they had to retreat to the warm comfort of their trusty tent and wait for nicer weather. One would think that they'd have slept a whole lot with all this down time, but Per said it was so windy he didn't dare sleep. As I inquired about Søren who's new to arctic storms, Per replied that he'd probably gotten "an experience to remember". The lads were, of course, pretty annoyed at the tough winds, seeing as how they were feeling good and fresh and ready to get going. Eventually, certain things can't wait any longer and you need to go. In a storm, however, it's about being well prepared, so you pull on your warmest clothes, carefully measure toilet paper, stick it in your boot to free up your hand and then choose between one of two courses of action. 1) Hit and run: You run out, yank down all there is, do your thing, wipe and run back in. The challenge of this, however, is negotiating the direction of the wind and handling yourself and your paper when fingers and all other exposed body parts get numb faster than you can imagine. 2) Slow and snowy: Less gruesome but also more time demanding, this time you take your shovel and dig a big hole, using the snow to build a wind wall to cover your squating body. This is less cold than option 1 - although far from warm - but the wall creates turbulence, causing the snow to whirl around all over and melt, as it hits your body, thereby cooling you and making your cherished paper wet. And filling underwear and pants with snow. You'd think, with all this latrinary theorising, that the boys had too much time on their hands. We'd have to agree.


		5/4 2008 "If you're going through Hell, keep going" and remember to bring your tooth brush... Yesterday morning saw a hard wind coming in from the East, so Per and Søren were in the tent waiting for it to quiet down. Then, Søren remembered Churchill's immortal words: "If you're going through Hell, keep going". So they packed up their gear and went on through the icy, windy Hell. In the heavy head wind, they only managed 24 km in 9 hours. Per said it felt like a trip by the Danish west coast (notorious for high wind speeds): you fight your way forward without getting anywhere, and when the time comes for urinating, you turn your back diagonally against the wind (if you turn squarely against it, you create turbulence and send your fluids in random directions, possibly hitting the skis and thus covering them in ice), angle the skis so as to not be carried off by the storm. The ice cap of Greenland is huge, tall in the middle and very cold. That means that the air on the top gets cold and heavy, making it run away from the middle and down towards the coast on both sides (so it wouldn't have been easier to just start on the other side to get a back wind all the way). Thus, they can expect head winds all the way to the top, but from then on, it's gonna be all good the rest of the way: they've eaten a Kinder chocolate egg, gotten the wind in their backs and nothing but "down hill" to go. The snow is being whipped up a lot by the wind, meaning that it sweeps low all over, making it seem like a 1 m deep ocean of snow streaming around on top of the ice all over. And there you are on the bottom of the swirling mass that looks like it continues forever in all directions. Depressing? I think so. The new Primus pots with heat exchanger are superbly effective - they're using less than 3 dL of fuel a day compared to the normal expectation of 2,5 dL per man pr. day. It also means, however, that there is less warmth escaping into warming the tent and drying the wet clothes. uckily, the hard shell and the pants just need a shaking when the sweat has turned to ice and the underwear they bring into the sleeping bags to dry while they sleep. During the preparations, they sawed the handles off their tooth brushes to save weight, which seemed real clever at the time. Less so now, however, as small things have an easier time disappearing and Per's tooth brush has thus been gone the last couple of days and the boys are left to share Søren's. Sharing, as they say, is caring. 3-4 2008 Head wind The weather just kept repeating itself: strong winds at night that don't slow down before midday, leaving "only" a fresh head wind around 11 am. At 9 pm it calms down more, untill night where it builds up again. When Per around 9 pm the sun was still shining, they'd walked for 9 hours (ie 9 times 50 minutes of walking followed by a 10 minute break) but had only made it 24 km, so they'd go on for another 3 hours hoping to get down more than 40 km. They were 1400 m above sea level, effectively 300 higher than yesterday. Not an extreme elevation, but as the terrain keeps moving up and down, it feels like a chronic climb. Per's voice wasn't bursting with optimism when he told me that their average speed was below 3 km/h. Although the snow is good and hard, meaning that their skis don't sink into it, the head wind was real bad meaning that they weren't making much use of the good snow conditions. The wind also means that goggles have to be worn all the time and that hardly makes it easier to keep a fixed direction - which is already a problem as there is nothing in the terrain to let you know where you're headed. Thus, they'd have to stop and pull out a compass all the time, if not for their clever innovation: mounting a kajakking compas on a piece of wood that can be fixed to the belt. This means that all they have to do is look down on the compass 20 cm in front of them to get their bearings. Tomorrow, they're going to be trying to make up for lost time by changing their break times. Now, they're aiming for 53 minutes of walking and 7 minute breaks to get in an other half hour of walking time. Desperate times call for desperate measures...


