X'GREENLAND ICECAP FALL 2026
Updated: 1 day ago
Follow Genevieve, Angus, Lucas, Karolina, and Rhys as they tackle the Greenland Inland Icecap this fall season.
Read to the end to see the stunning photos from the last day...
DAY -1, Tasiilaq, East Greenland
Hi everybody following this trip š After an array of delays on the flights into Kulusuk Airport on the eastern coast of Greenland, the team has finally united in Tasiilaq. Ironically, Lucas was the first to arrive despite being the one who was supposed to join last, while Genny, Karolina, and Rhys got in later in the evening.
Team-gelling started with jokes around the dinner table, bringing spirits high as we set ourselves a jam-packed day of preparations tomorrow (Friday) as we try to stick with Saturday's planned departure. Weāll keep you posted, but the plan is to take the scenic boat ride from Tasiilaq over to the starting point close to the hunting and fishing village, Isortoq, as early as possible on Saturday. Then, we will carry everything onto the ice. Ready to go.
Stay tuned!
DAY 3, A Foggy affair
Today was a bit of a battle. We faced tricky ice terrain, with fewer crevasses but lots of mounds, ridges, and rivers to cross. At times, we just had to stop and carry each sled over one by one as a team.
The day started off cloudy but soon became foggy, limiting our visibility to 30 m. This made picking the easiest line much more difficult. Still, we kept moving continuously, making progress. With Rhys's dry one-liners, Karolina's riddles, Gennyās sunny personality, and Lucasās and my TV quotes, we laughed ourselves through the day.
Angus
DAY 4, A brilliant day
A glorious day to be on the ice! Waking up in the morning to blue skies and complete sunshine was perfect for drying everything from our river crossings yesterday and all my wet clothes from my little stint in the crevasse during the mission to rescue fuel.
The day started well with pretty nice ice terrain before eventually hitting a tricky section. All challenges were taken with such a positive attitude. The number of times we all stopped to take in the scenery around us with amazement was incredible. After the tricky bumpy section, we were blessed with a nice flat section before a final hill to end the day that made us look forward to our tents.
Angus
DAY 5, Another brilliant day
The first half of the day was a battle through tricky terrain as we zigzagged between ice ridges over a metre high. It felt endless, just like it has on other days.
We kept plugging away, little by little, until we eventually broke free. The rest of the day, we were blessed with much flatter ice and were able to pick a line that avoided nearly all crevasses that were going perpendicular to our course. As we continued, we had a slight heading change, and with a change in the direction of the crevasses, we were soon travelling in between them until we finally broke free.
Our next challenge was arriving at a massive river system, which was unbelievably beautiful but impassable. We started to journey upstream until it was time to set up camp. Finding a path through this will now be tomorrow morning's problem. For now, we spent the evening sitting in the sun, taking in the views.
Angus
DAY 6, Guess what? A brilliant day
This morning, we tackled the rivers, working as a team to get sleds over each river. Once over, we waded through marshy ice before tackling the hill. The general trend is better and better conditions.
By the end of the day, we were even walking on snow, even if it was very wet. We hope to start tomorrow on skis, hoping the cold night will refreeze the snow and give us good conditions.
Angus
DAY 7, Finally skiiiiiing!
Skis are on! We started the day on our skis and werenāt we happy about it. Blessed with incredible weather again, we could see ominous-looking clouds hugging the coast, but fortunately, it was another beautiful day on the ice field.
We had a strong northern wind to start the day that weakened as the day went on. Our first challenge for the morning was navigating some tricky crevasses that hampered our progress. Once clear, it was time to change our heading. No longer heading north, we set our sights west to DYE 2. We said goodbye to our last view of land, only for the surrounding mountain tops to reappear as we gained height. Ahead of us, only white. Lucas asked how far to the top of that hill. I said 150 km or so. He thought I was joking...
Angus
DAY 8, The perfect day
Fabulous day on the ice. So far, I had been navigating us through the eastern ice fall, but now that we are up on the plateau, it was time for me to take a break and sit at the back of the pack. Lucas was the first volunteer to be chief navigator and timekeeper for the next few days and performed the task to perfection.
