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Diary
9.6.2008Location: 75 05.86 N, 42 19.09 W Today is Monday the 9th of June. The former ruler of Russia Peter the Great was born on this day in 1672. Under his ruling the charting of northern parts of Siberia were started by Vitus Bering. Nearly all the shores of northern Siberia were charted and the Bay of Bering got its name. These charts were used for over two centuries. Nowadays we have access to maps and satellite images from all over the world. Where we are now is probably the loneliest place in the whole northern hemisphere. There is nothing but ice for at least 400 kilometers in all directions. No plants, trees, animals or humans. Although we did see a couple of birds on the way and yet another airplane. It's nice to know when looking at the sky that you saw it five hours earlier.
I remember one Donald Duck comic strip where Donald and his nephews are lost in an Inuit village with nothing but sticks standing out in the snow. It's almost the same here; there is nothing but some poles and a dome (in the picture) visible of the whole base. After circling the area we discovered a hatch on the dome and managed to get it open. We took lamps with us and boldly went in to the octagon shaped building. After climbing down a couple of stairs we found the actual entrance of the base, eight meters under the surface. We looked around a bit and judging from the dates on some of the supply the base was deserted sometime in year 2003. More discoveries in tomorrow's journal. 10.6.2008Location: 75 05.86 N, 42 19.09 W We slept in pretty late this morning as a result of finding some beverages and candy from the dome yesterday.
I also found a picture of the dome taken in the construction phase in 1996. The drillings were also started then and after seven years they reached the ground underneath the ice 3095 meters deep. Now the dome is almost completely buried in snow, the only way in was through a hatch on the top.
A white tent is visible in the picture from yesterdays update and today we visited that also. The tent was torn a bit from the corner and with a little bit of shoveling we were able to enter. There were a tractor, a couple of skidoos and some repairing equipment. Both of the skidoos nearly started before the batteries went dead. We didn't dare to try the tractor. During the day we explored the dome some more and took pictures. And we did some catching up on reading. Especially the bikini special in Go Magazine was a hit as well as the similar version of the Euromagazine. We also found a manual from -96 made for the personnel of NGrip. It looks like spring is starting here. It is almost warm in the tent during daytime and we are enjoying the rest. 11.6.2008Location: 75 15.85 N, 42 47.88 W Yesterday evening we skied around the NGrip, but didn't find anything special. We did come across a weather station which can be found all over Greenland. It's a metal thingy with solar panels, anemometers and such. Something came over me and I spun the rudder of the sensor measuring wind directions a dozen times each direction. And the same with the wind speed sensor. I figured I could that way send a message to the Danish meteorological office. After we got back to our tent I was shivering and feeling feverish. My temperature had risen a bit to 38 C. Guess I had it coming for messing with the weather sensors. I took a couple of tablets and went to sleep.
We noticed the first real signs of spring as the snow started melting on top of the skis. Even if it still feels cold, especially on a windy day, it's definitely clear that the summer is coming as we are heading towards the coast. My mind often wonders to the coastline imagining the sounds coming from birds and other animals. Early in the expedition we didn't pay much attention to when and for how long we should rest, but now it is becoming more important. We are not in full strength anymore so we planned ahead the days we will rest if either of us feels the need for a little breather. One very concrete result of us leaving the kiting for now in favor of skiing is visible in our bodies. I have probably lost almost all the extra weight there is during the last couple of weeks and I'm back in my 90's figure weighing somewhere around 60 kilos. And Vuorenmaa is following suite. There will be some good laughs again once we visit the sauna the next time. 12.6.2008Location: 75 24.49 N, 43 16.65 W Yesterday evening it got cloudy fast and our tent cooled down to -20 degrees just as fast. Apparently due to spring time there is so much moisture in the snow that once the temperature goes down, fog and clouds start to emerge and soon after snow fall. That's what happened yesterday and in the morning there was 2 cm of fresh snow waiting for us. We headed out around 9 am and kept going until 6 pm. Halfway through the day we had already 10,4 kilometers behind us. That kind of mileage usually lifts the spirit and after a lunch from the thermos bottles we felt energetic again. The sledges weigh around 110-115 kilos which doesn't feel that bad.
Perhaps I can be considered to be somewhat achievement-minded from time to time, but Vuorenmaa is quite the opposite. I can't get him excited about breaking records or any extreme efforts. So we are not trying to perform something extra here. In 2003 when we were here skiing from east to west we both figured out something new about ourselves. And it happened in quite short time, only after two and a half weeks into the expedition. The feeling lasted for a week and then we were pretty much at the end of the expedition. With this expedition we are trying to prolong the time of enlightenment. We have nearly two months behind us and I think we are getting into to that feeling again. I predicted the time when it would happen pretty accurately and I think I even wrote about it here a month or so back. Frankly speaking we have an answer to the question "why are we making these expeditions?" I'm not going bear my soul here now, but even though it means revealing something from deep inside, something very personal, we've decided to share it with you in a book we'll write about this expedition. Thanks again for all the messages. We read them in the evenings after sending these journals and they give a lot of joy and often food for thought. So please keep them coming. We want to send special greetings to Amppa. 13.6.2008Location: 75 33.25 N, 43 52.56 W This morning the skiing felt really easy, like going downhill. We didn't see any slope of course but the GPS showed a decline of 30 meters. Although the GPS reading is not that accurate, it is often something like +/- 20 meters. So the figures we mark down are average values. The weather turned from wintery cold to springy sleet around noon. It seemed everytime Vuorenmaa was leading it was almost whiteout and when I was leading there was some hint of sunshine to ease keeping the direction. Vuoremaa was thrilled about sunshine, but I like the variation in weather, I don't mind the occasional whiteouts. It's nice for a change, there is very little of it here anyway.
