Posted: Aug 23, 2005 06:33 am EDT
The largest island in the world is becoming a recurrent dream for climbers and explorers all around the planet. Greenland crossing is not just a preparatory trip for polar expeditions, but an amazing adventure in itself. Thus, Aussie polar explorer Eric Philips has compiled a brief of Greenland-crossing history for ExplorersWeb.

This three-part series is a useful resource for those dreaming of the immense Inlandis (inner icecap). Just read what’s been done, when, by whom - and then pick your own challenge. There’s room for all on this huge, frozen island.

Today, part 2: Crossing routes - where to start?

Greenland crossings are tough to clasify. With too many factors in the game (distances, means of progression, tiem, speed, latitude,etc) There is no way to set the record list straight. However, adventure is out there for all willing to test themselves. Imagination is the limit for future explorations - but we can well use other experiences, listed below.

A particular politic status

Greenland is a ‘special cultural community’ of the Kingdom of Denmark but is administered by its own Home Rule Government. It is the largest island in the world, approximately 2650km long extending from just below 60N at Cape Farewell to almost 84N at Cape Morris Jesup. Its widest breadth is in the north of the island, about 1000km extending from Cape Alexander near Qanaaq to Lambert Land south of Independence Fiord, and tapers to the south.

The icecap (often referred to as the ‘inland ice’) covers 82% of the island and reaches an elevation of 3238m at around 72.30N, 37W. The Northeast Greenland National Park is the largest in the world and its town of Danneborg is home to the famous Sirius Patrol, a crack team of Danish soldiers who maintain military surveillance over the area.

Ideal training ground

Greenland is the perfect training ground for those with Antarctic ambitions and many teams complete expeditions across the icecap before heading south - myself included. It is also, together with the North and South Poles, part of the classic ‘polar trifecta’.

Few have followed Nansen’s shorter route in the south from Umivik to Nuuk but most choose to cross from east to west, typically from the Tasiilaq (Ammassalik) region to Kangerlussuaq (Sondre Stromfjord) roughly following the Arctic Circle, a distance of around 550km.

A number of lateral crossings are possible between the various towns that pepper the west and east coasts, including a diagonal traverse from Qaanaaq to Tasiilaq of approximately 1700km, completed by Reinhold Messner and his brother Gunter in 1990. Incidentally theirs was one of the first polar expeditions to use traction kites.

The longer way – Crossing list

Longitudinal traverses are longer and more difficult as they remain longer at elevation and experience colder temperatures in the north. They are more noteworthy because, in comparison to lateral traverses, they are rare. Longitudinal non-mechanised traverses to date include:

• 1978 - Naomi Uemura’s solo dog-sled north-south crossing with air resupply from Cape Morris Jesup to Narsarsuaq

• 1989 – The Steger and Etienne joint-lead international Transantarctic Expedition conducted a training dog-sled traverse from near Narsarsuaq to the Humboldt Glacier, just north of Qaanaaq. They were airlifted to and from the plateau but completed the journey without resupply.

• 1992- Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen parachuted onto the southern tip of the icecap. They paddled a kayak to within a day of Cape Farewell but were turned back by heavy pack-ice. From here they completed the longest unsupported polar journey to date arriving at Cape Morris Jesup after a total of 2928km and 86 days, using skis and kites.

• 2001- Jose Manuel Naranjo and Ramon Larramendi complete a south-north unsupported crossing from near Narsaq to Qeqertat near Qaanaaq. They used an innovative ‘kitesled’, covering 2225km in 32 days, including a record kiting distance of 421km in a 24-hour period, improving on the previous record of Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercouer set in Antarctica in 1998.

• 2005 - Niklas Norman, Trygve Nakling Kristiansen and Carl Gustav Rye Florence complete a lightning-fast south-north traverse from near Narsaq to Qaanaaq. The unsupported expedition of 21-days and 2500km used kites and skisails, averaging 120km per day and breaking the 24-hour record with a distance of 442.7km.

• 2005 - Veteran Swedes Claes-Göran Erson and Erik Abrahamsson (both 57) attempted a 3300km south-north ski kiting traverse from near Narsarsuaq to Cape Morris Jesup then south to the Thule Air Base south of Qaanaaq. Thwarted by personal issues the team aborted the original aim and after reaching the icecap summit headed due west to the town of Upernavik, covering almost 2000km in 80 days.

Hard-to-classify lateral expeditions

Of the 30-40 lateral expeditions, many of them guided, that cross the Greenland icecap every season, almost all cross from the Tasiilaq region to Kangerlussuaq (roughly following the Arctic Circle), and few of these stand out. This is not to belittle their achievements - all expeditions require skill and dedication - but, like the standard route to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet, they show little individuality (though individuality can be demonstrated in the use of innovative techniques).

It is also difficult to compare the achievements as most expeditions are airlifted to their start-point on the edge of the plateau, above the difficult flanks that are often devoid of snow cover. Yet about 100km south of Tasiilaq, only 5 or 6 kilometres from the small town of Isortoq, the icecap extends down to sea level, as it does for much of the coastline that extends 200km southward.

And on the west coast most expeditions descend the western flank towards Kangerlussuaq via a graded ice road that runs a significant distance into Greenland’s interior (no longer maintained as of this year).

Tomorrow part 3: Final.

Quick links to Greenland expeditions’ information


Dansk Polarcenter (Danish) | Greenland Tourism (multilingual) | Expedition South-North 2005 (English/Swedish) | Greenspeed expedition | The Windpower Expedition 2005 | Eric Philips’ Icetrek| Norwegian G2 Greenland Unsupported Expedition 1996| Ramon Larramendi’s Transgreenland 2001

Eric Philips worked as a musician and outdoor educator for 15 years before turning to full time adventure in 1993. An early pioneer in the use of steerable traction kites on polar expeditions, Eric used Quadrifoils to cross the Greenland icecap in 1995, to the South Pole in 98-99, across the South Patagonian Icecap in 2000 and Iceland's Mydalsjokull icecap in 2003. He has skied to the North Pole (partial air lift), across Ellesmere Island's largest icecap and his 84-day expedition to the South Pole was chronicled in his book, Icetrek - The Bitter Journey to the South Pole. It established a new route through the Transantarctic Mountains via the Shackleton Glacier.

Eric’s expeditions have produced four documentary films, including his Emmy Award-winning Greenland film, Chasing the Midnight Sun, and he featured as an expert host on the US adventure series, Global Extremes - Mt Everest.

Eric was the Director of Outdoor Education at Geelong Grammar School's renowned Timbertop campus for five years, and has worked as a Field Training Officer at Mawson Station for the Australian Antarctic Division. In 2004 Eric was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Polar Exploration. He lives in Hobart, Australia where he runs his own polar adventure business, Icetrek Expeditions.

Greenland is the largest island in the world. Owing to its situation in the north, where the Atlantic meets the Arctic Ocean, cold ocean currents principally surround Greenland, so the coasts are constantly being cooled. This, together with the radiation of cold from the inland ice gives Greenland its Arctic climate.

The ice-sheet or inland ice covers 1,833,900 sq.km - equal to 85% of Greenland's total area and extending 2,500 km north- south and up to 1,000 km east-west. At the centre, the ice is anything up to 3 km thick and represents 10% of the world's total fresh-water reserves.

The ice-free area covers an expanse of 350,000 sq.km - corresponding to the size of France.

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