Route

Venturing through territory few humans have ever visited, our route will take us from Narsaq, on Greenland's southern Atlantic coast, to JP Kocks Fjord on Greenland's northern Arctic coast. We will then head west for the remote village of Qaanaq in north-west Greenland on the Baffin Sea where the expedition will end. A total distance of approximately 3500kms.

The expedition will have five distinct phases, each with its own challenges, as follows:

• Phase 1 – Narsaq to the ice cap.
  Probably the most physically demanding phase of the expedition – being dropped off by boat and hauling our 150kgs sleds up steep rocky moraines and crevassed glacier to reach the ice cap proper. This will take us 3-4 days from our provisional start date of 18 May.
  
  
• Phase 2 – Ice cap to the Arctic Circle.
  The first quarter of the total distance we have to cover will probably take us half the total time. This 600-700 kms of terrain will be the hardest phase of the expedition, due to the weight of our sleds, the uphill climb and the predominant head-on winds.
  
  
• Phase 3 – Ice cap, Arctic Circle to the Hensen Glacier.
  This will be the high mileage part of the expedition. Descending from approx 3,000mtrs to nearly sea level and with winds mostly behind us from the south/south east.
  
  
• Phase 4 – Hensen Glacier descent to JP Kocks Fjord and return.
  On reaching the point where the glacier descends to the fjord, we will cache our sleds, mount backpacks, crampons, and sleeping equipment and hike down the glacier to reach the sea. We have little idea how long this will take, because the terrain is completely unknown - only a few people in history ever having visited the area.
  
  
• Phase 5 – Ice cap, Hensen Glacier to Qaanaq.
  We now take a different tack and head west to the village of Qaanaq in NW Greenland, with the winds hitting us from our left side from the south/south-west. Although this is the final stage, it is still a distance of over 800kms on ground/ice that has never been covered by kite before. The final few kilometres will see us descending off the ice cap over the glaciers and moraines to reach Qaanaq.