16 April - 14 May 2007 27 DAYS
KANGERLUSSUAQ - ISORTOQ 600 km
Stane Klemenc and Andrej Podlipnik - Ribčev Laz, Bohinj, Slovenia
We began this long and lonely journey on April 16 at 5 pm at 500 m above sea level. The starting point was 2 km before the road from Kangerlussuag village on the west coast of Greenland ended. Due to last drifts of the newly fallen snow in the last week the people couldn't take us to the end of the road. After 25 km we unloaded the sledge and we were left on our own to start these 600 km of the way across coastal glacier and infinite ice of the inland that rises up to 2510 m above sea level and falls back to the sea at the east coast in the village Isortoq.
The last part of the road rises quickly to the foothill of the glacier. Dragging of the sledge weighing 100 kg was bordering to impossible. The road was sometimes completely frozen, sometimes covered with deep snow and often also rubbly. We managed 2 km in one hour. Four years ago, when I was here for the first time, Bogdan and I started this tour at 660 m above sea level, where a nicely passable glacier began. This time it was surprisingly much different. The 2 km wide glacier was completely different from the picture I had in my head. The broken glacier covered with moraine, deep transitions and crevices in all directions. At the first sight it truly seemed hopeless. Slowly we checked the glacier part by part and determined the direction of traversing of the visible part. The depth of the snow was up to 30 cm and the dragging of such a heavy sledge was extremely tiresome. Should these circumstances continue much longer, the result of the expedition wouldn’t look prospective, although the reserves in food and gasoline sufficed for 10 days more.
The first day we managed 2 km of air distance towards the goal in four hours. The second day 5,5 km in seven hours. The third day 6,1 km in eight hours. T 3 was at the height of 802 metres. On the fourth day we expected to pass to the inland ice and easily passable terrain. However, the visibility was poor and we had to search for routes in advance, before we dragged the sledge. Usually I went a kilometre ahead to see what the terrain is like and if the passing was possible we continued in that direction. We worked ourselves to death the whole day in deep snow, hard terrain, losing time searching for the direction and returning back. We walked 10 km but reached camp 4 at the height of 761 m and 500 m of air distance backwards. The possible traverses were towards west and north, but our direction was east. Our plan was to walk 20 km a day at the beginning, but it wasn't until the fifth day, when we relieved physically and mentally. We made 8 km in eight hours, walked at least 15 km and came to an easily traversable glacier. The camp 6 was at the height of 1141 m, 20.8 km ahead. We reached our daily goal for the first time though with high arrears that was chasing us from before. In six days we were 40 km from the starting point and according to experience we couldn't be expecting much good. Our intermediate goal was an abandoned radar station DYE 2, 180 km from the starting point at the height of 2300 m. It was the first “mental” half of the tour, although at only one third to the goal. The average was awful – 11,2 km. Right after breakfast the next day a storm that already threatened a day before broke out. Luckily we didn’t disassemble our tent yet. So, we rested until 26 April and lowered our daily average even more. Catastrophe!? So far we had four days with nice weather, one snowy day and five days of strong wind. In the first week the temperatures were between -3 to -10°C, which was too warm for our footwear. The result was wet socks all three days and two beautiful blisters at my heels. Putting shoes on in the morning was real hell, accompanied by yawning and some “nice” swear words.