Last time we visited NGrip base and we are now heading towards NEEM, another US funded research base. We have about 280 kilometers to go, so we should reach the base in a couple of weeks. All and all we still have about 700 kilometers left. So we are kind of dashing to the finish line. The icecap of Greenland will not melt down soon enough to effect the human race. We came to this conclusion after being here a while. Back home it felt like it will happen very soon making for example Helsinki totally unhabitable as it would be under water. But it seems overpopulation and pollution will take care of earth long before the melting will have a real effect. So we carry on as if nothing is happening. To finish off todays journal here is very happy 1st birthday to Salama. We'll see about skiing lessons later after fall. 14.6.2008Location: 75 36.62 N, 44 09.71 W Maybe Greenland is melting after all. At least a little. Last night the temperature wasn't that much under zero and in the morning it was a mere -2,1 C. Last fall the news about Greenland were something like "Greenland has lost as much ice due to melting as there is ice in the Alps altogether". It was left unsaid how much ice there is in Greenland compared to the Alps. A thousand times? A million times? Of course that kind of headlines sell better than saying "We must stop polluting now!". Maybe there should be a law to ban everything and then start from scratch figuring out the basic needs. The weather wasn't that great in the morning, but we figured we could still manage some 20 kilometers today. The first couple of hours were fine and we were able to keep a good pace. The fresh snow gave a good glide under the sledges. But then the wind picked up speed and on our fourth leg it was already 12 m/s headwind. So we decided to set up camp. During the last hour we managed only about two kilometers and with the wind, snowfall and dropping temperature it wasn't exactly pleasent to ski, so I'd say it was wise to stop there.
At 6 pm the weather was still poor so we decided to call it a day, eventhough we were eager to continue skiing... There has been some questions about frostbites and facial condition. Our noses along with the rest of the face have lost a few layers of skin, but there hasn't been any frostbites. Not in fingers or toes either. There has been some minor injuries as I have reported earlier but otherwise we are almost in better shape then when we started. At least my backpains, which bothered me for six months before the expedition, seem to have disappeared. Of course we are a bit on the thin side now. We have proceeded sensibly and steadily avoiding injuries. And we'll keep on going the same way, no macho stunts or showing off planned. And no mad rush to the finish line. Just like our physical state, I have reported the condition of our equipment as is. Not counting my broken spoon or showel that got lost, all our equipment are functioning normally. There is some wear and tear of course and we've kept a close eye on those, but all is well in that department. The biggest damage to our equipment was made by the Finnish customs who opened our crates and then closed them again putting the srews back in wrong places. That resulted in some tears in our sleeping bags and in one of the sledge covers. The crates were pretty much in pieces by the time they reached Narsarsuaq. Oh, and one thing about kiting. High speed kiting over snow dunes is tough for the sledge and even tougher for the stuff inside them. So good padding is needed, for example the thermos can be pretty dented otherwise. Vuorenmaa wishes Happy Birthday to his father and is sorry he can't be there on the 15th. We'll have some coffee here to celebrate. And another cup of coffee will be celebrating Emppu's Confirmation. Congratulations, don't eat too much chocolate. 15.6.2008Location: 75 44.40 N, 44 34.61 W
The first couple of hours in the morning were quite rough due to the new heavy snow. It as if we were going uphill all the time, but in reality we were going downhill. By lunchtime we were ex-hausted, but the lunch gave us a nice boost. Perhaps the weather helped as well, because the slight rise in the temperature made the surface a bit better for the skies and the sledges. When we stopped to set up camp the wind had died completely and sky started clearing. The sight was magnificent. The highlight of our day the cup of coffee we always have immediately after setting up the tent. And that is followed by another highlight when fetch the messages you have sent to us and get to read them.
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We saw the NGrip (North Greenland Icecore Project) base already from nine kilometers away and it took three hours to reach it. We figured we might meet somebody here, but the place is deserted.
We decided to use this day for resting and exploring the base. Vuorenmaa made a trip to the dome early in the morning to fetch some magazines and more candy. The beer can I found yesterday was melted in the morning so we opened it and the taste was very fresh.
The second picture shows the first level we entered and it contained the sleeping quarters and some offices. The lower level had kitchen and generator along with other facilities. There were plenty of food and especially candy left behind and we felt like little kids in a candy store.
The morning was beautiful, the sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. We were feeling a bit foggy and the first hour felt really hard, as it usually does, but I didn't feel feverish or sick so we continued. After eight hours I felt great and neither of us was even that tired. On top of everything we broke the expedition record for skiing in one day, it is now 23 kilometers.
In days like this when you are not too tired and everything else seems bearable as well, it's easier to think with a clear head. I have to admit that I'd rather be somewhere else at the moment, throwing rocks into a pond or something, then be here pulling a sledge day in day out. But there is a reason why I'm here.
We got our Hilleberg Keron 3Gt tent just before the expedition started, eventually from the US eventhough it's made in Sweden. The other day I happened to read the label from inside the tent and in true American fashion pretty much everything was forbidden. That included using the cooker. As I don't understand much English we continued our usual routines and fired up the cooker. But don't try that at home.
We had our lunch in the tent and made some coffee as well. The wind was 15 m/s so we decided to rest a little and after a couple of hours we woke up. I had a dream I was at an U2 concert.
It snowed the whole night and the wind was quite hard also. Luckily in the morning the weather was pretty calm and the temperature was -13 C when we took off. The visibility had not improved however.