		2/4 2008 Snow storm A snow storm is a bit of an experience in a tent. Everything basically shakes like it's the end of the world. The clothes drying in the hammocky net in the ceiling jump up and down. The guy ropes are tight as piano strings and hum when the wind gets them. And despite this, the tent keeps getting pushed down, getting almost flat on the poor soul who happens to be lying inside. Good stuff, huh? So there you are, wondering if the tent is going to survive. It probably will though, and although everything is all good in there, you can't help thinking that there's only half a millimeter of fabric between you and the arctic cold. The storm only calmed down before lunch, so the day's trip was postponed for some three hours. The terrain changed and got more snowy, so on went the skis and off went the lads. When Per called around 9 pm they still had another three hours to go before reaching the planned ten hours. They were 1100 m above sea level, the temperature was still -7 and they had a pretty solid wind hitting them right in the face. We've gotten a question about how the satellite phones get recharged, and I can say that they don't. No charger has been brought along, but they have eight batteries that, when warm, give them some hours of talk. When cold, however, they don't work for more than a couple of minutes. If you have a question for Søren and Per, write to x-ice@madsp.dk.


		1-4 2008 On answering the call of nature in a snow storm and other things you're dying to know... It may be cold in the tent, but it's a lot colder outside, which means that the boys will do a lot to avoid having to go out. For that very reason, Søren and Per have brought along a 1L bottle in which to urinate in the warm comfort of the tent. This morning, Søren proceeded to fill the poor bottle, but was, when he emptied it, unaware of the wind direction. Result: the majority of the content spilt on Per's pulk. Luckily it froze real quick and could then be brushed off. And no - it's not an April's Fool thing. It's been a pretty tough day, leaving the boys without the enrgy to play jokes. Today, they've spent 10 hours on the move, but have only made it 20 km. It all started with 6m tall "bumps" on the ice that most folks would have gone around although it takes real long to find good alternatives (paths through created by streams of melted ice) going in the right direction. Luckily, it got better and towards the end of the day things straightened out, meaning that the bumps were reduced to some 1m. Even in those conditions, it's pretty tiring to pull the pulks up and stay balanced on the skis going down, which means that you never really find a decent rhythm. The first stint up to the ice cap itself is the most dangerous on, due to the risk of crevasses. Luckily, they only met one which, to compensate for it's loneliness, was really big: 10 m wide and too deep for them to see the bottom. Fortunatly, they found a place where they could cross safely. As of today, the boys will be out of reach of the mobile phone masts on the coast, so from now on all communication is going to be through the Iridium satellite telephones. That means that you won't be getting any more picture for the time being. Maps will have to do. Now, the boys are lying in the tent as a snow storm tears across the ice caps. Let's hope like they do that it's gone tomorrow.


		1-4 2008 Turn off that tanning bed As a part of X-Ice's campaign against skin cancer, the Danish Cancer Association has contributed yet another award-winning film. Check it out right here. Enjoy. And be inspired. 31-3 2008 Question number 2 How much do the two pulks including all the, food and fuel for the expedition weigh? Once again, we're giving away our favorite price: a meter of Rittersport for the best guess. Uhmmm... Don't miss your chance to win. 31-3 2008 Get that party started... Aaaand they're off. X-ice has finally started. So far, all has fared well, but snow has been a bit lacking so the pulks have gotten themselves a good old scratching on the underside. Although that may well have made them marginally lighter, it might also have taken some of their smoothness out of them making them a bit harder to pull across the snow. When Per called today, the boys were onto their tenth set of 50 minutes walking followed by 10 minutes break. The first approx. 40 km har offered all kinds of terrain (mostly stony, rocky and snowy though) so skis, boots and crampons had been the order of the day. Weather had been mostly cloudy, temperatures around -10 degrees celsius and winds gentle from the North. Except for the clouds, it couldn't be much better. 31-3 2008 Winner of first quiz Efter many contemplations and some very precise measuring, Søren and Per ended up bringing 5,2 meters of Rittersport on the expedition. That means that Neel De Vos came closest with a guess of 5 meters with the following reasoning: "One Ritter of 200 g makes for 20 cm. Supposing they eat 100 g each, ie 1 ritter of 20 cm pr day. They're bringing food for 25 days, making for 25 fays x 20 cm = 500 cm. Thus, my guess is 5 meters" Good job, Neel. Enjoy the chocolate.


