Exped Report 1 - The First Few Days

We wandered through Copenhagen airport eagerly discussing what type of people might be on the flight with us to Kangerlussuaq. Whatever we were expecting, it wasn't the horde of tourists and the massive plane that could carry hundreds and was full.  It seems that Greenland is an extremely popular tourist destination for Danish holiday makers and, as the only international airport in Greenland,  Kangerlussuaq is the first port of call for everyone.

We touched down around 11:00am local time on April  28^th 2006 and had booked our lift up to the start point on the edge of the Russell Glacier for 2:00 the next day, “You are going tomorrow?” the lady on reception at the Old Camp Youth Hostel commented, “You must be very organised!”.  Oh god, were we very organised!?  She must have seen a lot of teams go through. We still had a number of things to do, picking up our freight, getting fuel for the stoves, clocking in with the local police and having them check our permit and equipment before we left, not to mention assembling, then packing (unpacking, repacking, unpacking and repacking) our pulks!  We pretty much took over the communal area in our part of the youth hostel, amid profuse apologies to the other residents who didn't mind at all and who seemed genuinely amazed that four such unassuming young ladies would be setting off across the ice-cap by themselves and were totally excited at the prospect.  Miraculously, or, as planned, everything came together perfectly.  Before we knew it we were leaving Kangerlussuaq and driving to our start point.

From there we had to travel up the Russell glacier to reach the ice cap.  Although rumours are still rife that the old ice road still exists, we didn't manage to find it and the first two days were a harsh initiation to the polar world.  With our pulks at their heaviest, we made our way up the glacier through fairly broken and undulating ground, at times slipping and sliding on sheer ice and at others wading through drifted snow.  Felicity fell up to her thighs in a snow covered crevasse but was luckily able to pull herself out without difficulty and carry on remarkably unphased by the incident.  We all proceeded a little more cautiously after that! 

Not only our bodies but also our pulks took a hammering during those first few days.  Whilst we were able to carry out minor fixes fairly quickly, when Jo's trace broke more seriously, we were forced to put up the tent in order to fix it.  I never cease to be amazed quite how many things it is possible to repair with some combination of superglue and gaffer tape and soon enough we were on our way again.  Already we were working really well together as a team. I was more confident that not only would we get across, but that we'd have fun doing it.

None of us was quite sure what terrain to expect during the crossing and I was secretly worried that it was going to be like the first few days all the way.  Then, near the end of the the second day when we finally made it off the glacier and on to the ice cap, everything flattened out around us.  There it was – our view for the next two weeks, vast, icy nothingness. I breathed a big sigh of relief.

 
Jenny