Diary

Winter 2007

Organizing arctic expeditions these days is different from what it was a few years ago. There are less and less surprises along the way and even for the problems that seem at first difficult to solve, a solution is usually found quite easily thanks to the increasing number of contacts made over the years. Membership in the Finnish Arctic Club has helped in many ways along with other people from the "arctic scene". Also a number of friends interested in the subject have been a great help. I have also had the privilege of helping out in the organization and even in supplying of many Finnish expeditions. And I have enjoyed it very much.

I remember all too well (and Vuorenmaa agrees) how difficult it was to organize the first expedition, Greenland 2003, and how many times we were ready to give up when faced with months of preparations and problem solving. But after the expedition it became obvious that we had gotten infected with the arctic virus. There was no escape; we started planning the next one. So there was Svalbard 2005 and then Svalbard 2006 and even Svalbard 2007. The first one felt like starting from scratch, but it became easier every time and in 2007 it almost felt like making arrangements for a picnic.

There has been a strange period of time before all the expeditions when it seems almost impossible to get any preparations done. Now that we are again in the phase when things start to get concrete and real effort is needed, we are somehow phlegmatic. There are issues to be solved with officials, web pages to do, sponsorship dealings, flight tickets, food supplies to think, logistics with the equipment etc. The list goes on. And all we are thinking is how it would be nice to make a little outing into the woods and just relax by the campfire. And we have done that plenty of times, making plans for the expedition in a more relaxed environment.

For the winter of 2007 our main goal was to learn kite skiing well enough so that we would be confident in our skills by the time they were really needed. And also to get the sledge issues sorted so that during 07-08 winter we could concentrate on other issues.

Tapio Hinkkanen was still patiently teaching us with the kites. Now that there was finally snow we could really focus on getting the right angles with the kites and learn how to start moving and stop when needed without forgetting safety issues. Vuorenmaa is an avid cross-country skier so he only had time for a couple of lessons, but I tried to compensate that by enrolling to Tapio's courses whenever possible. So I felt I had gotten the hang of it and I could concentrate on the important task for the spring, getting the sledges done. I also felt confident that Vuorenmaa's lack of experience with the kite would be fixed in the skiing trek scheduled for early April in Inarinjärvi.

Sledge manufacturer Pekka Tyllilä is really a fun guy in many ways. Many people might think he's way of expressing himself is sometimes too theoretical and experimental, some might even say confusing, but I have found he's theories to be accurate with real results in the form of fiberglass sledges, just the way I had pictured them in my mind. The coating underneath the sledges worked out almost too well with incredibly good downhill speed. Once again Tyllilä's workshop had produced as promised. Knowing how passionately Pekka was working with the sledges I was confident that our schedules would hold even if as late as beginning of March many details were missing. I visited the workshop a few times to give comments and feedback about the model while Pekka and his sons made the final touches. Finally in mid-March I received the two laminated sledges and was able to start planning the fabrics and pulling harnesses.

Now that we had the sledges the next step was to acquire the kites. We received good information from our kite skiing instructor, Tapio Hinkkanen, how to go about getting the kites from Finland, but it seemed there were many opinions on what was the best kite for our purposes. With Tapio we had practiced with Ozone-kites so those were naturally our first choice. After researching the kite world little deeper I discovered that there were in fact a wide range of different kites for different purposes. There were open models, semi-open, inflatable(?) etc. The list goes on. We studied the characteristics of different models and concluded that for our purposes there wasn't any one model that would be the ultimate choice. So we decided on Ozone open models which we were able to get from the importer Vandernet Oy for testing purposes for our high altitude training camp in Inarinjärvi. We had practiced earlier with 8 square metre Ozone Access2-kites and for our tests we got 7,5 and 10 square metre Ozone Frenzy07 models. The smaller one for Vuorenmaa and the bigger model for me.

Making the fabrics for the sledges was a task of its own. First I bought from Starkki 30 mm aluminum moulding (originally meant for the sides of cars...) to make the frame, but I soon discovered that it was too rigid for our purposes. So I then ordered some 3x15 moulding which turned out be the same stuff they use in Fjellpulken's sledges as well. I figured the moulding could be used not only for attaching the fabric to the sledges, but also for strengthening the sides enough so that the sledges would last our expedition without any major repairs.

The fabric itself has been in discussion for as long as we have used sledges. This time the crucial hint came from Tero Teelahti who told that the fabric in the Accapulka-sledges used in the North Pole 2006 expedition was the same material used by Hilleberg to make tents. The thin kerlon-fabric had endured the expedition very well.