		30-03 2008 Church, compromises and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate... All the gear is now packed and - once the thermos get filled - the lads are ready to get going. The gear is top tuned so the not so inconsiderable rest is going to be all about physique, snow, weather and what have you of divine intervention. To pray for good snow, nice weather and a safe trip the expedition rose early to participate in the Sunday service, but in want of priest, organist or other church goers, Per and Søren had their own little mass going. On an expedition like X-ice, it's the little things that count and provide the motivation to struggle on into the harsh head wind in insane cold under the weight of a heavy pulk. Therefore, Søren and Per have made a compromise to their rigorous principle of travelling light: they're bringing no less than three things, namely "chocolate, surprise and something to play with". These tiny beacons of joy are reserved for the very special day when they reach the top of the ice cap (which means it's all gonna be "easy cruising" downhill from there). For this day of unhinged feasting, they are also bringing one bag of tea for Søren and one bag of chocolate drink powder for accompany the chocolate egg. Uhmm... Now there's only left to hope that all this extravagance doesn't make them too lazy. Seeing as how everything is ready and good to go, they have decided to move the starting data closer - so tomorrow at 0800 hours it all begins. The skis are gonna be pointed towards the ice and the record attempt is off. Godspeed. 29-03 2008 Glacier rescue! Today, Per and Søren practiced how to get out of glacier cracks - or at least to climb up a rope. The idea is for them both to carry a rope, so that if one of them falls into a crack, the other can make an anchor with either skis or ice screws, tie his rope to it and throw the other end into the crack. On the rope, there are to string with special knot that make climbing up the rope and out of the crack easier. The rest of the day was spent fine tuning the gear, ie. cutting off washing instructions, removing excess packaging etc. All in all, the pulks ended up a kilogram lighter - nice to lose that excess. It does, however, lead onto the next question: How much do the two pulks including all the gear, food and fuel for the expedition weigh? Again, we offer a meter of Rittersport to the closest guess.


		28-03 2008 Last chance to grab the chocolate Sunday is the deadline for submitting how many meters of Rittersport Per and Søren are bringing on their expedition. And don't forget: there's a meter up for grabs! It could be yours... 28-03 2008 Does X-ice have X-factor Yesterday, the last gear arrived here in Sønderstrømfjord, so today has see the testing of the burners Mads drooled over a few days ago. The gear has been checked and lined up after yesterday's trip and the important telephone numbers for doctors, meteorologists, X-factor, mom etc. have been stored. The police came by to check that all equipment and approvals were in order. They were. The control tower of the Danish Meteorological Institute in Sønderstrømfjord could tell us that the forecast for the coming days looks real good. Now, however, it's time for the finals of Denmark's favorite talent show. Who will prevail? Per is rooting for teen sensation Martin and Søren for aspiring diva Laura. Happy watching, folks. 27-03 2008 A trip by bus - and one by moonlight Last evening started with the boys packing the pulks with all the gear and with them taking the short trip up to a little lake. Here, the routines with the tent (setting up, interior decorating etc.) and starting up of the primuses were trained and retrained. When the snow is hammering down, the wind howling it' s essenial that the tent is turned the right way, that sleeping mats and other gear doesn't get put on the ice and that the pulks are placed so you know where to dig them out next morning. Likewise, knowing who sleeps where and tons of other details makes the whole operation run more smoothly when, after a hard day of high paced skiing, you're soaked in sweat. And with mittens or cold fingers little things suddenly take real long. Before bedtime - in the brand new, super warm down sleeping bags - there was time for a romantic stroll in the moonlight. This morning, the telt went back in the pulk and the boys returned to civilisation. There, they trained the procedures again and dried the tent that had gotten a little wet due to the warm weather (-5 degrees celsius). Around 11 the lads met up with Kim from www.kangadventure.dk to take a bus up to the ice caps with a bunch of other tourists. The final bit of the trip saw them on the edge of their respective seats, untill it became clear that there was snow all the way up, which means that theyøre only going to have to carry their stuff the last few kilometres.


		26-03 2008 Lunch Today's been all about lunch. Lunch consists of: - Ritter Sport - 2 Maxim energy bars - 1 hand full of candy (Haribo Matador Mix) - Dried bananas, raisins and abricots All in all some 400 g and thus the largest meal of the day. We now have breakfast, lunch and dinner for 20 days packed and ready. Should the boys get stuck in a snow storm, this could be stretched to 25, but let's hope that won't be necessary. Today has also seen the signing of the final insurance papers. It is therefore now committed to paper that both Søren and Per are "physically and mentally prepared to complete the expedition" and that they have "thoroughly considered participation in the expedition and considered all possible aspects of the endeavour". Tonight, Per and Søren are going to spend their first night camping in the great wilds - their tent will be raised and submitted to the trial by fire of the Greenland night. Sleep tight, lads.


