UKC

Expedition planned for April/May 2007. Parachute onto East coast of Greenland, ski man-haul unsupported across the ice-cap, attempt two first ascents on West coast of Greenland, then boat extraction. 7 men already in team now seeking number 8. lots of training planned including shakedown expedition to Hardanger Plateau next winter (we are going to sail from the Medway to the Hardhanger Fjord, attempt some climbs and practise skills in winter conditions). must be strong, motivated and game for a laugh.we are going to be raising funds for the Batten Disease Family Association and acting as research guinea pigs for a London university. Currently negotiating with a couple of TV companies for support in documenting the trip. ideal candidate would have some camera experience. we are getting sponsorship lined up at the moment although we will fund our own training costs.

in case not too clear, we are looking for anyone interested in joining this expedition...and NO this is NOT a windup!!!!

In reply to Neil Coker: i might be interested. freelance photographer and have formerly lived in Greenland on the westcoast. now living in denmark. feel free mailing me directly with more info: mail@mortenlindholm.com

ML

In reply to Neil Coker: In reply to Neil Coker: Neil, very interested in this as a previous planned trip to Greenland fell through at last minute due to a friends work commitments. If you have any info re planned dates / duration for training and the trip etc I'd be gratefull. Time is the biggest hurdle for me so some idea of this would be great. Get in touch direct steven_jeff@yahoo.com

I have emailed you both.

In reply to Neil Coker: parachute? haul unsupported AND first ascents after all that? Id be interested in the climbing bit, but not the rest. Ill meet you on the west coast, unless you decide to use a plane that can land and dogs for hauling.

In reply to Neil Coker: Good luck with your trip, although I doubt very much if you will get permission from the Danish Polar Centre in Copenhagen to parachute on to the ice-cap. From what aircraft will you parachute? Why not just get a chopper from sea level at Constable Point to the ice-cap like all the other expeditions that do this crossing?
Your pulks will surely not survive being parachuted on to the ice, and there is every possibility you won't even find them after the drop.
The idea of doing first acents of peaks in west Greenland is an original idea: I'd be very interested to hear where you found mountains on the west coast of Greenland.
also, "boat extraction" is a superb idea, and very exciting, although of course it will mean travelling from the ice-cap to the sea, which could quite easily involve dumping the pulks en route and carrying everything in rucksacks for up to a week. The ice-cap doesn't always reach the sea, and where it does there are often cliffs of ice regularly falling into the sea.
But it will be quite easy to arrange for a local to pick you up in their boat: you can pass a message to them using HF radio to talk to the aircraft flying overhead. Or even use a satphone: Iridium is the best for that area.
Arranging to be picked up means you won't need to sail yourself.
I wish you well with your training, although why you would want to sail to Norway for winter experience escapes me: you could easily get the train to Scotland or fly to Oslo for it. You won't need the sailing experience for "extraction" if you arrange for a local to pick you up. (Of course, many expeditions just use a chopper to pick them up from the edge of the ice-cap.)
Good to hear you will be acting as research guinea pigs for a university, although why your group instead of the many others who do this crossing?
All in all, sounds an excellent idea, and with just a few tweaks to the beginning, the middle and the end of the expedition, could be made to work.

In reply to Martin Brice:

Rjune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen parachuted onto the icecap before their lengthwise traverse several years ago, so it is possible and proven so. Though what is possible for those two guys is not necessarily possible for anyone else on earth.

I share some of your doubts over Neil's plan, but if it's crap he'll find out soon enough for himself

D

In reply to Neil Coker: Experienced skydiver and climber (short and big wall) though most of it in good conditions, alpine experience too.
How much and all the rest of it????

Just to quash the sceptics. we are currently negotiating with a couple of companies for the aircraft, one uses hercules and the other antonov's. the loads will be dropped on structural pallets in the same way as aid resupply drops and the pulks will be be protected. most of us already have parachuting experience and those that don't are earmarked with the rest of the team for some intensive training. your point about the mountains in the west seem to indicate you know exactly where we are going which is more than we have decided yet. in association with a number of institutes who are assisting us with expedition reports, data, maps, air phot's, etc we are receiving a lot of support from people who have extensive polar experience. this will aid us in selecting the best location to finish the trip. boat extractions are not logistically impossible and once again at least half of the team have experience in this particular operation. subjective and productive advice is always welcome, even negative responses are worthwhile if they help us avoid potential problems and risks, just for the record most of us have extensive expedition experience in a variety of other types of environments, we are all keen to gain experience in an extreme cold weather environment and thus want this trip to succeed. sailing to norway isn't to gain experience on a boat extraction but rather because it is FREE! the skipper has generously donated the use of his yacht. the reason we chose Norway for our shakedown trip is because it was recommended repeatedly by those with far more experience than us. and we also have training trips planned for winter in scotland. the university is using us as i have been a part-time student there for the last 6 years. if you don't ask then you don't get!

In reply to Neil Coker:

The pulks should be fine, but what do you do with the pallets once on-deck ?

If you fly and conditions are no good to jump, do you have insurance or funds for a second flight ?

D

In reply to Neil Coker: how much climbing gear are you going to haul across the ice cap? are you hauling your parachuting kit as well or are you dumping it? The pack ice point from martin is a good one, also you would probably be better going to real arctic norway for training rather than hardanger, somewhere in the tromso vicinity in winter for example, another good training idea would be to haul fully loaded sledges from the coire cas car park over the plateau to derry lodge (cairngorms) in very bad weather.

In reply to Neil Coker:
Have you asked the DPC for permission to jump? (As you know, without the OK from DPC, the whole thing is a non-starter.)
Why not just hire a local chopper instead of facing the expense of flying a Herc in from out-country?
Are there any mountains on the west coast?
You say you want extreme cold experience: but unless you go to the far north, you won't experience extreme cold on the ice-cap - in your tent when the sun is high the temperature will often be above freezing (so you can dry your kit) and it might get down to near minus 20 for a short time on some occasions, but in the far north in April it's minus 20 all the time and well below that in the dark, so there's no chance of drying kit and keeping warm without burning gallons of paraffin, which is what the locals do.

am getting some excellent responses here, keep them coming. as we are fairly flexible in the final selection of the routes, etc we appreciate any advice offered.

am still setting up the initial costs plan for submitting to potential sponsors. the two air charter companies are identifying the insurance costs, abortive costs, etc as we speak and they should be submitting them within the week. i will know then.we are currently putting all of the relevant applications together for the DPC and hope that it meets with a positive response. as there is both adventurous and scientific merit to the trip and there is a precedence for the things we hope to do we are very hopeful for a successful application.