50 minutes on, 10-minute break for 10 times in a row. With perfect snow conditions and a weakening wind from the north in amazing sunshine, it was a breathtaking day to be on the plateau. We said goodbye to land for the last time about five times today as the peaks kept disappearing and reappearing as we continued to slowly climb up.
10 hours later, it was time to call it a day, but with 19.8 km completed, they couldnāt help themselves and continued on that last 200 m.
Angus
DAY 9, Escaping the weather
The joke today was what to write in the diary, as we had perfect weather, perfect snow conditions, and all we could see was white. Rhys was very happy when he calibrated his watch and realised we were 400 m higher up than he thought. A flock of birds flew past in the distance. I wonder if that is the last thing we see until DYE 2.
Lucas guided us through another 20 km today. We could see bad weather systems east and south of us in the distance, so we are grateful for yesterdayās performance, which allowed us to climb high enough to miss all the snow.
Angus
DAY 10, Sunny Side Up
Another perfect weather day on the ice field for us. It was a cold morning with a strong northern wind that died during the day, leaving us sweltering in the sun by the end. It was Rhys's turn today for navigation. Everyone gets a GPS backup so they can check if they are drifting off course while following the compass. It turned off for 40 minutes, and at the next break, when we set it back up, Rhys was bang on the right line.
Slightly heavier legs today as we continued to climb up the glacier, but we still managed another 18 km towards DYE 2.
Angus
DAY 11, Half Day
The thermometer read -12 degrees this morning, but with a strong northern wind, the "feels like" temperature was definitely below -20. As the day went on, the wind died down. Due to an easier day, we decided to avoid the hotter afternoon and do a half day. We still clocked in 12 km and spent the rest of the day reorganising the sleds and drying anything that needed it. All ready for another day at it tomorrow.
Angus
DAY 12, Magic
Another magical day on the ice. It was a cold morning with the thermometer reading -15, but with less wind than the other mornings, there was less chill on the face. Genny took the wheel for navigating the morning stint and quickly got the hang of it. We completed another 10-hour day on skis, travelling another 19 km towards our destination.
Angus
DAY 13, and Above 2000 m
We keep counting our blessings as we continue to have perfect weather. The thermometer read -17 degrees when we woke up this morning, but by the time we set off two hours later, it was a warm -7. We pushed on, covering another 19 km towards DYE 2, and we crossed the 2,000 m mark as we continue to approach the summit. Each day now, we climb less and less.
Karolina, who was nervous about navigating, stepped up for the afternoon shift today and reached perfection instantaneously.
Angus
DAY 14
Another 20 km down, and we end the day just over 200 km from DYE 2. Itās crazy to think we have now finished our first two weeks of the expedition. With some slightly tired legs, we are going to spend two extra hours in bed before getting right back at it tomorrow. Current altitude: 2,170 m, four days from the summit.
Angus
DAY 15
We are increasingly feeling the strain of breaking snow trail each day as we continue to climb towards the summit. So far, we have been doing stints of half days at the front, but with more powder to break through, we will need to start thinking about shorter legs at the front to allow more time to recover.
Lucas and Rhys took turns at the front today, paving the way for us behind. We did eight legs today, allowing for a bit of a slower (extra sleep) morning. But tomorrow, we are back to our 10-hour routine. It was sunny all day today, but a strong cold wind didnāt ease up throughout the day.
Angus
DAY 16 - Diary
Angus made the mistake of informing the team that we're allowed to contribute diary entries, so, my dear reader, you are stuck with me (Lucas) for at least today.
Despite poor visibility to start the day, we managed to cut a fairly straight line across the Ice Cap's surface. The cutting itselfāthe joint task of navigating and breaking trailāwas made all the more arduous today, courtesy of 5-15 cm of thinly crusted powder. Eventually, the clouds receded to the horizon, blurring the boundary between ice and the otherwise clear, azure sky.
The team's list of ailments has grown by only a small margin today, as Angus now sports a sunburnt nose. It is a small price to pay for his herculean effort to navigate for four of the day's ten legs. For my part, Angus requested that, because of my "steady pace" (his words, not mine!), I stay in the number two position, giving the navigator a frame of reference for pacing. That left me with seven legs at the two, two at the one, and then I finally cracked under the pressure and opted for a more leisurely position at the rear for the final leg.