So I made the decision and purchased from Shelby Oy in Oulu a few meters of red tent-fabric which looked and felt very similar to the tent-fabrics used by Hille. After a few hours of practice I got the fabric fitted with the frame and was able to sow them up. Together with Vuorenmaa we bent and stapled the aluminum moulding into the sides of the sledges. In the last days of March we got everything together and two brand new JR2007 (the new model name) sledges were ready. So we were all set for our trek to Inarinjärvi with our kites and JR2007's.

Spring 2007

Tradition was the key element in the spring 2007 trek. The idea was to spend a week sitting by the campfire and shelter build in the traditional way.

At the end of March I rounded up the guys into a MB Sprinter. First there was Sepe Virtanen from Svalbard 2006 expedition. Then we headed to the backwoods of Nokia to collect Sami Nytorp and OP Lahti, who had both been in the 2005 Svalbard expedition. We had already earlier picked up Vuorenmaa.

First we made a detour to Ylöjärvi and visited Pekka Tyllilä to show him the nearly finished and untested J(G)R2007 sledge. We were proudly lifting one the sledges from the van when we noticed that something had managed to tear the fabric. That was something to think about on our way up north.

It took us nearly 15 hours to reach Nellim from where we headed right away on our skies away from civilization. After a few hours we were making our first camp in the northern shore of the Mossinasaari island. The wind was coming straight to our camp so I couldn't wait to get the kites unpacked and try them out. The winds turned out to be harder than I thought and I was racing on the snow with my heart pounding. And I ended up hitting a tree. Who could have imagined that the kite-eating tree was located here in Inarinjärvi. After a few almost successful curvings’ I decided to end in good spirits and we all went back to build our first camp.

There were five of us so even the traditional style camp was built in no time. It's easy at least in Inarinjärvi where there is plenty of firewood available. We had also purchased a permit allowing us to gather two cubic metres of wood which should last for the duration of the trip.

The layout of the camp was the same every evening. We made two open ended shelters and a fire in between. We cooked all our meals in the campfire and we had all sorts, Karelian stew, deer stakes, Svalbard casserole and pancakes. And a few drinks to clear the smoke out of our throats.

We used kites whenever we could. And since there were only two kites and five of us we decided to try the kites with heavier load. Already in the second day Sami and I skied 10 kilometres straight to Kärppäsaari using one kite. For the one operating the kite it was a little rough since there were two sledges and one extra skier attached to it which made around 150 kilos. A couple of days later we topped that when I hauled 450 kilos (3 men and 3 sledges) in a side wind. With a little smaller load of 350kg we travelled quite comfortably the rest of the day.

During the week we made it as far north as Pister from where we headed back along the eastern shore towards Nellim. Some of our experiments with the kites in high wind resulted in some amazing airborne acrobatics, but they were valuable lessons and we learned that the emergency release of the kites worked perfectly. On the final day it was my last chance to use the kite and it was nice to notice that I managed to control the kite in at least a half decent manner.

I think the new sledges got some rough treatment along the way. There was hard ice and soft snow and we almost deliberately handled them roughly. There weren't any new tears in the fabric apart from the mysterious one noticed already in the beginning of the trip. The pulling system worked fine after some fine-tuning even though we used ropes to pull the sledges. We used 10 metre long ropes to prevent the sledges from hitting our legs. The runners were deliberately put further apart then normally to prevent the sledge from tipping over and they didn't do that even once. The fabrics were still a concern and we thought about different alternatives. Time will tell what will be our final decision.

After the trip to Inari summertime was getting closer in the south so we stored our skies and sledges and started planning these web pages and the upcoming summer expedition to Svalbard at the end of July.

Summer 2007

The first draft version of the web pages was opened at the end of June. Once again Vuorenmaa helped the interested people by gathering information about the expeditions in Greenland and making an active map of them. Making such pages is often educational and rewarding. I for one discovered that the route we have chosen, from Narsarsuaq to Qaanaag, has in fact been travelled before by eight people in three expeditions. The first one was in 1989 and the last this summer. The first expedition used dogsleds and the last two were made using kites.

