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news:
today's date:14.10.2008
Epilogue
Boasting:
Using only 21 days on the 2300km (air distance between
the camps) long trip from sea at Narsaq to sea at
Qaanaaq!
This leads to an average speed from sea level to sea
level of 110 km/day.
Setting a new world distance record in 24 hours of
442,7 km.
(Old record: 271 km)
Average speed over the 9 last days 210 km/day
An unforgettable experience!
General comments:
It is nice to be home and the expedition already seems
to be far-off.
The expedition went very fast. We got a bit shocked
when we realized that we suddenly were at the end of
our route.
We still had half of our food and half of
our fuel left, so at one stage we discussed the
opportunity to make a U-turn and go south but we soon
agreed to try to get on a plane from Qaanaaq as soon
as possible.
This was probably a bad choice because we
used two weeks to get home… But it was also a nice
experience to get to know the inhabitants of Qaanaaq
(Ultima Thule).
Our expedition went very smooth and no mentionable
problems occurred. What surprised us the most (once
again) was the human body.
We had quite big pains in
our bodies in the first kiting days, especially in our
knees and I was quite concerned because I thought
knees only could get worse of continue.
One of the
last days when we were kiting 442,7 km we could not
feel any pain and the reason we went in to our tent
was that we fell asleep while kiting…
Apart from this record day we never pushed it and we
never had a wake–up alarm!
We were sailing until we
got tired or the wind stopped, and sleeping until we woke up, and forgot about day and night and the
24-hour cycle. It was always day light anyway.
Special tanks to:
-Ramon Larramendi for showing us that this route was
possible and for explaining us the best ascend route
and for sharing his experiences.
-Ronny Finsås for teaching me the technique of ski
sailing 10 years ago and many good advices regarding
equipment and expedition routines. Ronny has kited
from the south pole to the sea twice and we have
learned a lot from his experiences from these trips.
-Rune Gjeldnes for shearing his experiences from his
Greenland South- North expedition. This Expedition was
the first full length crossing of Greenland.
-Lars Ebbesen for advices on wind directions and
picking the best route.
-Børge Ousland for his good idea with the catamaran-
sled that saved us for big costs and worked perfect.
-Klemet Store for helping us to get hold of the best
equipment that we needed.
-To all you people that said it was madness just to
bring supplies for 40 days and impossible to finish in
less than 30 days. Of some reason you are without
comparison always my best motivation! (-:
Equipment:
We like equipment. We are actually equipment freaks.
One important reason for our success is that we
brought the equipment that we meant was best
and not
the equipment that we could get for free because some
investors thought it was more important
to spend money
on promotion instead of developing the products to be
even better!
There is no doubt that on a trip like this the
equipment DOES matter a lot.
Sleds, skis, boots,
bindings, harness and kites were made/selected
carefully
to handle very high speeds and as many
wind-directions as possible.
We could have saved a lot of weight on another choice
of skis, and boots but when sailing more than 200 km
in average each day,
I think our legs would have
complained and maybe collapsed.
Our sleds were never close to tip over. Not even in
60km/h and rough terrain.
Our event-suits from RAB we really fell in love with
and the eVENT membrane once again proved its
superiority compared to Gore-Tex!
The only thing we
missed was an internal gaiter, but this we glued on
with our StormSure-glue which worked perfectly.
eVENT was also used in our excellent emergency bivy
bags Boogabo from Integral Designs.
When the weather
was nice we did not care about the tent and was
sleeping only in our “NORMAN-mermaid-sets”
and the
eVENT bivy and there was never sign of condensation
inside the bivy!
This would have been impossible with
GoreTex-membrane, so please: Spend less money on
promotion and more on product development!
The NORMAN-set turned out to be too hot and we newer
closed the zipper between the bag and the jacket.
Otherwise it worked perfect of course.(-;
The TROLL-PCH sitting harness saved us for hurting
hips and together with a self made “aluminium-
stiffener- bow”(?) this became a very comfortable
solution.
The Brunton SolarRoll also worked perfect
and we
recharged both iridium phone, mp3 players, Epson
p-2000(picture storage), Sony pc1000(mini dv) and
NikonD70 directly without battery bank.
The Mountain Hardware was the only choice we regret.
We picked this tent just from our impression of the
brand and from pictures and drawings.
We found both
the ventilation system and the guy rope system too
poor.
