Greenland

Greenland is located much to the north and is a part of Denmark. However, it is administered independently. It is a land of extreme conditions where life is ruled by nature.

I was privileged to visit this unique place when I led a ski expedition to the South Pole and we chose Greenland as our training area. To prepare for South Pole expedition, we decided to cross Greenland glacier, which is the world’s largest island and also second biggest sheet of ice after Antarctica. The aim was to ski from eastern town of Kulusuk to the western most town of Kangerlussuaq (Sondre Stromfjord), a distance of approx. 530 kms. This crossing is usually done in a month by skis.

So, in September, we flew from Delhi to Oslo, where we bought the special clothing and equipment required for such expeditions, and then flew to Rejkavik in Iceland and then to Kulusuq on the east coast of Greenland. Ironically, there is not much ice in Iceland and not much of greenery in Greenland. The view from aircraft, while flying over Iceland and towards Greenland was mesmerising and a lesson from geography book. For the first time, we witnessed frozen sea at places, floating icebergs and different shapes and sizes of floating ice closer to Greenland coast. The coastal town of Kulusuq is a very small place with about 300 people living there. The houses are made of wood and are brightly coloured. Almost all families still own dogs who are used to run sledges in winter to catch wildlife and also seal, which is their staple diet.

After spending few days in Kulusuq due to bad weather, we were heli- lifted to the Hahn glacier which serves as start point of the trip. The edges of the ice cap have steep falls hence ice does not stay there and is rocky in nature, hence unsuitable for skiing.

Having been suddenly dropped on the ice sheet came as a jolt and we realised the immensity of our undertaking as soon as the helicopter went back and we were struck with awe, seeing the endless span of ice all around and the silence which is hard to describe. There is no life of any kind in that terrain and the whispering of wind is the only sound we could hear beside of course our breath and the sounds of ski base scrapping over the ice/snow.

There was nothing to wait for and we soon started our journey. This was also our first exposure to pulling sledges tied to our waist. Each sledge weighs around 100 kgs and had everything we would need for almost a month. There was no scope or possibility of any replenishment at any stage of the expedition. The sledge had food for one month, tent, clothing, ATF for cooking, stove and utensils, medicines, Inmarsat, repair kit, spares for ski, equipment like sleeping bag, carry mat, solar charger for batteries, camera etc.

We would start the day at around 6 AM. Attending to nature’s call was a task in itself and would take more time to prepare for going out than the actual deed. Thereafter, it would take around an hour to just melt ice for breakfast and hot drink and to prepare water for the whole day ( 3 thermos were taken by each member filled with hot water for use throughout the day). Doing all this and then packing the belongings and the tent would take another 30 odd minutes. Thus we could never leave earlier that 8 AM and may be sometime late on few days when winds would make the entire process more difficult.

We would ski for 8-10 hours and would take 5 mins break after every hour of ski, wherein we would take a sip from thermos, pop in some dry fruit/ biscuit/toffee and move on. The weather would often change from bright day to blizzards and walking in a featureless terrain with nothing but white all around was initially picturesque but got boring after a short while. The bigger challenge was to keep the mind busy as ski had become a robotic mechanical task. However, the crevasses and uneven surfaces more often than not kept us mentally busy as well.

It takes about 10 days to climb up to the highest part of the ice sheet on this route, topping off at around 2500 M. The climb is gradual and the use of skins on the skis make sure that the skis move us forward and do not slip back on reverse slope and ice. Almost mid-way, we reached the only landmark enroute, a bizarre building called DYE 2, a phantom radar station which was used by Americans to monitor Russians during the Cold War. It now lies abandoned and is slowly crumpling away. Ahead of that, we encountered huge lakes of water which had been created more recently due to global warming.

From DYE 2, it takes around five days to get to terra firma- Hill 660, the landfall on the western side of the ice sheet. Descending on the ice sheet is quite challenging due to ice, melting snow forming small but wide enough water channels, moraine and crevasses.

The return journey involved ride in open boat for a day, which brought us to the place from where we could be lifted by helicopter to the airport.

A unique expedition and a once in a life time experience, indeed.