There are two more expeditions to remember. In 1978 Naomi Uemura made a solo expedition from northern tip of Greenland, Kap Morris Jessup, down south to Narsarsuaq using a dogsled. And in 1992 Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen trekked from south to north making the world record of unassisted one-way expeditions at the time with the distance of 2928km. Naturally there aren't any Finns in these statistics and the same goes for the statistics of over 2000km unassisted expeditions. Well, this and other information can be found from these web pages and I believe from these diary pages as well.

The most attention was taken by the Svalbard 2007 expedition taking 13 people to the cold shores in the middle of The Arctic Ocean.

The trek had been kick started already in May 2006 when a preliminary list of team members was made. There wasn't that much preparation needed so the deadline for signing up was in February 2007. Beginning of March we started ordering plane tickets, organizing shipping for equipment etc. We had decided on a route which was quite different from the other Finnish expeditions. Our plan was to travel by ship from Longyearbyen north to the abandoned mining town of Pyramiden and start our expedition from there. For the next weeks we visited the ice age and the returned to Pyramiden. A more detailed account of the expedition can be found in the web pages of Kolbma.

At the end of August it was time to relax and forget the earlier trips and really start preparations for this expedition. We agreed to start working on getting the permits and also on these web pages. The regular weekly diary entries will be started in November and at least at the moment the plan is to provide daily updates from the expedition itself. Equipment and sponsorship issues, the most challenging part of the preparations, should actually be in pretty could shape by now.

Autumn 2007

September started with a big bang. We (meaning Vuorenmaa) took care of all the license issues. We acquired the permit from the Danish Polar Center (DPC) to be able to apply for the other permits. This time it only took less than a week to get the registration number needed in all the dealings with the officials.

Excited with the official turn of events we put the wheels turning to get the mandatory SAR-insurance and the gun and radio permits. This time only the Greenland's If... insurance company can be considered quick in their actions. They would be happy to give us insurance for a small fee of 6500 euros. Oh well, at least now we know that.

The gun and radio permits are still an open issue.

Vuorenmaa also investigated preliminary flight schedules. We have earlier cursed the web shops of airlines, but it must be said that it's quite easy to get information about the routes and schedules using them. Now we discovered that we can get from our home town to our starting point in southern Greenland with just one stopover. The return(?) flight is a bit more complicated. I don't know exactly what planes operate to the village of Qaanaaq, but they are some kind of local planes. When coming back south to the inhabitated areas we need four liftoffs just to get out of Greenland. It sounds amusing now, but we'll see when we are actually there.

All and all it has started to feel like it's not us going. It's like we are making arrangements for somebody else. I suspect that those other guys will take over once Petri and I have taken care of the first rough leg of the expedition. They will then have fun with light loads, gentle slopes and favourable winds. But it's hard to imagine that moment. The last two months of the expedition will probably be the most crucial months. It's really hard to picture an expedition that lasts three months. It feels like we are moving somewhere. And I guess we kind of are moving. It just takes time to let it all sink in.

Pete and I have already earlier thought about equipment and we have continued that work. We made a list of what is needed and then I had discussions with old and new sponsors. Even though it has become easier to get sponsorship for equipment it is still the biggest issue in getting the expedition organized. New equipment for this expedition would have cost well over 10000 euros. But even more important is the suppliers’ interest to develop and test their products in tough conditions. And this time for a long period.

New pages showing the equipment will be set up during the winter. I want to emphasize that the equipment was chosen based on our decision. They are in our mind the best for the job. Some are even made especially for us. There is one exception though and that is my trusty old Lappish knife (lapinleuku in Finnish). I will take that with me again in case I need to scare of a polar bear.

In October we were building campfires in the Tampere region thinking about the fabrics for our new arctic sledges and other upcoming tasks. We were also adding information to the expedition web pages and managed to set up these English pages as well.

Real work was made by Pekka Tyllilä with his carbonfibre-epoxide experiments with heartwarming results. Pekka made some small experimental hit-sledges using almost the same carbonfibre-epoxide method that will be used in the making of the JR2007-sledges. The inside surface looked really great because they were undyed and you could see the structure clearly. We agreed with Pekka that he will make an own section of the method to these pages once the product is finalized.

The situation was normalized again at end of the month with our preparations for the upcoming Skiexpo fairs being late. I had agreed with the fair organizers to keep two lectures about the Svalbard-2005 expedition during the weekend. After woods we would be in the Free Heels section with our equipment and leaflets talking with the visitors and friends. So I'm writing this with the fairs starting tomorrow, Friday the 2nd of November.

The weather forecast promised below zero temperatures throughout the country. In Saturday it should we white everywhere. All looks good for us to enter our winter training period. So long summer!

