Arctic Kites

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!

You know it’s going to be windy when the locals disagree as to whether the wind strength is going to be Storm Force 10 or Hurricane Force 12! Apparently the weather in Finse was ‘unusual’ for this time of year, but unperturbed Chris and Rachel decided this was the ideal time to test themselves and the expedition equipment in preparation for Greenland.

Luckily the weather restrained itself to a mere Force 10 ice storm, coating everything in sight with a thick layer of ice, including Chris as he reinforced the snow wall sheltering the tent.

The following morning after a night of howling winds and living inside what sounded like a drum, 1 metre high snow drifts surrounded the tent, which had survived well.

During the week there were a few days that were excellent for ski-sailing with steady winds and good visibility. This gave us the valuable opportunity to try out our new sails and train with Ronny Finsås who had recently returned from Antarctica.

We are managing to train just about every evening after work for between two and four hours, either in the Kinetika gym, swimming or pulling tyres around the local woods. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are swimming days, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are gym days and Sunday is pulling tyres! If we’re very good we occasionally get a day off!

Rachel is eating like a horse, desperately trying to put on weight but failing miserably! Over Christmas she managed to put on 2kg and must have been the only person in the country to be pleased about it!

The last couple of months have been quite hectic sorting out the final items of equipment as well as the expedition logistics. We are getting there – slowly but surely!

This weekend we spent preparing for Finse. Food, skiing equipment, kiting equipment, camping equipment and clothing has all been packed and amounts to ~90kg of baggage!

The recent blustery conditions provided the pefect excuse to trial the new Beringer Parawings. Rachel practised the human flying technique before reefing the kite to induce some control!

Chris and Rachel have made arrangements to spend a week training in Finse, Norway. They will use the week to trial equipment that they plan to take to Greenland and practice all the skills needed to survive in the sub-zero conditions.

This afternoon our tyres decided to come training with us and followed us for over 14km along the canal. Some of them even decided that they wanted to have a swim! Bad sastrugi!

Tonight was our first night of dragging tyres along the canal and through the woods by torchlight! We achieved 7km in 2 hours and when we turned the torches off sparks could be seen from stones that were being knocked together by the tyres.

Having set up a suitable hauling system we ventured out into the woods today to begin our tyre training. Earth mounds of ’sastrugi’ were negotiated and different surfaces were rated for difficulty:

• Brick driveways (most difficult)
• Tarmac
• Pedestrian rumble strips
• Pavement
• Sand
• Dirt
• Gravel (least difficult)

Kwik Fit have been very generous in supporting the expedition by donating 4 tyres to enable the team to begin tyre hauling around the local woods. The tyres will simulate the loads of the pulk and the tree roots should replicate the sastrugi likely to be found on the icecap! We can’t wait to try them out!

With support from Finse Skiseil 1222 the team trialled the Beringer Parawings on the frozen lake before taking to their skis and combining their skiing and kiting skills.

The team took the opportunity to test their camping equipment and pitched the tents on the side of the lake.  This was the first time the team sampled the ration packs developed by Rachel and it was a relief to discover that most of the dehydrated meals were more than edible!

Significant snow fell during the week and the temperature dropped to -18°C or below -40°C with the wind chill.  Although the conditions for pulling pulks were difficult and even caused a passenger train to derail close to Finse, they were excellent to practice our arctic survival skills, including building snow holes! 

The people of Finse were extremely helpful and we were very lucky to bump into Ronny Finsas who has been to the South Pole several times and was kind enough to offer advice to the team.