April 30, 2009
Steve managed a quick sat phone call to Erica tonight. This is the information he passed on:
Steve said… Yesterday he built a 4ft snow wall to keep the tent sheltered from the 35mph winds, and a toilet.
Today they were speaking to the helicopter pilot at about 11:30 our time, to see if it might be possible to pick them up but weather conditions didn’t allow that.
There have been 2 clearances of about 15 mins each today but the sun was not sufficient to charge the battery for the laptop, so they may not be able to email until they get back to Iceland.
He had planned to build an igloo but it turned out the snow was too wet. Approximately 80cm of fresh snow had fallen while they have been camped there so the tent was now in a deep hole and the toilet kept filling up.
Simon’s ankle is improving with rest and if the helicopter can’t get in tomorrow, Friday, they are considering walking a short distance, as much as Simon can manage, back towards Tasillaq. At least then they will be doing something positive towards getting home and easing their stiffening limbs and backs from being cramped in the tent together.
We will update the site further when we receive more news.
April 28, 2009
We are still camped at the same position we were at yesterday due to Simon’s foot injury and are now waiting for a helicopter to evacuate us off the ice. We have tried to find ways for Steve to continue by attaching him to another group but logistically this is proving nigh on impossible. We hope to be back in normal communication range within the next 48 hours. We are both well apart from the obvious injury and will update everyone as soon as possible.
April 27, 2009
After a few days of hard work in bad weather we woke this morning to better conditions but unfortunately Simon has sustained an ankle injury which makes further travel impossible. More details to follow in the next 24 hours.
April 27, 2009
Steve managed a very quick satellite phone call home to Erica yesterday. He said they may be out of touch by email unless the sun shines for recharging the battery. It seems he was right as we have had no updates through for this website today. Hopefully they will get the batteries fully charged and will be back in contact again very soon.
April 25, 2009
We may have come from our little Islands, Sark and Alderney to Greenland - thhe worlds biggest island, but today it certainly didn’t seem very big!
We woke to complete white out conditions after a night of snow. Walking in these conditions you find yourself in a very small world not being able to see more than about 50m and with no definition between the sky and the snow. It was like that for most of the day and the going is still very tough with about 30cm of fresh snow. Our world consisted of the sight of the ends of our skis when leading, trying to discern how the snow was blowing across them to keep on course. If following, our world was the back of the person in front! We had every intention of trying to walk for longer today but to be quite honest after 6 one hour marches we were both chinned and ready to make camp! We are both pleased to have made over 6 miles today and hope to see the distances steadily increase - they will have to if we are going to make it to the end!
Steve
Data for Saturday 25/04/09
Temp air;
Overnight -10
midday -5
6pm -10
Temp at 100mm deep
midday -7c
Wind
am 15mph @040deg true
pm 14mph @ 030 deg true
April 25, 2009
The title of todays blog says it all, we’re exhausted! We’ve managed another 5 miles in soft snow and going uphill, a distance that doesnt sound very much, but once we reach the top of the hill the distances should soon start mounting up. What we really need is some hard snow under our skis and to try and “make” that happen we are going to get up at 3am tomorrow to try and get some miles under our belts before the sun gets too warm and makes the snow “sticky”. So, early to bed tonight, its 530pm and we’ve just had our dinner and will be getting into our bags in the next few minutes - a moment I am looking forward to immensly!”
Some data for those who are following:
Start Body Measurements;
Simon Steve
Waist 925mm 920mm
Weight 82.6 kg 78.2kg
Thigh 575mm 545mm
Upper Arm 315mm 325mm
24/04/09
Temp air;
Overnight -21
midday -9
6pm -5
Temp at 100mm deep
midday -8c
Wind
am 16mph @012deg true
pm 9mph @ 070 deg true
April 24, 2009
A fabulous chopper ride took us 25 minutes to the west of Tassilaq and onto the Ice Sheet. The scenery was stunning as we passed over the frozen sea, littered with icebergs - they are even more colourful and beautiful than in the pictures we have seen.
Our original plan was always a full coast to coast crossing of Greenland but conditions today left us somewhat relieved that we opted for “only” the Ice Sheet crossing. Although conditions were superb - no real wind to speak of and very sunny - the snow conditions were deep powder and pulling our fully laden pulks proved extremely hard. After 7.5 hours of toil we managed to move ahead about 4.3 miles! It was sunny most of the day clouding over during the afternoon. We are planning an early start tomorrow and hopefully will put some miles under our skis before it gets too hot.
Talking to Radio Guernsey on the satellite phone
April 23, 2009
Another hop completed! We’ve managed to get to Tasillaq after our enforced stay in Kulusuk and have today been reunited with our sledges and equipment. So, today has been taken up with unpacking, re-packing, unpacking again and then finally repacking once more! I’ve just finished my sledge and as I feared it weighs the same as a small elephant! Steve is now finishing his sledge and then its dinner and an early night as we are scheduled to be dropped onto the ice tomorrow morning at 830ish. I say ish as we know only too well that things could change tomorrow morning - the weather, the pilot, the helo., so many things to go wrong!
So, assuming all goes well, our next blog will be the first from the ice complete with data - position, temperatures etc……
Fingers crossed for the morning!
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