A commercial team from the guiding company Ousland-Colliard, led by Angus Staples, has completed its summer crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap.
Most Greenland crossings leave in late spring, typically in May, when it is busy enough that three or four expeditions may share flights to the east coast. Summer is quieter, but at least two crossings took place.
Ousland-Colliard
Staples set off with four clients on August 15. Like most expeditions, they traveled east to west, starting in Tasiilaq, the largest town in East Greenland.
Their first few days involved crevassed terrain and several small river crossings. When the crevasses receded, they worked through patches of ice ridges over a meter high. On day five, they came to a river system that proved impassable. The following day, they crossed the maze of waterways. “Worked as a team to get sleds over each river,” Staples wrote on the team’s blog. “Once over, we waded through marshy ice before tackling the hill.”
Photo: Ousland-Colliard
The next day, they could finally strap on their skis and start the long climb to the plateau. “We said goodbye to our last view of land, only for the surrounding mountain tops to reappear as we gained height. Ahead of us, only white. Lucas asked how far to the top of that hill. I said 150km or so. He thought I was joking,” Staples wrote.
In great weather, the team made steady progress over the next few days, averaging roughly 20km in 10-hour shifts. By day 19, they had reached the high point of their journey over the ice cap at 2,500m.
“With the eastern side of Greenland behind us, the western side awaits. It is also a clear weather divider with distinct differences. In a day or two, the wind will shift from headwinds to tailwinds. There is no more uphill.”
Photo: Ousland Colliard
On the long downhill, they picked up pace, covering 24km on day 20. On day 24, they arrived at DYE-2, an abandoned Cold War-era radar station, and had fun poking around inside. Descending to the icefall, they managed a couple of big 30km days in perfect conditions. After 32 days, they arrived at Point 660, where a gravel road connects the end of the Ice Sheet with the airport at Kangerlussuaq.
Greenland Legacy expedition
An eight-man team from the UK armed forces led by Tony Lancashire (and including Josh Bakker-Dyos and Tom Blankenstein) finished their east-to-west crossing on a slightly different line.
Some of the team sailed from Norway to Iceland, and then from Iceland to Greenland, before heading out on foot with their sleds. They describe their route as a variation on Fridtjof Nansen’s original 1888 route. (Nansen and his team, including fellow great explorer Otto Sverdrup, were the first to cross the ice cap.)
They started from Nansen’s landing point in Umivik Bay and crossed the Ice Sheet, descending through the nature reserve at Austmannadalen before finishing in Ameralik Fiord. Here, a boat conveyed them to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
They finished in 30 days, covering an impressive 666km, slightly longer than most Ice Sheet crossings.
