The tent shook violently all night. Outside the storm rages on for the second consecutive day, flying wet snow drift and piling it on the side walls of the tent. Twice this morning, we felt that the storm would let out enough to enable us to get on our way. But the prevailing white out delayed our departure. And twice the wind quickly strengthened again to full out blizzard with gusts reaching seventy miles per hour!
Not surprisingly, we are pinned down again in the tent for what now amounts to 48 hours. And what feels like a week since our first and last kiting day.
Upon stepping out of the tent, the forces of nature really makes one feel small. Frost builds out sideways on the lines of the tent, and the drift sticks to the outerwear, caking up in a layer of white. Goggles are also rapidly made obsolete from the wet snow obstructing most visibility. The mean temperature wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the nasty wind-chill. In all, being outside quickly loses its charm but for a short lived experiment (very short) or clearing the snow drift trapping the sledges before the snow turns to ice…
It is difficult not to admire the design ingenuity of the sum of nylon cloth, four poles and a few lines to anchor them, which together amount to an oasis of relative tranquility amidst such external chaos. With nothing but wind and ice surrounding us in all direction, inside that little red dot which is our Hilldeberg tent, you can still find a mean cup of tea! It does say a lot about Man ability to survive in the most hostile environments.
The southern Greenland storms can be unrelenting and last for days. Let’s pray this isn’t one of them…
Our position is therefore still at N62°20.392′ W46°48.596′ and 7030 feet in elevation.

We have been pinned down in the tent all day, as a nasty storm is raging outside. We woke up to the tent flapping pretty severely but thought little of it, other than the prospect of putting miles behind us on the smaller kites. Erring on the side of caution, we decided to wait and see how the system would develop. Within an hour, the winds had intensified gusting to sixty plus miles per hour. The spin drift would soon cover the sledges and the side of the tent, giving a whole new dimension to bathroom duties! Upon stepping out, the force of the gusts makes walking on the hardened ice precariously slippery. Besides, the drifting wet snow will quickly make a walking snowman out of you. That and the hazardous wind-chill makes for a better choice inside! Here however, the tent walls are flapping with such force that air displacement inside generates its own internal wind system! If this were a movie set, I would imagine technicians hitting the walls of the tent all full force with tennis rackets, while blowing ritter fans from all directions! Eric and I play chess, read and rest. This hasn’t let up all day. As the light drops and the temperatures with it, this should make for a rock’n’roll night! These southern Greenland storm can pack a punch and last a few days. My concern is that once the system blows over, it could well be followed by dead calm–and thus no wind. Then we’d back to the baker oven… Wait: whose idea was this?