Media:
And at last some
PICTURES
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23 July: Getting to know the locals and helping whalers
Strong wind delayed the boys for some time, but Wednesday night they where picked up by local fishermen and transported to Qaanaaq village. They are now camping outside the village and are trying to arrange a flight back home. It's only one small problem: All flights are fully booked until September :-(
The research station in Thule has 15 seats in every plane departing (small planes) so the guys are hoping some scientist get sick and leave some space for them.
They are hoping to get home soon, but nevertheless they are having a great time experiencing the Greenland way of life. The local Inuits invite them to their homes and Trygve were given a polar bear claw by a charming local girl. Maybe he’s staying? :-) It’ s whaling season in Qaanaaq and the boys are joining the locals out on the whaling boats. Not bad for a kite-skiing expedition!
Position: Qaanaaq
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19 July. The windpower expedition has arrived Qaanaaq!
After 21 days the expedition arrived their goal and tomorrow morning they will be picked up by boat and transported the last few kilometers out to qaanaaq. The descent were not as dangerous as they feared and they managed it in just one day dragging their sledges on rocks the last kilometer or two.
The expedition used only 21 days starting at sealevel in Narsarsuaq and all the way up to Qaanaaq and is by far the fastest Greenland expedition ever. The expedition writes itself into history by beating the old 24 hour distance record twice, setting the new record at 442.7km and averaging 120km a day from sealevel to sealevel. At their best they averaged 209.6km/day over a period of 8 days.
But more important than anything: They have had the best experience ever , pushing their limits and hopefully inspiring you kiters out there to explore the unexplored. As the expedition arrives back in Norway, more news and pictures will follow.
Position: N77' 42min, V69' 25min
Altitude 0m
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17 July: Distance 442,7km. Another windpower expedition WORLD RECORD, never to be beaten!
It's unbelievable, but the windpower expedition has beaten their old one-day distance record with 141km!!!!
The wind started out quite light and they used their 9sqm JoJo kites on 90m lines until lunchtime when the wind picked up.They sailed with their 10sqm Beringer skisails the rest of the day as visibility dropped and the wind picked up more and more. The wind went from northerly to westerly, but thanks to the extreme upwind capabilities of the Beringer skisails (Parawings) they stayed on course.
As you can see from the map, the expedition is now at its endpoint and only the descent is left.Never the less it is expected to be the most dangeous part of the expedition because of crevasses and its steep ice-fall down to Quaanaaq.
In general the guys have been very satisfied with their equipment and especially their kites, skisails, sledges and skies, but the tent beeing the exception(Mountain hardware Trango 4). The ventilation system does not function during heavy snowstorms and snow enters the tent. Fortunately they did not run into to many storms!
Anyway, they have kited 1677km the last 8 days with 442.7km as the record and an average of 209,6km/day. This is an incredible performance and a record that will stand for a long time.
Position: N78' 06min, V66' 14min
Altitude 1600m
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16 July: Distance 35km. Another day with light wind and midnight sun
Their 9sqm Jojo kites on 90m lines could barely fly and carried them only 35km. Most of the day they listened to music and gained strength after the last long days
Position: N75' 56 min, V52' 15min.
Altitude: 2254moh.
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15 July. Distance 201km. Extreme powder and midnight sun
Finally, after several days with whiteout and snowfall, the expedition have had a perfect day. Powder everywhere and good wind until 1pm today brought them 201km closer to the ultimate goal, Quaanaaq. The catamaran sledge and very wide skies kept them floating on top of the powder and gave them an incredible kiting experience we all can dream about.
Position 75'38m, V51'53m
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14 July. Distance 131km. Another day with whiteout and deep powder snow
The guys have had light wind and very deep powder after the last days of snowfall. Difficult kiting because of constant change in wind strength and following change in kite sizes..
Position N73' 55m, V49'49m
Altitude: 2300m
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13 July: Distance 203km, Another day with whiteout and 9sqm kites
Using only 8,5 hours they kited another 203km towards Quaanaaq in conditions with
absolutely no contrasts. As Niklas said:
"If there were no hard snow hammering at our feet it would be like flying in white space".
Position N72' 45m, V49' 14m
Altitude 2315 meters
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July 12 Distance 173km, They are HALF WAY!
Today they sailed 171km in whiteout condition and near gale wind from south-west.
The distance they have kited is equivalent to Oslo - North Cape which is well done
in just 2 weeks! The whiteout challanges
their balance and their sense of direction and they would be lost
without the GPS. They are optimistic and hope to finish in less than ten days.