		25-03 2008 Chocolate by the meter Today, Per and Søren packed chololate for the trip. Can you guess how many meters of Ritter Sport they're bringing? If you can, you stand to win a meter of Ritter Sport for yourself. Send your answer to x-ice@madsp.dk.


		25-03 2008 Crisis! For six hours today, X-ice has been dangerously close to being aborted. Per's faithful buddy, the famous titanium spoon that has followed him for better and for worse through the last 7 years' mud, snow, military service, sergeant school, Sirius, innumerable Adventure Races and the top of Mt. Elbrus, was gone. No titanium spoon means no food. And no food means no X-ice. Although Per spent several hours musing on the countless virtues of the spoon and the all the times he'd spent with it, Søren remained impervious and cold-hearted. Luckily Per's search was successful, the spoon recovered, X-ice back on track and peace restored. Aside from the mission-critical recovery of the spoon the day has been spent mixing breakfast. Should you feel compelled to try out the mouth watering recipe, here it is: - 4 kg of oat meal flakes - 2 kg of almonds - 1 kg of raisins - 0,5 kg of apricots - 0,5 kg of pineapple (dried) Ingredients are mixed in a black plastic garbage bag of considerable size with a big spoon. Add powdered milk and Maxim energy drink powder. Uhmmm...


		25-03 2008 Last gear Finally the last gear arrived in Denmark. We're talk thermos, pot and the brand new Eta Power MF multifuel burner from Primus. Before they were sent off to our boys in Greenland, I managed to have a short peak. Very, very good stuff. Here, in contrast to almost all models I've seen before, you have a complete, solid, handy and very light burner system - not a burner and a pot, but a complete system. Compared to others that may come close, this set is lighter, lower and more stable, comes with a larger pot, makes better use of the heat and runs both on gasoline and gas. 24-3 2008 Question of the day Do you have a question for Søren and Per? Send them to me at x-ice@madsp.dk and I'll answer you right here on the blog.


		24-3 2007 Kangerlussuaq Per and Søren are now safely arrived in Sønderstrømfjord or Kangerlussuaq, as the town is also known. It's a small community of some 600 inhabitants and built around Greenland's busiest airport. With no shortage of persuasion, charming comments and smiles our two heroes succeeded in getting the 35 kg of excess weight onboard the red plane from Air Greenland at "no more" than DKK 1200. Although they failed afterwards to persuade the captain to take a quick detour inland to get a view of the ice, they still managed a glimse from the cockpit. And the verdict? "Looking good" The temperature (2 degrees celsius) is hardly good for the snow, though, but a trip to the edge of the ice - conveniently and comfortably made in a four-wheel driven car - convinced Per that there was plenty of snow for the first 30 km. As he said: "This place is brilliant"


		23-03 2008 The family helps out... Greetings all! My name is Mads M. Pedersen. Per and me did Sirius together and I will in the foreseeable future be the link between Søren and Per on their icy adventure and this blog, allowing all of us to keep updated from the pleasantly warm comfort of our own homes. Right now, what will in a few days be Central Greenland's best pharmacy is lying on Per's parents living room table and everyone is hard at work packing medicin, converting a jacket to a vest, cooking the last (very hearty, very nourishing) meal, baking pre-departure cake, updating the website, testing satelite phones etc.


		23-03 2008 "Go' morgen Danmark" and goodbye... Friday saw os visiting the "Go' morgen Danmark" studio for a chat about our trip and the preparations (see the clip on http://sputnik.tv2.dk/?channel - click on the 23rd of March "Grønlandsekspeditionen"). Tomorrow morning we're getting on the plane to Sønder Strømfjord, so whatever needs doing will be done in a few hours. All planning aside, things will probably be as always when departing: the final things won't be resolved till just before take-off.


		20-03 2008 A good day We went to visit Nordea on Amagerbrogade and make the final arrangements with branch manager Peter Haxgart about support for the project. The final details concerning the trip are falling into place, but many small tasks remain yet undone before manday where we set out to Greenland.


		17-03 2008 "Hey there... All is well... Send more cakes" Imagine that we live in a world where, even on the top of the world's largest glacier, you can still send SMS's - amazing. Today, we had a meeting with one of the companies that make this possible through Iridium satellite telephone. The telephone, of course, isn't being brought along for the fun of it, as tolls are in excess of DKK 10 pr. minute. We're going to be bringing two phones, so we have one each. That means that no matter which one of us decides to take a dive into a crevasse the other will still be able to call help if necessary. Another advantage is, of course, that we will be able to call a doctor, should anything go wrong. The thing that we definitely will be using the telephone for through is calling home to expedition coordinator Mads, who'll be updating the website daily with all the latest news from the ice cap. Per has been working hard on the fattening-up, as he's going to be loathe to haul more fat than what's on his own body for some 600 km. Thus, he has in less than twenty hours devoured 4 hearty, green cakes (see picture for an impression), a pizza and 100 g of chokolate. And normal meals.


