Guardian Mobility - News + Events

Anne Marte Pensgaard's Greenland Ski Expedition

Around Guardian offices we have been excited to support an exploratory trip across Greenland by Anne Marte Pensgaard.

We provided her with a Tracer unit set up to wake up every 30 minutes but to transmit only when she has moved at least 200m, this way she won't have to worry about turning off the unit when she's camping at night. We'll be updating you on this exciting trip by posting maps of her current location every couple of days. Maps and satellite imagery are courtesy Google Maps.

Anne Marte's companion, Marit and huskies. More pictures of the trip.

Anne Marte provides a brief narrative of her journey:

Late afternoon on the 24th of April, Marit, myself and 10 Greenland Huskies set off from Ilulissat on the west coast of Greenland. The goal with our planned three week journey was to find a suitable place to enter the huge icecap with our dogs. Bringing dogs through the icefall is a challenge and from my crossing of the Greenland Icecap in 1990 I knew that we had to be very careful and prepared for unforeseen challenges. But, we were up to it!

We used the first week to explore the glaciers that is connected to the fjord Sikuiuitsoq which again is connected to the famous Ice Fjord. Impressive Icebergs are spread out all over this frozen fjord and it is amazing to ski between them. While Marit was the dog musher, I was skiing every day. We had base camps which we moved every 2 or 3 days. The temperature was well below -20C the first week but the air is so dry that is actually is quit comfortable. Our Hilleberg Staika tent was warm as long as we had our Optimus going. We decided to explore one of the neighbouring glaciers to the big Sermeq Glacier and soon realized that we just might had found what we were looking for.

The first 100 m was like skiing on a ordinary uphill mountain. However, as we came higher we saw huge crevasses on both side of our track. However, it was a clear day and we could easily detect the dangerous places. We did not bring the dogs on this first trip, but it looked feasible to bring dogs here. Next year, when we plan to ski from Ilulissat to Thule Air Base and then to Qaanacq, a trip that has not been done before via the icecap, we will most certainly use this entrance to the icecap. We went up to approx 400m and used the Tracer to make sure that we knew exactly were we should go. Very helpful! When we got back to camp we celebrated with one extra bite of chocolate J

The second week we headed north. We initially had hoped to go all the way up to the Eqip Glacier, but when we reached the fjord Pakitsup, we realized that the snow condition was problematic further north. The fjord ice was hardly covered with any snow, and the spring melting had started. The temperature varied between -10 to 0 C. We used four days to explore the area around the Taserssuaq lake which is a beautiful area. For a ski lover it is a paradise because of the amazing mountains, impressive glacier and the fact that there is nobody else around!

The last week we spent exploring an alternative route via Nunatarssuaq. This is an area that goes all the way into the inland icecap and with good snow condition this may provide and excellent alternative. However, since it is closer to the icefjord, there are more crevasses and the glacier is more active. But we got a memorable trip into the inland ice cap once more. We got back on the 14th of May after spending 21 days exploring parts of the amazing area in west Greenland. And we were lucky – the day after we came down it was poring with rain! All our equipment functioned well and we feel that we are in good shape to embark on our 2 months expedition next year!

Jump to day: April 22, April 24/25, April 26, April 28, April 29/30, May 1, May 2, May3/5, May 5, May 7, May 8, May 9/10, May 11/12, May 13/14

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May 13 & 14

The end of the trip! Anne Marte Wrote in an e-mail yesterday:

We got back to Ilulissat yesterday morning after 21 successful days in the Greenland Wilderness! We met our goal and found a possible way to enter the Icecap with dogs and we also tested our equipment and found that everything worked very well. We had very mixed weather condition with temperatures between -30C to +5C. Our 10 greenland huskies did an excellent job but the terrain here at the west coast is pretty challenging so we skiied as well as went with our dogsledge. We have skiied on the Icecap and on the frozen Ice sea among huge mountains of ice!!! Extremely beautiful! We have taken a lot of pictures and I will e-mail them too you as soon as they are developed.

May 11 & 12

May 11 tracks in yellow, May 12 tracks in red

May 9 & 10

May 9 tracks in yellow, May 10 tracks in red

May 8

They're moving south and west generally - what's interesting is that they're on 'water' - this
is probably ice, but the maps were taken at a different time of year?

May 7