We spent two very nice days in Kangerlussuaq, with warm summer temperatures (+20 centigrades!) in very beatifull surroundings. On Sunday we rented bikes and explored the whole area. We saw some wildlife and most interesting we spotted 20 very large moscus! In the evenings we got very nice meals at the local restaurants. The people living in Kangerlussuaq were also friendly and helpfull, and we had all a good time. We spoke a lot with the other expedtition which came down at the same time, cheers to Charlie, Bjørn and Ronnie!

On Monday 4th June we all left Greenland on different flights to Copenhagen, Denmark, and further on from there.
We will be back with an extensive report from the trips in some days, but in the meantime I´ve put up som pictures.

Read more…

	10°C		Calm wind		Sunny and blue sky!
67.01081°N -50.73366°W | 10 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 565km of approx. 600km

Tonight we finally reached hight 660 after e very long day in the steep slope, leaving the ice cape. Luckily we were in time for our transport down to Kangerlussauq. Of course we are all happy crossing the finishing-line to the target we aimed at. You can read more from the great adventure within (by) the day of tomorrow. We´ll say thank you to everyone who has contributed and given a hand!

	-2°C		Light air/light breeze		Partly cloudy
67.16551°N -49.64680°W | 882 m | Distance today: 29km | Total distance: 542km of approx. 600km

At the moment, we are moving in an area filled up with blue ice (icy terrain). But anyway, even if skiing conditions requiring soft skiwax, we can still manage quite well. And there are only 19 km to cover, before leaving the ice cap!  Tonight the boys are sleeping in the open air. Otherwise we can tell you that Kristine is hoping to join the bicycle race Trondheim- Oslo (540 km, exactly the same distance she has been skiing so far on the ice cap), and Maria is going to make a third attempt climbing Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden.

The correct answer of the informal "toilet paper"-competition is 13 rolls. The lucky winner is Alex, and a result of this he is getting an extra package of Real to his loving companion, Ulrike.
 

This is a sound post from Greenland. It is mostly in Norwegian, but a text summary in english will be added shortly. Use the player to hear the report.

	-5°C		Light air/light breeze		Partly cloudy
67.07594°N -49.03436°W | 1200 m | Distance today: 34km | Total distance: 513km of approx. 600km

After covering 30 km yesterday og astonishing 34 km today, we can now glimpse the mountains far ahead. Total distance covered 513 km, which means 47.5 km still to go. To leave the ice cap will probably take us another two days, so w´re hoping to reach Kangerlussuaq by Saturday night. In the evening yesterday, we celebrated the "landkjenning", the wonderful sight of mountains ahead, by cooking excellent food. Otherwise, Maria has unfortunately got the biggest blister ever. And we are all looking forward taking a refreshing and warm shower!

	-8°C		Gentle/moderate breeze		Fair weather
66.92356°N -48.34909°W | 1470 m | Distance today: 30 km | Total distance: 479 km of approx. 600km

A speed of max. 7km/t and good skiing conditions, but nevertheless some very slow steep slopes to cover. Today we have booked our returntickets, planning to go by plane 4th of June. We´ll try to reach point 660 by Friday night. Or else there seems to be secret rumours telling that Kristine is dreaming of going Norway lengthwise on her own……

Join the competition if you like:

How many rolls of toilet paper do you think we have spent so far??

The prize will be a package of "Real Turmat".

Please leave your answer in the commentary square!

(The competition is closed by now!)

	-10°C		Gentle/moderate breeze		Fair weather
66.80531°N -47.73255°W | 1670 m | Distance today: 28km | Total distance: 449km of approx. 600km

Finally, we said hello to the mystical expedition we´ve told you about. It showed up to be really nice people, and we had a good chat with them. The team consisted of two men and a woman, one of them guiding the other two. They started off 4 days before us, made plan to go unsupported, and they would rather they did not meet to many people on the way. We are grateful to them for giving us worthfull coordinates for the glacier steep slope on the west coast.

WINNER OF THE COMPETITION: Gunnar. The correct answer was 22 litres of gasolin(petrol). Congratulations on the pack of cards! Thank you everybody for your participation! Another comptetition will be arranged shortly.

	-10°C		Strong breeze		Some snow
66.69917°N -47.14788°W | 1857 m | Distance today: 31km | Total distance: 421km of approx. 600km

166 km is left to the west coast. We covered another 31 km today. Wind from behind and good skiing conditions. Øystein had to fix up his BC ski binding tonight, as a result of icing. We also spotted one of  the "Hvitserk"- expeditions using a team of dogs, just 2 km away from us.
The correct answer to our competition is of course Øystein- who has got no blisters. The lucky winner is Torbjørn Bakke, who will soon receive 200g of chocolate, which has been crossing the Greenlandic ice cap. Congratulation! Another competition:

How many litres of heptan (petrol, gasolin) are left at the moment? Vi had an amount of 46 l when we started off. The reward is our pack of cards (deck of cards), nicely illustrated with Greenlandic motives. Please leave your answer in the commentary square! 

