The WindSled Expedition, driven by aeolian energy, is now a month old on the ice in the interior of Greenland, where they arrived on May 3rd. They are performing the First Circumnavigation of Greenland in history through its interior.
During the last week, and until today, the wind has not favored them and they have advanced only 124 mi (200 km) in five days. In total, they have already traveled more than 1,367 mi (2,200 km) powered only by kites, ranging from 54 sq ft to 861 sq ft, and so, they are capable of moving a ton and a half of weight.
“We were in an area of very changeable winds that made navigation difficult. Northeast Greenland is one of the least known places on Earth and forecasts are not always correct. Dragging this weight is complicated in these conditions, so we’ve made very little progress. We take continuous surveillance turns when the intensity increases a little…”, the polar explorer and expedition leader Ramón Larramendi said. ” We feel trapped in dead calm, as we say, and which we hope has been overcome.”
The idea of embarking on this expedition is the result of the adventurous spirit of Larramendi, which adds to his efforts to prove that the sled is an efficient wind vehicle even in the most difficult areas. “It’s an interior route that no one else has done before us and moving in complete autonomy by the wind. I wanted to test the WindSled under different weather conditions, such as those we are encountering, but also overcome the geographical challenge of covering 3,107 mi 5,000 km) navigating the ice,” commented the promoter of this adventure which is sponsored by Tasermiut South Greenland Expeditions.
Before the team composed by Larramendi, Karin Moe Bojsen, Hugo Svensson, Manuel Olivera and Eusebio Beamonte, began this project, only two other explorers had circumnavigated the Arctic island with clean transportation (the North American, Lonney Dupre and the Australian, John Hoelscher by dog sled and kayak). It took them five years to complete the tour of the coast (1997-2001).
This expedition expects completion in no more than sixty days. Nobody has achieved anything similar beforehand.
For now, the expeditionary have enough food to prolong the time that had been initially proposed. Fuel as well (for the stove to heat food and melt snow to drink).
“We have installed a routine which is to strictly follow the two nine-hour shifts, either navigating or as lookouts. The dead hours are spent reading, listening to The Killers music, writing or taking walks in this bleak white world. The temperature, as we move towards the south and away from the North Pole is warmer. We also continue experimenting with snow, as part of everyday life, ” says the engineer Manuel Olivera, responsible for collecting data for the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, CSIC.
So far in the month of travel, they have found no footprints in the snow of any other living being. Only a few birds have hovered above or between the sled’s kites.