N78°01.673 W65°28.754 Elevation 5212 Feet

The winds started timidly late in the evening. We made dinner and decided to make a run for it as they came up. By the time we stepped outside, the condensation that had built inside the tent coated the outer walls with a white powdery frost. The sky was clear of clouds, and the low white sun cast a frigid light on the hard ice. It was one AM and cold! Stepping out of the cozy tent to face the bite of night travel always requires a mental adjustment. It doesn’t last long but a little apprehensive voice in the back of your mind would wish the wind to simply die down until the morning, so you could go back inside the warm sleeping bag and resume travel at a more civilized–and warmer–time! The moment you step out, however, that thought vanishes and commitment accounts for another small victory on the self. Besides, it is rarely as bad as you had made it to be.

We are progressively dropping in elevation, and as the day temperatures rise, the ice softens with moisture; when the cold of night sets in, the wetness hardens and the ice bonds into hard pack. No more powdered cotton clouds light airy snow: we are back to sustruge! While tougher on the joints, harder pack makes for faster travel. And tonight, we shot out of a cannon! The big kites would have been too much for the wind, but our angle of travel (practically downwind) made them smooth and very fast. A downwind tacks barely require to set the skis’ edges against the pull of the kite; in high winds, this means low pull for high velocity, and the skis literally glide over the ice! Adrenaline packed, this made for great travel.

Sitting on the sledge deliberating when to set up the tent. Again.

Clouds over the ice

N77°29.865 W61°12.009 Elevation 6305 Feet

One inescapable fact which I have long since come to terms with, and which is the deft reality of any outdoors enthusiast, is that you cannot get mad at the weather. In fact, while it can often test your resolve–and your patience–the weather is a sort of humbling supporting character in the unfolding play of your travels. On a kiting expedition, where wind is central to your success, weather takes on a starring role, but all the same–you cannot get mad at it for not showng up. Just as the wind had pinned us down in the tent for six days in the southern tip, so the lack of it–especially as time becomes pressing–can test us in the final phase of the expedition by forcing us to sit. And wait. Waiting for the wind, in kiting terms, is synonymous to kiting itself. Even in Greenland, reputable–at least in part–for its winds. Most challenging in this context is the unpredictable nature of our traveling schedule, which is a misnomer: there is no schedule; apart from a starting point, and a finishing one. And now of course, we are focused on the later. But the fact remains that we travel when the winds tell us it’s OK to do so. And sometimes–often–they change their mind.

N77°20.211 W60°10.444 Elevation 6494 Feet

We passed the two thousand kilometers mark today! To be exact, we have traveled a total of two thousand and thirty kilometers as of tonight. And to celebrate, we got it all: almost every possible condition summed up in one day.
The day started well. I had monitored the building winds early this morning and woke Eric up at 8. It looked as if our spell was subsiding, and our wishes answered: the winds were up. By 10AM, we were clipped into the harness with the big kites, in what was sure to be an overpowered session. We were headed almost straight downwind, however, and that creates less pull–once you get past the launch! Taking off is like getting shot out of a cannon, and with almost forty kilometers of wind, we were quick to reach fifty kilometers an hour speeds, even through the deep powder!