Arctic Kites

After years of dreaming and more recently 18 months of planning, preparation and training the time has finally arrived! With one sleep left to go (and some of you will remember when there were several hundred!) we set off for Greenland this weekend to cross the second largest icecap in the world. We plan to start the 640km crossing ~Wednesday next week from Nagtivit on the East coast, and weather permitting, we should arrive in Ilulisat on the west coast ~mid May.

We have been humbled by the level of support that we have received in preparing for the expedition and we are very much indebted and grateful for all the help and assistance that people have provided to get us this far.

We will be taking a satellite phone on the expedition that we will use to keep the blog up to date and you will be able to keep track of our progress on this map that will be updated with our latest position! You are also able to send messages to the team via email!

While Chris and Rachel have been dragging tyres through the snow in the woods, Flip has been dragging tyres along Bondi Beach in Sydney! To find out more about Flip’s aspirations click here!

Click here to catch a glimpse of the team training over the past week!

As the weeks countdown to ‘Day 1′ and the team strive to save every bit of weight from the list of ‘essential’ equipment, the team are piling on the pounds – some of the team are achieving personal body weight gains of ~1kg a week! Belts are being loosened and trousers are feeling tight and as the training tapers in the last few weeks the rates of weight gain should increase – will any clothes still fit?!

Harry Reeves who summitted Mount Everest (8,848m) in 2004 has joined the team! Find out more about Harry’s travels and expedition exploits here.

The team is thrilled that Ronny Finsås who lives in Finse, Norway has agreed to join and lead the team. Ronny, known as ‘the Kiting God’, recently kite-skied from the South Pole to Hercules Inlet, a distance of ~1100km in 5 days and over 500km in 1 day!

The international team used the training week in Finse to full advantage, going through the expedition plans, routes and equipment in detail. It was fantastic to all get together and share each other’s excitement in the forthcoming adventure!

Chris and Rachel are delighted that Australian explorer and freelance journalist Felicity (Flip) Byrnes has joined the expedition!

Flip Byrnes is the great granddaughter of Frank Hurley, who was the photographer on the Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton on the Endurance.

Flip’s earlier adventures have seen her snowboarding in Kashmir, trekking in Mongolia, climbing Mont Blanc and sliding down mountains in Chile, Argentina, Kashmir, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She has also walked the 1,500 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James) in northern Spain.

For the last seven years Flip has contributed reports recounting her explorations to both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian in the UK, as well as other publications. Flip will be writing an account of this expedition as a column in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Exped Ted recently accompanied the team on their training trip to Finse in Norway. He found the snow unusually cold on his paws and frequently had to brush the snow off his coat. Whilst the rest of the team is trying to put on weight, Exped Ted is urgently trying to grow his fur in preparation for the arctic weather!

Exped Ted joined the team today and is aiming to be the first brown bear to ski-sail across the Greenland Icecap! Exped Ted is confident that his fur will keep him warm, but is worried about frostbite on his nose! He is starting a new competition – with the highest personal donor able to keep him after the expedition. Donate now by clicking on the Diabetes UK logo in the sidebar!