Posted: May 15, 2012 03:31 pm EDT
(Newsdesk) Three Norwegians, Geir Kristoffersen, Jan Gunnar Næss and Viggo Sandgrav, attempted to break fellow countrymen Trond Hilde, Ivar Tollefsen and Odd Harald Hauge’s 10-year-old 8 days 9 hours ski record over the classic, horizontal 540 km route.

The 2012 team left Point 660 near Kangerlussuaq on May 5 and ended on the east coast 9 days and 18 hours later. The guys were well on their way to break the record when they were tent bounded by strong winds only 70km from the end with 16 hours to spare.

Helen Turton from their Newland AS home team sent over the following report to ExplorersWeb:

Fridtjof Nansen crossed Greenland from east to west in 1888. Nansen's book "On skis crossing Greenland' from 1891, starts like this: "Many people have tried to cross the Greenland icecap, but still it is untouched by humans. Therefore no one knew what it would be like to cross the icecap on skis. To get some answers to all these questions, a small party of 6 men set out from the east coast in May 1888."

No longer completely 'untouched by humans', the challenge to ski across this country from one side to the other, remains pretty much the same in 2012. After months of preparations, training, and testing of equipment, the only thing on the minds of our proficient Norwegian ski team this last week has been attempting to cross the Greenland Icecap in record time.

Mentors

For Geir Kristoffersen, Jan Gunnar Næss, and Viggo Sandgrav, who left the west coast at Point 660 near Kangerlussuaq (Sondre Stromfjord) on 5 May 07:36 local time, their aim was to complete the 540km journey unassisted and unsupported in less than the current record of 8 days and 9 hours.

They have been working on this project now for many months - fine-tuning their equipment, adjusting their nutrition plan based on research and information from the Nobel Prize winner in nutrition, and working hard at specific training to achieving their goal.

They have been assisted by one of the most experienced polar explorers who has crossed Greenland on countless occasions in the past - Sjur Mørdre - who has been working as a 'guest guide' for Newland AS, and Svante Strand (owner and expedition leader of Newland AS who has arranged all of the logistics for this group). Svante has also previously trained groups, such as the Indian Army on the Greenland icecap, in preparation for their full distance South Pole ski in 2010.

Battle against the wind

The guys seemed set on course to achieve the record, making excellent progress over the past few days. Unfortunately, you can make all the best preparations in the world and put in hours of training, but at the end of the day, Mother Nature will always have the 'final say'.

In spite of their 'fighting spirit', skiing with the energy and efficiency of 'ten wild horses', and finding the ability to easily devour the 7500 kcal diet per day to keep them strong, they were 'pinned down' by strong winds only 70km from the end with 16 hours to spare.

This delayed their departure sufficiently from their final camp, resulting in them completing the crossing in a highly respectable and valiant attempt at the record: 9 days and 18 hours. Well done guys, what an achievement! END

The current record for the west-east / east-west route, more or less routing along the Arctic Circle, was set in late August, early September 2002 by three Norwegians, Trond Hilde, Ivar Tollefsen and Odd Harald Hauge. They got to their start point at the Nagtivit Glacier (east coast) by boat, started skiing up the Glacier and across the Inland Ice, and finished at Point 660 in 8 days and 9 hours.

Late August 2011 Brits Alex Hibbert & Andrew Wilkinson attempted to break the record across Greenland, but brutal terrain filled with crevasses and meltwater tortured both skiers and their equipment during their 15+ hour ski sessions. They set a time of 11.5 days when stopped in their tracks by a sea of endless crevasses with the end in sight.

One of the current Norwegian record holders, Odd Harald Hauge, provided Hibbert with the following info regarding the Greenland speed ski record on the Nagtivit Glacier – Point 660 route:

“Our record is 8 days 9 hours - confirmed and signed by the guy who let us off at the starting point by boat, and another guy picking us up at 660 at the other end. It’s in late August, early September 2002.”

“Our 1991-record of 12d 20 hrs held until Sjur Mørdre with friends beat it in 1999 - 11 d 13 h.
Then three Swedes took the record in 2001 - 10 d 10 hr - and the very strong team of Nilsen/Holman (he is three times Olympic gold winner) in May 2002 did 9 d 5 hrs - which we undercut this same year.”

“This completes the story of the records - they were all the same route, but not the same direction (most are west-east).”

“Sjur Mørdre and Bjørn Arne Evensen, are in my opinion the strongest team I could think of, both close friends, tried to break the record last year (2010), but gave up early as they were lagging the record from day one and lost belief.“

“I reckon that any time under 15 days is a very strong performance, and it has only been done once by non-Norwegians (the Swedes).”

Sjur Mørdre crossed Antarctica Oct - Dec 1990 from Berkner Island to Ross Island, skied from Ward Hunt Island to the North Pole in 1992 and crossed Greenland 12 times.

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