		15-03 2008 How the F* is all this going to fit in two small pulks?** Most of Per's balcony has been in X-ice's service since New Year, but seeing as how gear only keeps coming in and never going out, the place is filling up pretty fast and before the week is over the same may be true for the entire apartment. The question is how many washing instructions and how much excess baggage will have to go before we can fit everything in the two small pulks... Søren logged a half marathon yesterday in 1 hour and 30 minutes after a week of light flu, so he seems to be approaching a decent physical fitness.


		12-03 2008 Uncle Amundsen - ready for yet another trip Our ski from Åsnes er ready, they've had bindings fixed and have been modified for our Lundhags boots, just arrived from Sweden. We've picked Lundhags boots and Åsnes skis, as Per during his time with Sirius used and was greatly pleased with the combination, laying down more than 10.000 kilometers. The Lundhags boot has a removable inner sock, so there's no need to dry the entire boot. That we'd end up having to spend 150-200 hours starring at a Norwegian national hero (as depicted on the skis) wasn't exactly the plan though - the very same Norwegian who tried to steal Greenland from us in 1931.


		10-03 2008 X-ICE day... Today we did at check up on our tent and primus. There are still a few things that needs a gentle touch, but all in all everything is fine. Our tent has been modified for storm conditions, so we can aply snow upon the tent all around the sides, so it doesent "fly" away. We can have the tent up in less than 2 minutes in moderate wind conditions. Søren has begun training on the primus equipment and is at the moment running an intense program to turn on / off the primus over 50 times. To test the gear, he has put it into his freezer for a couple of hours, because it can be quite difficult to turn it on, when the fuel is cold. Our day indeed we a quick run with a bagpack filled with bricks;-)


		05-03-200 A visit at the Danish Cancer Association Today Per og Søren visited the Danish Cancer Association and had a talk with the project manager for "Skru ned for solen", Anja Philip, about how they shall protect themselves against the heavy dosis of UV-rays. Especially on this trip they have to be very carefull with the "double" reflection from the icefloor. The meeting lasted 1,5 hours and on their way out Per & Søren received a lot of brochures about sun protection and other interesting information.


		03-03-2008 A new training partner As Per has been busy on Greenland with his current job, Søren has been forced to find a new temporay training partner. The best partner so far has been his "bad boy" of a nephew, Anders. Todays training took 3 hours with Anders in front and tire 1 in the rear. After the trip to Fefor, Norway, Søren found out that one tire is enough to simulate 50 kg. of drag.


		25-02-2008 Training camp is successfully over During Sørens trip to Fefor, Norway, he covered 230 km in 4,5 days, the last to days he dragged the lightweight pulk filled up with snow. To make the training as real as possible he spent the last 3 days on a frozen lake making his own tracks. The temperature was about 0 degrees and some wind in the morning. The clothing and the harness worked outstanding and Søren has now got a good idea on which clothes to bring to Greenland.


		07-02-2008 Training trip in Fefor, Norway The training trip to Fefor has been postponed because of school work. The departure date is the 19. of February. The main objective of the trip is to do some skiing, the 5 days will include 250 km of crosscountry skiing! The packing is all set, cross your fingers for good weather.


		05-02-2008 Clothing testing The first serious test of the 66north clothing has passed without any remarks. At the moment Per is in Greenland teaching the new sirius students how to handle the cold. Per got united with one of his old mates and he got a big hug, but nothing happend to the new clothes.


		31-01 2008 Medical check Before departure to the ice cap Per & Søren have to go through a medical check. Besides getting a thorough and critical oppinion from a doctor, they have to get their teeth checked as well. Today Søren had his visit to the dentist, and fortunately for him everything looked just fine. "Keep up the good work" was what the sweet female dentist said to Søren on his way out...

29-01 2008

Gaining weight

Both Per & Søren are in their greatest shape ever. Because of the intensity of this expedition they HAVE TO GAIN WEIGHT. Per need to gain 5 kg and Søren 6-7 kg. It is really hard at the moment, because they excercise so much. Both of them think it is possible to reach 85 and 82 kg before departure. Right now they are combining their healthy meals with lots of chocolate and candy bars...