4.11.2007

The skiexpo is over and our base camp is again a couple of hundred kilometers to north.

During the weekend we held two lectures about the Svalbard-2005 expedition and we had a nice crowd for both events. In addition we were in the Free Heels stand talking about our current and past activities.

That kind of a laidback and somewhat casual weekend at the fairs is really a nice way to spend time talking about trekking. We gained a lot of theoretical knowledge about kiteskiing by discussing with the gurus of that field. We talked about pulling the sledge with a kite and how to handle ascents and also how to jump with the kite. I think we better learn how to do at least basic jumps with the kite so we won't panic when we inevitably get airborne at some point during the expedition. It seemed that the expo visitors were mostly interested in the kiting and skiing equipment. With our composite sledge we had to settle for verbal explanations but we are expecting a breakthrough in the sledge market within a couple of weeks.

Madshus has now joined our group of equipment sponsors. I have been using Madshus Glittertind skis since 2004 and now that Pellestova is gone from the market Vuorenmaa will also start using them. We will have a pair and one spare for each.

There is no rush with skis though. The promised snowfall turned out to be quite modest and now we are just hoping a proper winter will come soon. I wouldn't mind if in honor of the International Polar Year (IPY) it would start snowing next week. And the lakes would freeze in two weeks and the lowest temperatures of the winter would be measured in Tampere with a new record of -62,4 degrees celsius. And there would be more then 2 meters of snow.

I wonder if it's going to happen.

11.11.2007

There is usually always too little time in these projects, but this time there are certain preparations for which we have allocated more time.

With the experience already from the 2003 Greenland expedition we have a routine for handling the preparations in order starting from permit issues and going on to equipment choices. Now we have retraced our steps with Vuorenmaa requesting an offer from the Danish insurance company IHI for our SAR insurance. We already have an offer from If.. for 6500 euros, but we wouldn't mind getting a better deal.

We have reserved plenty of time for the sledge project. Now that we are racing towards the final experiments before making the actual sledges for the expedition we have made an effort to proceed slowly. And the reason is that it's much more sensible to make experiments and find the flaws with the smaller models (like the little-hit sledge in the picture made out of carbonfibre). There have been many development steps starting from the first versions made by Pekka Tyllilä and now the process is almost complete. The latest specimen was born on the 11th of November and it weighs less then 4 kilos.

Vuorenmaa has continued his food drying project for months now. There are some especially wet produce like the 200 gram vegetable portion which dries out into a 13 gram little pouch. After the experiments made during the Svalbard trek in the summer we decided to make all our warm food ourselves. We ate macaroni-minced meat-veggie-casserole with a pinch of salt and pepper for two weeks. I admit it wasn't exactly gourmet for the first few days but after a while we were hungry enough that even bigger portions would have been welcomed. The idea behind this is that by making our own food we'll get rid of the food additives that are plentiful in the ready made casserole mixes. So not only will the food supplies weigh less but I believe our food will be healthier as well.

19.11.2007

Activities for this week included the manufacturing of the first big arctic sledge which Pekka did on Friday. I got my hands dirty as well on Saturday morning when I participated in the demoulding of the sledge.

I had already in the summer promised to take the first carbonfibre sledge with me to the meeting of the Arctic Club which was held in the Nanoq museum in Fäboda, Pietarsaari. And I held that promise although it was a close call; we arrived to the meeting with just 10 minutes to spare.

This time I had with me Sami Nytorp and Vuorenmaa and as we were racing across Ostrobothnia we were so excited that we managed to miss several turns and even the ones we navigated correctly we thought were wrong.

The excitement was naturally caused by the successful manufacturing of the carbonfibre sledge we had in the boot of our car and also by the fact that we were going to meet several experts and trekkers of the arctic areas.

The best part of this years meeting of the Arctic Club was the presentation given by Veli-Pekka Salonen about the Kinnvika project, an expedition to the north east of Svalbard by a group of glacial geologists from the University of Helsinki. The expedition was related to the above mentioned International Polar Year (IPY) and recently while buying groceries I noticed that Serla is sponsoring the project with a nice sum. Veli-Pekka Salonen presented also the scientific results of the expedition and he noted that compared to the activities in that region of for example some central European countries the Finnish efforts are really minimum. Perhaps the climate change is not that important to us since we live in a neutral area with just the right elevation so it doesn't have any effect on us? (Irony is a problem of the Nordic countries).