The final leg, led by Ryce, started with a splash. Ever ready to lighten the mood, Ryce did his best Vincent Colliard (or was it Usain Bolt?) impression and started sprinting towards DYE 2. Perhaps predictably, five meters later, his poles and skis were all four in the air. Everyone cheered and laughed. A quick 50 minutes later, we were at camp.
Nearly 20 kmāgood day.
P.S. Everyone agrees: A one-minute hot shower and ten chicken fingers would be preferable to a ten-minute shower and one chicken finger. More tomorrow.
DAY 16 - To the King
The team was saddened by the passing of the King of Norway. We express our condolences to all of our Norwegian brothers and sisters, our teammate Karolina first among them. King Harald stood for inclusion, calmness, resolve, and a great smile. He showed enormous ability to adapt and "change with the wind." These are values that are not only applicable to society but also hugely important for our little team striving to cross the Greenland Icecap.
The Norwegian Kings have always been invaluable supporters of exploration, and we take great pride in the fact that King Haakon VIII crossed the Greenland Icecap himself. We wish him all the best from the bottom of our hearts at the ice.
Karolina Sundby Norway, Rhys Harding Australia, Genevieve Brown Aruba, Lucas Alexander Czarnecki USA, Angus Staples UK
DAY 17 - Whiteout
During the brief night, we were beset on all sides by a whiteout of satisfying density. We could easily identify each other but very little else. For a few moments, one could observe through darkened goggles the faintest hint of a horizon.
The dizzying and disorienting effects of the whiteout, combined with our uphill trajectory, created the intimidating illusion that we were climbing a hill without end. But before you start to pity us, remember Camus: "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." Plus, checking Ryce's and Angus's altimeters quickly put that concern to rest.
We camp now just one day from the summit, tantalisingly close to the one word that has kept our spirits high... downhill. The day was socially quiet, with one notable exception: Angus delivered a rousing speech as we prepared for our tenth and final leg. The speech could be summarised best by its concluding line: "We are winning!"
19 kmāa great gain, especially considering the slightly serpentine path we took through the obscurity.
Lucas
DAY 18
What a glorious morning to rise atop the ice cap! A gleaming moon hung above our camp as a tunnel of fog-bows fled to the west. At -28Ā°C, we had to fill our jacket pockets with frozen cheese and meat like a group of Arctic smugglers.
The heaviest powder underfoot to date meant we broke trail in one-hour shifts. We also encountered our first hallucinations of the trip, as we spied what moved like a large black ice serpent. We couldnāt believe our eyes. But upon further inspection from the zoom of a camera, it was a low-flying flock of birds! Incredible. Our first sight of life in two weeks.
We finished the day just 13 m shy of the ice cap summit, which we will hit tomorrow!
Rhys
DAY 19 - Summit Camp
Camping at the summit of the Inland Ice is special. Here, we are not only 2500 m above sea level, but we are also as far away from other humans and infrastructure as possible! If there is one place to savour, it is here.
With the eastern side of Greenland behind us, the western side awaits. It is also a clear weather divider with distinct differences. In a day or two, the wind will shift from headwinds to tailwinds. There is no more uphill, and the first (and only) sign of human existence awaits about five days ahead: DYE II.
This relic from the Cold War looks like an oil platform with a huge, white radar mushroom on top. Until 1986, it was manned and an important part of the early-warning systems the Americans built to protect against the Russians. Then, it was suddenly abandoned as satellites did the job better.
Today, it sits like a dead relic. Itās a reminder of the pastāhorrible, yet intriguing. A visit is a spooky little adventure in itself. In spring, itās a busy place with a snow runway used to train Hercules planes with skis. In fall, no one is there.
Letās go west!
DAY 20 - Cayente Cavente!
Hello and con ta bay from a very sunny Greenland! Today's diary entry comes from the Caribbean member of the team, hence the little dashes of Papiamento, Aruba's official language.