Position N71'09m, V46' 26m
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July 11. Distance 191km Midnight sun and crevasse area at 2040m altitude
The expedition had long periodes with 45km/h average speed and reached a maximum of 59,2km/h.
The weather is nice and sunny and the temperature is about minus 4 C. They
were suprised by a crevasse area several kilometers long, something which is
dangerous and very rare at 2040meters above sea level. They still managed 191km
thanks to heir equipment which is designed to handle crevasses. To limit the risks,
a long rope with large knots back to the sledge will dig into the snow and keep them from falling
into deep crevasses. This allows them to kite separately and with higher speed.
Position: N69'36m V45'58m
Altitude: 2057m
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10 July,Distance: 301,8km. NEW WORLD RECORD set by the windpower expedition!
The windpower expedition has set a new 24 hour kite skiing distance record! At 06.30 local time they called in reporting
todays distance at 301.8km beating the old 271km record.
They have had changing easterlies and have alternated between 9sqm JoJo kites with 60m lines and 10sqm Beringer parawings.
They are very happy about their new world record, but are still hungry for more and expect to beat todays record if they get
another day with more consitant wind. The guys are tired after only sleeping a few hours today, but very good equipment and flat snow conditions
have eased the load on their bodies and they are ready for new record attempts after a good "days" sleep.
Today's position: N67' 66m, V46'44m(See map)
Altitude: 1800
There has been some problems with the messaging system, but it should work now and they can be reached from the contact page
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07.07.2005 80km and bad weatherconditions
The guys are a bit frustrated with the bad weather conditions.
Total whiteout and light headwind makes it difficult, and they
"only" did 80 km on tuesday.
They had to use the 9m² kite on 90 meter(!) long lines.
(I believe they couldn't see the kites at that distance...)
Yesterday they had an unintentional day of rest,
because of total whiteout and absolutely no wind.
This evening they will try to kite further on in headwind, but with good visibility.
All the equipment and recharging of batteries is working perfectly.
The guys report some bad stomachs as a result of too much soya in the food.
This, in addition to the bad weather, caused the guys to be in a bit bad mood.
Niklas really miss his sweetheart already...
Today's position: 65'01m, V47'34m (See map)
Altitude: 2126m
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05.07.2005 100km + 50km. Whiteout and light wind
They have had total whiteout and light wind the last two days, but the snow has been nice and flat and
the guys did 50km yesterday and 100 today.They are very optimistic, but have now realised how extremely long this trip is.
The whiteout makes it difficult to stay together, but they all have GPS and internal communication in case they loose sight of each other.
They have had no serious accidents and are reporting all their gear to be working perfectly.
Today's position: 64'21m, V47' 01m (See map)
Tomorrows weather
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03.07.2005 Distance:160km+30km. Good wind and night travelling
The wind was excellent this night and the team kited 160km using only 8 hours with south-west winds.
They are really optimistic and will try to break the 271km "one day" record if the wind picks up.
Yesterday was their first day of kiting beating 30km against the wind. As they have now reached the plateau
they expect more stable wind and snow conditions.
Altitude: 2680m
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01.07.2005 Distance: 14km. Strong winds and sunny "easter"-weather
The worst crevasse area is now behind the team, but strong headwind during daytime is slowing them down.
Today they will attempt night travel because it's 24hours af daylight anyway and lighter winds
at night is preferable. They expect to walk till N-62degrees where the wind will tend more easterly and give them some
great kiting.
Today's position: N61' 17m, V46' 54m (See map)
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30.06.2005 Distance: 15km. Dangerous snow conditions
The guys are reporting dangerous snow and ice conditions. They crossed an apperently safe snow bridge
only to discover that it collapsed a few hours later. Its proving hard to find a safe route up the glacier,
and after yesterdays scary experience they will focus more on safety.
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29.06.2005 Distance: 15km. The ascent has started
The expedition is on its way! They were transported late last night in
very windy conditions. Trygves sledge fell into a crevasse, but nothing
(or nobody) were damaged.Tomorrow they are continuing the ascent up the
glacier.
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28.06.2005 Finally in Narsaq!
They have arrived in Narsaq and received all their cargo. The temperature is 7º celsius.
Later today the expedition will leave Narsaq by boat, and head for the startingpoint at the bottom of the glacier.
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