We heard also stories about Greenland and another two about Svalbard, Vaiska's 2007 trek and Sauli Herva's dogsled trek to Gråhuken.

The evening turned into morning and we woke up just before noon. Before heading back home we talked some more about our upcoming expedition with the director of the Nanoq museum Pentti Kronqvist and he gave us a copy of the book made in celebration of the museum's 20th anniversary. We agreed to come back once more before leaving to Greenland to look at some pictures from the Thule region which Pentti has visited no less then six times. I'm sure we'll learn much more in the coming months.

25.11.2007

The Greenland-2008 expedition was accepted as one of the marketing channels for the International Polar Year (IPY). From now on we will focus even more on bringing the news about the arctic regions from the scientific communities to the general public. And also raise awareness on the importance of the polar regions as a historical treasure chest for science and on their economical and geopolitical value in the future.

According to the Finnish IPY website the international polar year is held 2007 - 2008. That is 50 years from the international geophysics year and 125 from the first international polar year. During these earlier research projects new information was gathered about the polar regions and major advances were made in the area of geosciences.

The objectives for the International Polar Year are:

• to study new areas in both polar regions
• gain deeper knowledge of the changes in the polar regions and their global interconnections
• to improve the ability to study the changes in the polar regions in the future
• to raise a new generation of polar researchers and engineers
• to raise awareness in the general public and amongst the decision makers about the polar regions and their state

The changes in the ice currents in southeast Greenland have also significance on our expedition. The water masses have penetrated the ice surface and demolished the previous steadily flowed currents. The speeds of the currents have increased dramatically which in turn speeds up the diminishing of the ice cap.

On the other hand our current plan is to head north along the west bank of the ice cap. The reason is that according to some comments from previous expeditions the wind conditions are more favorable there. The characteristics of the winds in the ice cap are such that in the westside they are mainly blowing from east.

Nowadays there are many reliefs for the planning of expeditions. One of them, although not perhaps very significant is the weather station Summit Camp located in the highest point of Greenland. At the moment the thermometer shows only -35 degrees celcius but six hours ago during daytime it was -52 degrees.

Wish I was working there.

2.12.2007

It looks like we are not going to get a proper winter at least before the Independence Day. That seems to have no effect to the activities of probably the most enthusiastic skier of our home town. Vuorenmaa has already 100 km of skiing under his belt even if there is practically no snow to speak of (you can see the amount of snow from picture taken on Saturday while kiting). The nearby park has a football field with an artificial grass surface and if you have good imagination and there's some frost on the surface it almost feels like skiing. It tends to get quite rough though when you get off to the real grass. You'll end up with flying dirt and grass stained skis.

As far as exercising goes Vuorenmaa and I have quite a different approach. We have agreed that we both get into a good enough shape to endure the hardships of the expedition. I'm not one to focus on just one form of exercise, instead I tend to do all sorts of activities in the name of exercise. Basically I just need to improve my basic condition with slow paced exercises and be careful not to loose my hard-earned excess fat. I have managed to gain 10 kg during the year with systematic eating and my goal is to balance the scale at 80 kg by the end of March. So another 5 kg is needed. Vuorenmaa has set his goals differently on this matter as well. He is aiming for minimal if any weight gain after some bad experience from the Greenland 2003 expedition. So it's my turn to test the effects of excess fat. I have been quite worried about the length of our upcoming expedition. I get hungry from just thinking about the second half of it. I'm sure I will be starving by then. Think I'll check if there is anything to eat in the fridge...

On Saturday we had a chance to test out the Ozone kites. We had a couple of hours training session without skis. The wind was blowing moderately at 2-4 m/s but even with that breath of wind the Ozone Access XC with 8 square meter surface showed promising results. The manufacturer had promised to improve the handling of the kites and it really felt easier to control them. We will take only those kites with us, so no spares will be packed.

9.12.2007

Our forthcoming expedition from southern Greenland to Qaanaaq village at North is a trip through history. Greenland has experienced many approaches from different continents before settlement became stabile. Our starting point at Narsaq area as well as Qaanaaq was the first approached areas by human.

Eskimos arrived from west. About 1000 years ago people traveled along northern shores of Arctic Ocean. Their direction was east towards new areas to live in. They have started from Siberia. 4 waves of people had come to Greenland from Canada over Smith Strait to Thule area, but all of those had died in the harsh land. It was the fifth wave of people that finally was success and who are ancestor of current Greenlanders. They gave a name for the land: "Nunaat". Also, they called themselves as "Kalallit". A new land was born: "Kalaallit Nunaat" - "Land of men".