The first couple of hours of skiing this morning were foggy yet delightful. We started to pick up speed, leaving the summit behind us after 19 days of slow climbing. About six hours into the day, the sun burst forth in all her glory.
Let me tell you, Greenland doesnāt do things by halves when it comes to weather. Soon, we were stripping down to our base layers like we were about to take a dip in Eagle Beach! It was so warm I actually skied gloveless, which is crazy for any Aruban!
Skiing in those hot conditions was challenging, yet the team smashed out a record 24 km in 10 hours! To celebrate a great day, please dig out your most outrageous carnival-themed hat, form a conga line, and dance the night away to "olĆ©, olĆ©, olĆ©, olĆ©; feeling hot hot hot.ā
Genny
DAY 21 - 3 Weeks In
We skied 22.5 km today, sitting less than 70 km from DYE 2. Last night, we hit a new low temperature of -36 degrees. Thatās cold, making it harder to get out of the sleeping bag today.
We were blessed by two flocks of birds flying past us as we continued in beautiful sunshine and no wind. We are good. Hugs from Greenland.
- Karolina
DAY 22 - 44 km from DYE II
My talent for maintaining pace with quartz-like precision has earned me a semi-permanent post as the #2 in our tidy little caravan. From this vantage point, the day can be divided into three parts, depending on who is breaking trail:
Angus:Ā The next time I visit England, I want to stop by the laboratory where Angus was born and bred. Every time I think I'm pushing hard, he shifts to another gear. Angus breaks trail with a ferocious forward posture and active, clawing arms. As the guide, he adjusts his pace based on those behind me. For him, my steady pace is merely a suggestion. (No, I donāt take offense to this.)
Karolina:Ā The concept of a "hover pulk," which has made multiple appearances in our constant game of "Would You Rather," is lost on Karolina. No matter what, I canāt seem to transplant the idea from my head to hers. However, she doesnāt seem to need a hover pulk. She glides effortlessly. With a deceptively upright posture and limbs that sometimes look like theyāre along for the ride, youād be forgiven for thinking Karolina was under-pace. Of course, youād never think that, because your own body would be sweating and struggling to keep up with her.
Ryce:Ā Ryce knows a magic trick. I donāt know how he does it, but I will do my best to describe it. One second, heās right in front of you, chatting about the stark beauty of the terrain or how excited he is for brunch back home. The next second, heās gone. Missing. You look around and notice a shadowy, man-shaped silhouette in the distance. Could it be Ryce? Thereās a straight pulk track connecting the two, but how? Perhaps itās his size or the fact that he doesnāt use ski poles, but I can only assume he has secretly built rocket skis or a hover pulk when no one was watching.
25 km behind these three today makes me proud to be #2.
Lucas
DAY 23 - DYE in Sight
Itās nice to think that things have a preferred way of being. For example, a soup spoon is happiest after scooping heaps of chicken noodle or tomato bisque. It doesnāt enjoy serving mousse or cake; thatās the dessert spoon's job.
Our skis, representing over a century of polar travel innovation, have been increasingly disgruntled. I canāt blame them. For the first six days, they were strapped helplessly to our pulks. The next 16 days, they participated, but not quite as skis. They acted more like long, thin snowshoes, trudging rather than skiing.
These skis were made to glide over ice and blast through sastrugi. For the first 22 days, this expedition must have felt like a cruel punishment to them. One of Angus's skis even cracked out of protest. Given what we've asked them to do, I canāt help but sympathise.
Then this morning, as if our skis knew their time had finally arrived, all ten bindings snapped eagerly into place. We began to soar. Our skis grinned ear to ear as they carried us to a record 30 km. More importantly, theyāve brought us within sight of DYE 2.
Forget your compass and turn off your GPS. Since approximately 16:33, we have been able to ski directly towards that beautiful little black blip on the horizon. We should arrive in the early afternoon tomorrow.
From the weather desk: The day started with a whiteout that hampered neither our pace nor our morale. Just before the sun restored visibility, our perseverance was rewarded with a fog-bow. It was eerie and awe-inspiring to gaze up at the blurry, colourful megastructure, especially with so little else visible.
