Day 49

A good call to stop last night. The ground in front of us is once again split with crevasses running perpendicular to our path. It’s hard to describe the surreal terrain we face, apart from to suggest it resembles the icing peaks on a wedding cake. Odd peaks of ice 8 -10 ft high split by winding channels and long crevasses. The day started as it meant to go on and embodied the VUCA nature of Greenland terrain — Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. It gives the illusion of progress but quickly starts pushing us east again. Even the drone is perhaps a double-edged sword, showing us what appear to be potential routes around the worst of the complex terrain, that quickly turn out to have their own challenges. We try skis on, skis off and a combination of the two. The skis help prevent us breaking through the ice into the meltwater channels and are more efficient on flattish ground but can be difficult trying to repeatedly climb the steep sides of the channels. After 13 hours of hard graft, at 2100hrs we are once again sitting in the fog, stuck in another crevasse field, with no obvious way forward. Finally, we call a halt to a frustrating day and make camp surrounded by strange ice pinnacles. I’m convinced we are overthinking the problem a little and need to resort to ‘route one’ in order to make progress in the right direction.

Josh reminded us all of a Joseph Cossman quote: “The difference between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.” So, we sleep and hope the following day will bring better progress.