From Thule people spread towards south and via northern Greenland to east coast. Among first Europeans were Knud Rasmussen (In the figure with Vuorenmaa in Ilulissat 2003) and Peter Freuchen. They established a store to area and finally Denmark took over the land before U.S.

But what about our starting point at south Greenland?

Viking Erik Torvaldsson was a powerful man, who escaped from Norway to Iceland and again to Greenland after he made "some" murders at 900 century. He explored the land for three years and went back to Iceland to get more people for settlement at Greenland. Most of the people that came with him stayed near him at Brattahlid-area, which is nowadays called Narsaq. Our starting point Narsarsuaq is also part of the area. People lived there around 500 years, but it is still unknown what made them disappear. May reason was some disease or cold season. Last marks from south Greenland was from the beginning of 1400 century. After that there was 300 years when south Greenland was inhabited. At 1700 century missionary Hans Egede sailed to west side of Greenland and started to distribute the idea of Christianity, and Greenland was affected by Europeans again.

Next year there will be some Finnish expedition history made again at Greenland!

16.12.2007

Last week Finnish press gave some familiar news: glacier of Greenland melts at record pace. I made some checks and noticed that our local newspaper had an article about it at February 2006. At that time U.S researchers had noticed record melting of glacier via satellite measurements 2005

Within few years situation has gone worse: melting record was broken this year. Glacier size has decreased by amount of two times of all glacier at Alps. This is 10 percent more than previous record. Air temperatures has risen 4 degrees of Celsius since 1991. According to scientists, it is caused by raising amount of greenhouse gases.

Last week we decided that we will you Panasonic Toughbook as our computer for our connections and updates ( http://www.toughbook.eu/FIN/notebook_cf-19.aspx ). This fully sheltered computer is able to handle more freeze-up, hits, dust and moisture. Weight of the computer is 2.3 kg and it has suitable performance. We used same machine at our expedition in Svalbard 2005.

23.12.2007

One morning this week, I woke up to a thought that we have only a bit over 3 months for departure. Our starting day is 9.4.2008, since it is only day of week that there exists flight between Copenhagen and Narsarsuaq village.

We have a lot of things open. One such thing I tried to solve last week, when I called to company called Travel Cargo at Helsinki airport to ask whether it would be possible to have confirmation query three month ago, where I asked cargo possibility to Narsarsuaq and price information. Haven't heard them since, even though they promised to come back to me with answers. Think I have to call the again after Christmas

Vuorenmaa has been busy solving other paperwork issues, and most probably we will have some mail soon from Greenland authorities. There should be permissions for our emergency transmitter as well as for our revolver (Ruger Redhawk Alaskan), which will protect us against polar bears at North-Greenland.

One important job is done, since we now have all the maps. There will be 5-6 maps with us in expedition. There is one small-scale map to follow our progress. In addition, few large-scale maps for glacier-entrance and exit, as well as for emergency exits at least for Ilullissat.

My 38th Christmas is just behind the door (Vuorenmaa has experienced 42 of them), so I think I'm experienced enough to say happy Christmas to all of you!

30.12.2007

The last days of the year are spent quietly but already on the 1st of January I will be heading to Kilpisjärvi for a skiing trip. The snow situation here in Tampere is such that...well there is no snow. I was just thinking of leaving the climate issues aside for a while, but here is one more bit of info. I found this website that offers up-to-date information about extreme weather conditions in Europe.

Svalbard has become for me and many others an ideal place for trekking. It combines the arctic world with modern amenities and it's easier to reach than many other places. I did my first trek there in 2005, the second was in 2006 and my third was in the summer of 2007.One of the highlights has been the arches on the top of Gizefjellet shown in the picture taken on the 2005 trek. Again last summer we argued if they were really arches or just patches of snow that looked like holes. Once we got back home we finally researched the issue and were convinced that they were in fact holes. But Vuorenmaa and I swore that one day we will climb up there and see for ourselves.

This week I saw the arches again. I was watching a new movie called the Northern Lights ( Golden Compass in the US). It's a fantasy movie with lots of ice caps and polar bears and the characters are on their way to a magical place, Svalbard. And when they finally reached their destination there they were, the arches on the top of Gizeh. The movie suddenly became much more interesting.

Happy New Year to everyone. We are going to have the year of our lives. The year of Greenland.