Getting closer to land
Published on 23.05.2011 - Climate Neutral Pole 2 Pole
After having decided to change route and to point Ward Hunt instead of the northern coast of Greenland, team Nilson / Kippenes is slowly approaching land.
There were definitively too many open waters and leads on the itinerary Nilson and Kippenes were following to reach North Greenland. "We have been recommended by our safety manager and our meteorologist", writes Nilson on 19 May, "that the area between us and the northern coast of Greenland has too many open waters and leads. That makes it very unpredictable and very unlikely that we will be able to go with our skis and sleds along the planned route.... Therefore we are working hard on reaching land but on the Canadian side...."
For the moment, team has only nine days food left. In addition, they start to be very very tired : "We have to be very careful not to make any mistakes or injure oneself because we are getting more and more tired", wrote Nilson on 21 May "The days are long but we work hard and we focus on getting towards land and to be safe. Oohh, almost 50 days on the ice now...."
Of course, with approaching the coast, Nilson and Kippenes have to face new difficulties, the belt of roten ices that always stetch in front of the Greenland and Canadian coasts. That is due to the ice drift that pushes almost all the time the ice pack towards the lands.