The next day was nice. We walked 23.7 km and the temperatures of the last few days ranged from -5 to -25°C. Due to a coming storm we had to set up the camp 12 somewhat earlier, at 5 pm after 16.4 km of walking. We had 29.8 km to the radar station. The storm didn’t calm down until 11 am the next morning so we started at 12.30 and managed 21 km in 7 hours – 8.4 km more to the radar. We began the last day in April in cloudy, windy, very unpleasant weather, which was only getting worse every hour. After 3 hours in heavy storm with gusts of wind up to 150 km/h we reached the radar. In spite of its height it disappeared in the stormy clouds of snow several times. If the radar station, where we could hide from the storm, weren’t there we had to stay in the tent that day. The access to the radar was 15 meters of descent with 45° of incline, but the steep descent luckily finishes off smoothly so we slid down on our bottoms over the compacted snow fighting the wild winds. The inner part of the station was disappointing, full of leftovers from previous inhabitants, files all over, big pieces of the colouring peeling off the wall. In the kitchen and dining room there were rests of food from visitors – few visits a year of expeditions and more visits of American pilots who in summer months learn landing on the marked and maintained runway. We cleaned up a part of the dining room and with great effort brought inside the sledge that we left on the raging ridge with 15 m of blown snow and all the needed equipment for cooking and sleeping. Since there were a table, chairs and plenty of room it was much simpler than in the tent. The storm calmed until the following morning and we left the 14th camp on May 1 at 8 am. It wasn’t until we came out that we realised that as far as one kilometre ahead there was a base camp of the crew that maintains the runway. Surprise! Nobody told us about that, not even our advisor and expert on Greenland from Denmark Gunnar Jensen or the policeman or our transporter on the west coast. We packed the sledge and paid a visit to the base. They have a Canadian polar tent with double wall, double entrance, wooden floor, a big oil stove, tables, chairs, beds, communication and meteorology equipment, shelves with kitchen utilities and food. Two Americans work here – a guy and a girl from Utah. If there were no storm the day before, we could easily sleep over there in the warm place… We drank some teas, eat the most of the delicious biscuits and after an hour left at around 9 am. The radar was situated at 2130 m, the terrain around was nice, there were no big sastrugis, the weather was pleasant. And in our minds – a new goal and new coordinates in GPS. course moraine 344 km and from there another 2 days to the finish at the east coast. We were charged with optimism again, although we were few days late. Our plan was to move on for 25 km every day and our wish was to have 14 days of nice weather. Until the evening we did 26,5 km and the temperatures were from -25°C to -18°C in the evening. The warmest time of the day was every day between 4:30 and 5:30 pm – from -3°C to -8°C. That was approximately the weather and the temperatures for the next ten days. Twice it was snowing during the night – from 3 to 5 cm, which is just enough to make dragging of the sledge much harder. We had very strong winds for 6 mornings, mostly from SE, which was almost to our face. Only on 1 and 2 May the wind was blowing from behind, but unfortunately it wasn’t strong enough to sail. The only disappointment that came with faster progress was the ascension. We ascended each day approximately 100 m. On 5 May we reached the highest point 2510 m. Our daily progress corresponded to our plans and after 4 days our distance from the radar station was more than 100 km and “only” 244 km from course moraine.
After the 5 May the terrain broke into the eastern side. The weight of the sledge was 25 kg smaller but it would have been easier to drag them if there were no sastrugi. For 120 km we had to put much more energy into dragging them. The sledge got stuck and when we dragged them over they slid forward rapidly, then again they got stuck and pulled you back so you almost broke apart. This was an ongoing story for five days and our stomachs and intestines hardly put up with all these strokes and pulls. Often we had the feeling that we were just about to vomit. Nevertheless, there were less and less kilometres to go, our progress was somewhere between 24 and 28 km in 9 or 10 hours a day. If there weren’t any sastrugis, we would have made more kilometres with less effort. On 12 May we set the camp base camp 26 and we had 33 km left to course moraine. Course moraine is the point, where we from the direction towards east turned southeast towards the village Isortoq – 24 km air distance away from us. On 13 May after first 2 hours of heavy dragging over huge sastrugi the terrain changed. It became smoother and in some parts the slopes descended steeply towards moraine. The moraine is a rocky and sandy strip 14 km ahead from the course moraine, along which the descent from the glacier is possible through a narrow part. A little further the glacier is full of dangerous crevices. We prolonged this working day from 10 to 14 hours of walking and another two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening for set up and break the tent, melting the snow and preparing the food – together 18 hours. We moved 44 km and we only had 13 km air distance of the way that was unknown to us. What is the passing to the lake and from there to the village? The aerial picture and the map offered two possibilities but none of them had many advantages.
On Monday, 14 May, we started a little later, since the hard work of the last 14 days especially 18 hours of the previous day, left its consequences. Fatigue was piling up. The last day invigorates strength and will – the hard work and walking from horizon to horizon will be over. From camp 27 onwards the land was sweeping down to the sea. After one kilometre it got steeper and we tied the sledge together. I was harnessed in front to seek for passages and looked out for crevices. Andrej was behind the sledge, braking so we didn’t move too fast or uncontrolled. At 11 am we came to the frozen lake. We had a lunch beside the first brook that was coming from the glacier looking towards the beautiful skiing slope that brought us to the end of the inland ice and under the last glacier. We had 11 km more to the village. It went quite smoothly on the lake, almost without effort. In the second third we turned off the lake and over the saddle. The orientation wasn't difficult anymore. There were several trails leading us, among those some of dog sled and fresh trails of two polar sledges. Whose? They could be from two Dutch people who started five days ahead of us. They finished one day before us.