DAY 24 Sightseeing at DYE II
Angus
With our great progress over the last few days it meant we arrived at DYE 2 early in the afternoon. Which left us plenty of time to explore. For me the highlight was going through the different names on the walls of the people who have crossed the Ice Cap before us and seeing the names of the people I have crossed paths with over the years who have told me their stories of their crossings. Now there are 5 more proud names amongst them.
Karolina
Dye 2 was cool. It was nice to do something else than skiing.
RhysĀ
High and Low of the day:
Exploring Dye 2 and catching a 10min nap on a creepy old mattress
Low: finding all the abandoned beer in the bar area frozen or exploded.
Lucas
On a desk in a torn-apart room, stuffed between a stack of microfilm and a manual for some other old technology, I found a little slice of my life outside expeditions: Two sheets of dry transfer lettering. More specifically, two sheets of Futura Extra Bold 120pt in blue. A beautiful sight for a typophile like me.
GennyĀ
Today I had the absolute honour of being the one to break trail as we ski'd into the
DYE Il complex. What a phenomenal experience that was! The building itself is surprisingly robust and it felt like stepping into an odd cold war time capsule. I tried to imagine it in its hay day, what must it have been like to live and work here?!
The living quarters and kitchens were fascinating! Uniforms still hanging in closets and boxes of cake mix and eggs just left there, as if they thought they might be back!
This will go down in my top 10 list of life experiences!
DAY 25
Angus:
Today started in white-out for the first 2-3 hours. The team battled on but were hindered by difficult snow conditions until about half way through the day.
The second half of the day we pulled together to try and keep good progress.
Despite todayās challenges we still hit 27kms and will look to push on tomorrow in some hopeful more favourable conditions.
Spirits are high as we look to enter our last week of the expedition and the challenges it will bring.
Lucus:
I have been informed that my journal entries are not only too long but also too poetic. Since i am not only receptive but also spiteful, today you get a haikue
Day eight, counting downl
So much ice behind us now
Focus, Not done yet.
DAY 26 - first frozen lake
Today we had perfect conditions on all fronts. A gentle breeze from behind, a warm sun and good snow conditions.
We hit the 30km in a day mark for the second time this expedition and right when we needed to. The landscape on the glacier has already started to change as we crossed our first frozen lakes and frozen rivers. Hopefully they continue to stay frozen as we decrease in altitude.
We go again in the morning.
- Angus
DAY 27 - whiteout
A tough day in the office for us today as we battled with on and off white out all day.
With stand out performances from Lucas and Karolina to lead us through the second half of the day in very challenging conditions.
We had one big river crossing today, luckily still very frozen and snow covered but the dip in the glacier surface represented a half pipe. So we had some graceful descents into the bowl and some not so graceful, before working together to pull the sleds up the other side.
Another 29kms ticked off.
Angus
DAY 28
Today we skied in Minion Party hats curtsy of Karolina. The occasion; Gennys birthday and what a place to celebrate it. We had sun all day today but easy terrain not.
The standout performance of the day was Rhys who navigated/broke trail today for 5 hours straight through some tricky frozen river systems.
After getting us through it flattened out and he passed the batton on to Lucas and Karolina so who split the remaining 3 legs.
It certainly did not stay flat and the last two legs were the bumpiest of the trip so far until Lucas managed to get us on to a big frozen river and we saw the last part of the day in perfect ski conditions.
Angus
DAY 29 Into the upper Icefall
If the river bed we ended the day on yesterday was a motorway then what we had after it could be described as the E6. Allowing us great progress through the morning.
The day was not without its problems with Lucas and I who both have the heaviest sleds and both having troubles with our short skins not sticking to the bottom of our skies. After 4 weeks who would have thought they would give up so close to the end?
Nevertheless we battled on over some tricky terrain before zig zagging through crevasses.
The highlight of the day had to be the distant sign of mountains on the horizon that disappeared as we descended another hill. Another 26kms closer with about 54kms )š«£ š„¶š¤„) to go.
Angus
DAY 30
We enjoyed probably our last perfect weather day on the ice field today as the weather gods continue to spoil us. Sun all day and the wind in our backs.