It´s guite windy this evening, but we haven´t built any shelter-wall. Inger has been thinking of going to the South Pole, but she is not that sure any more. We are grateful to you for all your greetings! 

	-23°C	Calm wind		Sunny and blue sky!
66.56387°N -46.53463°W | 2081 m | Distance today: 22km | Total distance: 390km of approx. 600km

DYE2, a distant early warning radar station operated by the US during the cold war. Built in 1960, closed 1988.

Today we reached the former radar station on the ice cap.. In the darkness we met two Americans, who kindly lent us torches so that we were able to examine the enormous building.  We took notice of offices, billiard table, pub, kitchen and kitchenware, gas stove with steak and  eggs in the cool and so on, all left in a hurry in 1988. Near by Camp Raven is situated, a trainingplace for starting and landing the Hercules airplane.  The camp is run by a nice and hosbitable American couple. They invited us to get in and have a cup of coffee, and they served cakes in the cosy and very nice looking tent. We could also use the bath room. Thank you very much! Or else we glimpsed the "mystical" expedition today, according to the DYE2 guestbook they are from the Faraoe Islands and Scotland.

In spite of a four hours break, thanks to good skiing conditions we covered another 22 km. It´s a remaining distance of 170 km to tahe West Coast. We´re hoping to get there by Saturday.
(Added: Some parts of the message was not recieved correctly, we did not glimpse the coast of Scotland, but we saw the other expedtition, whom are from Scotland and the Faraoe islands)

This is a sound post from Greenland. It is mostly in Norwegien, but a text summary in English will be added shortly. Use the player to hear the report.

This is a sound post from Greenland. It is mostly in Norwegien, but a text summary in English will be added shortly. Use the player to hear the report.

Today we used the windsack as a sail for a couple of hours. Sideways wind complicated the operation, but it was really fun! Especially Øystein and Inger succeeded in getting higher speed. In addition the down hills are to our advantage and the sledges (pulkas) are not that heavy any more. There is a fine view from the tent down to the former radar station DYE2, situated about 9 km ahead of us. Or else we are in very good shape.

	-19°C		Light air/light breeze		Sunny and blue sky!
66.48141°N -45.55348°W | 2239 m | Distance today: 29km | Total distance: 343km of approx. 600km

A nice day, sunny weather and great skiing conditions. In the evening we spotted DYE2, at a distance of 33,5 km. We are all in a good shape, but there will always be small problems to deal with. The weather forecast looks good, a bit windy tomorrow, but afterwards calm and rather promising weather.

	-25°C		Calm wind		Fair weather
66.45879°N -44.89216°W | 2350 m | Distance today: 30km | Total distance: 314km of approx. 600km

Another 30 km covered, which means that we are located just 62 km ahead of DYE2. We are now in front of the former mentioned expedition, from Day 8, the guys who strangely enough did´nt want to say hello to us. Cold and clear evening and a really nice sunset. 

	-26°C		Gentle/moderate breeze		Fair weather
°N -44.24257°W | 2430 m | Distance today: 19km | Total distance: 284km of approx. 600km

Yesterday, we had to stay on at the same point due to bad weather, but today we went skiing again. Heavy wind forces and temperatures down to minus 19 degrees Celsius, made it a very cold experience. Another 270 km ahead..

Since the phone report below mostly seems to be spoken in Norwegian/Swedish, here is a short summery:

The gale and the blizzard has forced the team to move and remove the walls of shelter, according to the changing wind courses. A nearly hopeless task, because of chilly weather, non-predictable wind directions- and of course the snow falling down all the time, making the conditions really bad. Working for hours in whiteout, digging out the tents, moving the walls and keeping the snow away from the roof.  Nevertheless they are "on the road again", since yesterday morning. A smaller frostbite, but nothing serious. And certainly, the downhills make it easier, even if the wind is blowing towards them at the moment. And everybody is sending their best regards to family and friends….