A very steep but luckily short slope took us to the saddle and when the terrain starts to sweep downwards we saw the frozen sea on the east coast. There is the village, there is the end. We went a little further to some beautiful ice mountains and stopped reaching our goal at 14:03. After twenty-eight days and 600 kilometres of walking we finally crossed the finish line. We made it! There we had our last lunch on the way. It was at least three times as long as usually, it was warm, even hot. We weren't keen on moving on to the village 5 km ahead. We didn't share many words, didn't yell of joy. Peacefully, each with his own thoughts we concluded this long, very, very difficult tour from the sea on the west coast to the sea on the east coast over 2510 m high, infinite ice plateau with very unpleasant weather and snow conditions in the first part and a better second part. Long four weeks of hard work from at least 7 am to 10 pm, infinite kilometres and rare moments of joy with beautiful sunsets over the vast white landscape far away from everything. Perfect peace only disturbed sometimes by the wind. We cherished this peace and consequently the peacefulness within us, we got used to it, we loved it and therefore didn't disturb each other's work and thinking. How is it going to be like - there in the different world, where we have our homes?
We began our lonely way over the greatest island in Kangerlussuaq on the west coast of Greenland. Our plan was to walk on skies over the perpetual ice in the inland that rises in the area of polar strip up to 2510 m above sea level and lowers again to the sea in the village Isortoq on the east coast. On the sledge that weighed almost 100 kg we had everything needed to survive 25 days on ice.
The success of each expedition depends HIGHLY from correctly planned nourishment. Polar expeditions require approximately the same as for higher camps of eight-thousander. The main difference is the quantity of the food. In the polar areas the heights are between 0 and 3000 m above sea level (Antarctic, Greenland). On polar expeditions the functioning of the body is due to relatively low altitudes normal, which is important especially for blood circulation (frostbites) and digestion. The effort is constant and lasting. The weight of the equipment and food is limited, you have to be as modest as possible and this influences the quantity and the type of food. The food needs to be caloric, rich and various. 4500 kcal are sufficient for my daily work on an expedition. Due to weight dehydrated food is adequate, since it is light and can be easily prepared. For two main courses, breakfast and dinner, we used Mountain Travel's ready dehydrated dishes of various flavours. Breakfast consists of instant soup with 2 slices of rusk, various cereals with nuts, raisins, apples, coco, chocolate. Usually we added a chocolate bar too. For a desert we ate some chocolate wafers or caloric bread (with nuts, dry fruits). The main part of the course was 250 g of ready dehydrated food (for both) in which we added 1/2 litre of boiling water. We stirred the mixture and after 5 minutes the food was ready. We also drank 1/2 litre of instant tea. After breakfast we put together the equipment in the sledge, broke the tent and moved on. After exactly 2 hours we stopped, ate cold lunch and drank 1/2 litre of isotonic drink. We repeated this every 2 hours. The bag with all the food contained 7 dag of homemade salami and prosciutto, 10 dag of cheese, 10 slices of rusk, 100 g of chocolate and 5 energy bars Reiter - 75 g each (the Slovenian company Žito doesn't produce energy bars anymore). This quantity was sufficient for three to four lunches, from eight to ten hours of walking with three our four brakes. The evening meal was a little richer than the breakfast. Instant soup with rusk, sometimes we added some cheese and 250 g of Mountain Travel dehydrated food. We had 11 sorts of food (spaghetti with olives, risotto with mushrooms, potatoes with beef, steak Stroganoff, spaghetti Bolognese with beef, goulash, spaghetti with vegetables and chilli with beef). For starter we appeased our hunger with homemade minced lard and dried sausage with rusk. Our desert was again chocolate or chocolate wafers and 1/2 litre instant tea. On earlier expeditions I imported dehydrated food from neighbour countries, which was expensive and took a lot of time... Now this part of preparations is easier and cheaper. In Ljubljana the company Perigon d.o.o. (+386 1 568 20 65) represents the German producer of dehydrated energy food Simpert-Reiter. You can choose among a wide range of products (around 70 dishes and drinks) which they import in a short time. You can see the products of the company on their website: www.travellunch.de. For some time the products are used in Slovenia by Slovenian Army, and as the company states they sell more and more products to mountaineers, paragliders and other extreme sportsmen.
