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Arctic wrap-up: Shorts in Greenland, southerly ice drift, and chasing polar bears
May 18, 2005 15: 36 EST
The weather has changed dramatically in Greenland. Last week, the Ice Queens were pounded by snowstorms and blanketed in whiteout conditions. Now they’re enjoying sunny skies with a slight breeze. Paul, Eric, and Sara (the premier polar adventure family) have found the Greenland weather so pleasant that they’ve stripped down to shorts. Conditions aren’t as good for the Arctic crossing expedition. They’ve been battling southerly ice drift and thin ice. Meanwhile, the Baffin Island ladies are one of the few Arctic expeditions this year to actively seek out polar bear encounters.
Adventure family – Greenland crossing
Warm enough for shorts
The team reports, “It is so hot, like really hot, you know, sun bathing weather. We are camped on the eastern edge of the ice cap, next to a rock ridge that extends down to the ocean 1000 meters below us. We helicoptered onto the ice yesterday afternoon. We skied four nautical miles to our starting point and now wait for the wind before starting our crossing. We are just waking up from 13 hours of sleep and it feels great to have slept that long. The short nights of the last week of packing and preparations had taken its toil on us - some of us were a little grumpy! David and Sarah are in shorts and plan to go catch some rays after breakfast.”
One World expedition – Summer Arctic crossing
Falling through bad ice
“Ice conditions are horrible and there are leads everywhere. We both fell through bad ice today. We also managed to make some northerly progress, about a mile and a half, but will be surprised if it isn't erased by morning (ed. note: Southerly ice drift has been eating up the team’s mileage). Still, we are getting better at traveling more efficiently.”
North Face Baffin Island expedition
Nanuk!
The team devotes most of their updates to recounting awesome skiing experiences, but in the latest dispatch, team member Hil admits, “All I can think about are the polar bears we saw on our way back to Clyde last night. We were bouncing along as usual in the back of our komatik, about six hours into the journey, right when it starts to really get miserable on the back, the bum, etc., when Elijah, our ski -doo driver started shouting ‘nanuk, NANUK!!’ - a.k.a. polar bear. We were all bummed we hadn't seen the bear because of course, it took off running.”
Chasing after polar bears
But the ladies would have another opportunity. They hopped back on the snowmobiles to track the bears: “Picture this, if you can: 9pm which means the light in the arctic has this soft, ethereal glow to it, we're flying over the frozen ocean which, beautiful in and of itself, has taken on an absolute mystical feel because we are charging into a thick fog, we could only see maybe 40 ft in front of us. And then, with my eyes straining, nothing in front of us but the tracks we were following, I could barely discern one white thing (in a world of white) that was moving. We caught up to the bear easily. It was a male and we cruised alongside him, both of us stopping on occasion to stare at each other, me practically in tears, him more with a look like ‘Alright, now you're starting to piss me off.’”
Greenland Ice Queens
”We almost look like matches”
We have had a super day today. First of all we have walked 18.1 km (11,25 miles) and there has been a slight breeze, but with a sun shining from a clear sky. We almost look like matches – white bodies with black faces. We started out earlier today, we have become much faster in the mornings now – even Danna!!!!!
One World Expedition | NF Baffin Island expedition | Ice Queens Greenland expedition | Adventure family Green Speed expedition
Live image over Contact 3.0 courtesy of the Green Speed expedition.
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| OneWorld expedition: It's over Jun 3, 2005 | | Vancouver to Moscow - 1 year anniversary! Jun 2, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: The Single ski Weight Watchers Greenland program Jun 1, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: Rain and world record May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | 12 year old doing well on Greenland ice cap crossing May 27, 2005 | | Vagabond update - Polar bears, 200 candles and ice melting in Inglefieldbukta May 26, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: Polar hygiene, and Napoleon on ice May 26, 2005 | | Contact GEO hits Greenland May 25, 2005 | | Iridium: "Invalid battery - matches found, 0" May 24, 2005 |
| | Arctic wrap-up: Adventure family kites 162 km, reaches halfway point May 23, 2005 |
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2004
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