This is a sound post from Greenland. It is mostly in norwegien, but a text summary in english will be added shortly. Use the player to hear the report

	ca -10°C		Gale		Snow
66.37216°N -43.83324°W | 2433 m | Distance today: 0km | Total distance: 265km of approx. 600km

Being totally snowbound for the moment, we started this morning by remowing some of the snow and moving the wall of shelter. It took us 4 hours in the bad weather. The snow was pouring down during the gale, making us wet all over the clothes. Because of that we had to brush off the snow, trying to keep ourselves dry. But otherwise everything is fine! We are heading a bit to the north at the moment, trying to avoid glaciercracks. There are 111km to DYE2, 291km to point 660, where we are leaving the ice cap. Mads has informed us that the wind forces probably wouldn´t drop before Tuesday. But luckily we have brought a lot of food and maybe some of us get the chanse reading a book meanwhile. We are grateful to you all for the nice comments and greetings on the internet, thank you very much!
Ten o´clock (22.00 local time)
This afternoon the boys had to dig out the girls tent, due to the fact that something like 1 m snow suddenly was covering the entrance. We also built the important snowdrifting-wall much longer and made the shelterwall a bit smaller, to get the snow falling down between the two different walls. After staying another 3,5 hours outside, we had to repair the zipper of the Helsport Isfjell 4 tent. Indeed a very cold experience! In additon a repair on the Helsport Svalbard 5 tent had to be done, sewing a scratch. After that the Xkg primus stove broke down, so we had to use the extra one. Tonight we are relaxing warming up the tent. Another strange problem we´ve got, is the trouble with the ice attaching to our clothes, nearly impossible to get rid of before entering the tent.

	-10°C		Fresh breeze		Snow
66.37196°N -43.83300°W | 2433 m | Distance today: 15km | Total distance: 265km of approx. 600km

Today we reached the top of the worlds second highest ice cap, 2493 metres above mean sea level. White out conditions, we were tumbling around, seeing nothing. Bad weather,the wind-forces increasing rapidly, it was snowing all the time. Because of this, we camped early in the afternoon, using 4 hours bulding big snow-walls, trying to put up the tents. It was extremely hard doing so and three tent-sticks broke down. In the evening the wind-force was calming down a bit and a flock of birds suddenly appeared from nowhere. The gale is back again, turning around 180 degrees. As a result of this, the wall we were building is now behind the tent! Mads, our meteorology expert (frivind. no), has sent us weather forecasts for the next 48 hours, predicting windy weather and low temperatures. Because of that we probably have to stay here so far. But luckily it´s warm and nice inside our tents.

	-22°C		Light air/light breeze		Fair weather
66.34678°N -43.49566°W | 2488 m | Distance today: 24km | Total distance: 250km of approx. 600km

A windy and rather cold start today, all of us wearing facemasks. We had to use windsacks for breaks. Still we have reached the top of the plateau, about 6 km from the highest point.

	-10°C		Light air/light breeze		Fair weather
66.30034°N -42.96386°W | 2408 m | Distance today: 21km | Total distance: 226km of approx. 600km

Light breeze and sunny weather during our 21 km long "17. mai tog", 17th of May Parade, celebrating the National Day of Norway. We decorated the sledges with Norwegian flags, humming the National anthem of Norway. We had a spectacular dinner tonight, reindeer-meat, mushroom and basmatirice. Mending the broken ski last night looks succesfully, hopefully it will make it through the rest of the trip. Greetings from all of us in Greenland! 

The Norwegian flag

	-25°C		Light air/light breeze		Sunny and blue sky!
66.25958°N -42.50813°W | m | Distance today: 22km | Total distance: 205km of approx. 600km

Less sastrugi and not that steep landscape today, so we took off the skins and waxed the skis. Nice and sunny weather, but a rather cold morning, minus 23 d. C at eight o´clock. The wole evening we have been repairing the broken ski, even if it has´nt been problematic until now.

	-20°C		Light air/light breeze		Fair weather
66.21568°N -42.03856°W | 2192 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 183km of approx. 600km

Ragnar using a face mask

-20 d. Celsius, light breeze in the morning and the skiing conditions rather slow. In the middle of the day we could nevertheless take off our jackets. Tonight we are charging our satellitetelephone by using a 1,8 metre long solarcellpanel, which we are able to roll out on the ground.

	-10°C		Calm wind
66.16385°N -41.53492°W | 2110 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 160km of approx. 600km

Yesterday 23 km, today 21 km and up to 2110 metres above mean sea level, in a rather even slope. The highest point ca 2500 m. Sunny weather, even using sunblock 50 we happen to be sunburnt, now also on the tongue! Strangely enough we were closely behind another expedition, just 150 m, when those people suddenly ran away! We took it easy during the day, hoping to gain a little extra rest this evening.

	°C		Light air/light breeze		Partly cloudy
66.11035°N -41.09756°W | 1980 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 139km of approx. 600km

After many days of "Real Turmat", Thomas made spaghetti and minced meat, a taste of heaven! We were gathered in the largest tent, and everyone was in a good mood. Or else we have seen signs from another expedition today.

This is a sound post from Greenland. It is mostly in norwegian, but a text summary in english will be added shortly. Use the player to hear the report.

	-14°C		Calm wind		Sunny and blue sky!
66.04082°N -40.60962°W | 1800 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 116km of approx. 600km

We are walking in an ocean of sastrugi, windblosen formations. The skiing-skins are always fastened to the skies, which means that our pace is slowening down. In the middle of the day it´s very hot, but rather chilly, - 20 degrees, during the night. We need a lot of suntanoil!