The first two hours went very smoothly until we were stopped dead in our tracks. A frozen river in front of us with the opposite bank about 3m tall. We skied upstream until we got to a lake from there we could go around. Our next challenge was crisscross crevasse field that had us feel like we made no progress in 2 hours but nonetheless we pushed on through and found a route out. We were then rewarded with a beautiful descent.
Now we find ourselves camping roughly 32kms from the end (28.6kms as the crow flies) surrounded by crevasses and bumpy terrain. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset across the ice cap as we prepare ourselves for our last few days push to the end.
Angus
DAY 31 - into the Lower Icefall
A heroic day by the team today. We started the day making slow progress as we navigated ourselves out a crevasse field and then around a water system.
When you think of the greatest navigators in our time you may think of Sir James Cook or maybe Nansen himself. Today Rhys put a case for himself to be in that list. As we got deeper into the icefall and the bumps god bigger Rhys stepped up to navigate us through. I was at the back and him at the front and if I looked in any direction there was an endless maze of bump after bump. But somehow between Rhys and I there was a surprisingly flat line. As Lucas put it we canāt tell if he had a freakish talent of finding a line or if he himself was parting the ice like Moses. In this some of the worst terrain we had we were putting in km/h we would have been proud of on the plateau.
The team eager to push on decided to do two extra legs, with the hard working paying off. We now sit 10kms away from the end of the glacier but with the hardest terrain yet to come.
Angus
DAY 32 - They did it!
They reached land around 18:30 last night after a stunner ogf a last leg. Their intent was to get in and they delivered.
What happened next was a bit unclear to us, but they came in too late for the pickup truck to come out, but it seems Luces managed to find a taxi that brought them back to showerland. Then they will go back out in the morning to get all their stuff.
We will get in a last diery later today. But first of huge congratulations to the whole team!
DAY 32 - how it really happend
It is official the most attractive team to ever step on the Greenland Ice Cap has made it across. The alarm was set for 5:30 and stoves were packed away the night before as we prepared for our hardest day of the whole trip.
The team would like to report that it is true the last day is definitely the hardest. It started off ok as we made good progress over the first few kms with jokes being made 'ah we will be done by lunch'.
Eventually the terrain worsened and it seemed like all hope was lost until a frozen river appeared out of nowhere and not only allowed us good progress for a few hundred meters but also delivered us to a place of much better terrain.
This continued us on to approaching āthe cruxā just as the rain started to fall. Still with good visibility we managed to find a line that left it almost anticlimactic. Very apt at this point I received a text from Sindre saying you are not done yet and he was not wrong, what followed was one of the hardest sections of our trip. Progress slowed and maybe even hope a little but still we pushed on, 200m later and our whole perception changed as we were on top looking down and looking at land.
1.6kms left and terrain that looked unbelievably attractive. We descended down the last point of the glacier and 12 hours after setting off we had arrived at point 660 and got to land on the western side of the glacier, we had done it. We all took a moment to realise what we had done, and the what we had achieved.
We had two problems left, one carrying everything up to the road and two it was too late for a bus/van to pick us up and our stuff.
Four of us, probably the sensible realists of the group, started to set up camp and emptying water from our sleds. But one of us was a dreamer and dreamers can be powerful people.
Lucas borrowed the Sat Phone and 5 phone calls later managed to book a taxi to get us at least to 'the town'.
Problem one solved - next is problem two.
And if by chance within 500m of us there was another camp up on the hill of the glacier. And what happened next was scene that any movie would have been proud of. Lucas walking back from this camp with half the danish army following in suit.
They were on an exercise and camping here on the ice for one night and Lucas has asked them to help carry everything up to which they agreed.
Lucasā friends call it Lucalopolis, I donāt know what to call it but it was a pleasure to see it in action. Just as us and the 25 soldiers arrived at the road the taxi arrived. The taxi took us into town and with a shortage of hotel rooms at the moment due to delayed flights we spent the night on mattresses on the floor of an old office in the airport hotel with the plan to go back and get the stuff in the morning.
What a journey and what a crazy end. Itās time to finally say it, we have won!
Angus