	-20°C		Light air/light breeze		Sunny and blue sky!
65.97971°N -40.13162°W | 1598 m | Distance today: 23km | Total distance: 93km of approx. 600km

The skiing-repairs we made the other day seems to be a good one, but we do´nt know this for sure yet. Yesterday we spotted two persons kiting on the ice, probably the Netherlands-expedition (polespirit. nl). We also found a depot of dogfood. An in addition, day five started with two broken spectacle frames.

	-15°C		Light air/light breeze		Sunny and blue sky!
65.91239°N -39.64984°W | 1405 m | Distance today: 18km | Total distance: 70km of approx. 600km

Today we went skiing in sastrugi, that is a lot of windblosen formations. The result of this was a broken ski, Thomas was the unlucky guy. In lack of another ski, we had to repair it, which seemed to be quite a difficult task. Improvising the best we were able to, we took the cookingplate, sawed it in two and fastened it to the ski by screwing and using glassfibre and epoxy. Tomorrow morning and the day after will show if it works out. And we probably looked at the mountain scenery for the last time for a while this afternoon.

	-10°C		Light air/light breeze		Sunny and blue sky!
65.54789°N -38.97598°W | 1308 m | Distance today: 19km | Total distance: 52km of approx. 600km

Woke up this morning looking at the blue sky after a rather chilly night. Sunny and warm weather the whole day through, calm wind. We´ve reached the top of the glacier ridge and further on is not that bad, compared to the steep slope we´ve done already. The skiing conditions looks fine. Some of us has got blisters, but elsewhere we´re in a good shape. Each person needs 4 liters of water, so it´s quite a job melting all that. We send our best wishes to family and friends, thanking you all for your nice greetings on the internet.

	-1°C		Light air/light breeze		Over cast
65.78482°N -38.96959°W | 955 m | Distance today: 33km | Total distance: 33km of approx. 600km

Helped by Salo(inuitt) and his good friend with two teams of dogs, we made a superb start. At first we drove "snørekjøring" on the fjord, then we transported our pulkas (sledges) to approximately 790 m. above mean sea level. Afterwards in whiteout to 955 m. Our pulkas (sledges) are quite heavy, 70-85kg, so we camped early. "Real turmat" for dinner. We are all in a good shape and for the moment on the bright side of life!

The flag of Greenland

7

	1°C		Calm wind		Over cast
65.54789°N -38.97598°W | 20 m | Distance today: 0km | Total distance: 0km of approx. 600km

Finally arrived at  Isortoq. Starting at five o´clock in the morning, 8th of May, using two teams of dogs during the first day. Trouble getting enough fuel, but luckily we made it. Looking forward to start, everything looks fine. Good weather forecasts.

We had an excellent stay in Reykjavik thanks to our icelandic friends (greetings to Kolbeinn, Thomas and Josef). Early today we arrived at the small airport in Reykjavik centre. Both we and another greenlandexpedition were leaving with the same plane, so there were a lot of luggage, maybe to much. AirIceland fixed it by rotating another flight to Constable Pynt with cargo, so our ski's and pulkas should get onboard. After getting in the air - and back down again to remove a safety pin, we flew to Constable Pynt far northeast on Greenland. Then we flew to Kulusuk. The weather was great, clear sky, sun and a spectacular view over the ice, fjords, mountains and valleys. All of us really enjoyed the flight! 

In the airport in Kulusuk there was a lot of activity and really the feeling of summer. After a while we got checked in our luggage again and boarded the Bell 212 helicopter from Air Greenland. The pilots made the helicopter cruise low over the terrain as we all admired the beautifull view. What a great day!

Tasiilaq
At the heliport we were greated by Per from hotel Angmagssilak whom then drove us to the hotell. He did also get all of our post packages, so now we have all the equipment we need. We were really charmed by the small town of Tasiilaq and have enjoyed a calm evening her.

Tomorrow we are going to prepare our equipment. On Monday morning we get som things in the local stores before we in the afternoon leave by helicopter to the village Isortoq. The first day of our expedition we will be joined by a local inuitt with a dog sledge.  

The weather forcast provied by Mads Christensen contains clear and sunny days ahead for some time.

Greetings from Thomas og Ragnar who is both quite tired now sitting in an internet cafe
Øystein, Maria, Kristine and Inger cheers!

Friday we arrived Reykjavik, Iceland and tomorrow saturday we leave for Greenland. Greetings from Øystein, Maria, Inger, Kristine, Thomas and Ragnar

The expedition will cross the inland ice on Greenland between Isortoq on the east coast and Kangerlussuaq on the west coast. The 600km journey is expected to start on 08th of May and last for about 20 to 30 days. 

During the expedition we will post reports almost every day on this site.