In Iceland!

Hi Everybody,

Thank you so so much to all of you for your amazing support throughout my expedition and also for so many lovely messages congratulating me on successfully completing the crossing. It was an truly unforgettable adventure and although it was incredibly tough at times and I seriously questioned my sanity over embarking on such a project.... I am so glad I did it.

It taught me that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want. Somehow your body will find the physical resources to do it.

Many times I believed that I was at the end of my strength and could not go further. But then, one look at my 2 guides was enough to pull myself out of any negative thought. We were a team and I had to keep going because I also knew how much this meant for them. For example, when after the second evening that I did not touch my meal as I was so tired and I really reached rock-bottom, they turned around and told me that if we wanted to cross Greenland, I HAD to eat, I understood that this expedition was not only about myself and my goals, but that I was jeopardising their expedition too, and I could not do this to them. And right there and then, I had the full justification for supporting "Right to Play"!! Team spirit was my motivation, it made me find the strength and gave me the confidence I needed, and now we are three great friends!

It is also amazing how much thinking about happy lovely memories made the going easy and the hours go fast, and how negative thoughts or anger always slowed me down and brought self-doubt. And we had a lot of time to think, so I trained my mind to think positively. I thought about my lovely friends, their messages, music, letters, presents and sponsoring, and all the people reading this blog. I thought also about the great charities that I am helping and the wonderful work that they do with children. I thought about my family, my children, Klaus, my parents, my siblings, realising how their full support for this project had made it so much fun to plan and organise. Any of them could have easily spoilt my enthusiasm by giving me some bad conscience and make me feel irresponsible to be quasi unreachable for a month, but instead they encouraged me. And I cannot put into words how grateful I am to them and how much this means to me, because it gave me the possibility to do what I am passionate about, which is to help give some children in the world, a chance for a better and brighter future.

Re-reading this blog entry makes me realise that my re-entry into my "normal" life will be probably a bit difficult as I have so many thoughts and emotions to digest!! So please be patient with me! I will try to do my best to keep the blog alive by adding pictures and more thoughts!

Here are some pictures and hopefully more will follow:

pulling my sleds on the ice cap

Congratulations Sabine from your Norwegian Friend

So impressed was one of Sabine's friends when they heard that she had just completed her incredible challenge ski-ing 550km across the Arctic Circle, that Children in Crisis and Right to Play have just received an incredible £5000 offline donation in sponsorship of our Extreme Mother.

If you would like to sponsor Sabine, please go to her Virgin Money Giving fundraising page now: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/sabinediederichs  

Extreme Mother - Finishes her challenge of a lifetime

I have just received a text message from Sabine.  Her first to me in 22 days!

Sabine and her guides completed their challenge last night at 7pm Greenland time!! She is OVER THE MOON!!!

The challenge was very hard right up until the very end.  But they managed to hitch a ride back to Isortok from a local - Greenland style this involved them being pulled acrossed the frozen fjord behind 10 dogs. Absolutely terrifying as Sabine could here the ice cracking beneath their weight, and see the water moving beneath them...

The team's next challenge is to get back home as the only way from the east coast of Greenland is via Iceland and the rather large volcanic ash cloud (or of course to turn back the way they have just come - though I do not think Sabine will be up for that idea!!).

I would like to wish Sabine and her guides a HUGE congratulations from everyone at Children in Crisis and Right To Play - she truly is one incredible and extreme mother!

Day 20 - Nearly at Isortok...

Again very cold wind from the North and the sky is cloudy this morning. So we start well covered up but at least the snow is cold and holding so the going is easier. For the first 3 hours, the conditions are stable, but by the 4th hour, the wind has died and it is hot. The weather is really unpredictable in Greenland. However as soon as we takwe our jackets off, the wind starts blowing again from the ... South!! But soon it abates too and again it is really warm. The snow melts and sticks to our half skins. This drives me crazy as at the same time, I have some problems with one of my shoe which collects snow under its sole, making it very unstable and one of my sled keeps tipping due to bad loading.. I must say that I nearly lost the plot and was ready to cry. But in the end, I gathered myself, took off the half skins, reloaded the sled, and life was good again! After 10 hours, we set up
camp, and here we are, eating our freeze-dried food (veggie shepless pie, and mashed poptatoes.. Yum! Yum!).

In 2 days we should be in Isortok and I must admit that I can't wait. The last days have been very boring! 10 hours every day for 7 days, in the same landscape, just waiting for the mountains to appear and the downward slope to start. But we are going down, but so slowly that we don't feel it!! Never mind, tomorrow night we should
have our last camp just above the ice falls and it will be a change to see something else than this wide white barren expanse!

Day 19 - Leading the way across the white ice

Sunny but very windy and cold when we wake up this morning. The same north wind. We start due east and PT leads the first hour, followed by Patter. I lead for the third hour and it is so hard with these snow conditions. We have to go on a compass as all we can see is the white ice all around. I don't like compasses so I asked PT to put me on course and correct me if I deviate. But I manage to find marks on the snow, and a cloud here and there and manage quite well to keep a straight line. I am very happy when the 59 minutes are over.
As the weather is really quite unpredictable in Greenland, by the 4th hour, the wind has stopped and we are baking. We go on in our thermals, but even so we are feeling the heat. The weather stays nice for the rest of the day, and after 10 hours and another lead for me, we set up camp for the night.
We are 60 kms away from the ice falls and then it's a half day until Isortok (or so they say...). So fingers crossed we should finish on Sunday!!! What an incredible experience...

Norway's National Day!!

Very poor visibility today but no wind. We start again in this powder snow, and again our progress is slow and tough. I think that we won every step that we have done so far. We really should be going downhill by now, and feeling it, but no! We are working as hard as ever. Per-Thore and Petter take turns at the front again, and it is a long hard day. After 3 hours it starts to snow, then stops. A cold wind blows for a couple of hours, then stops, and like the last 2 days, the evening turns out to be beautiful with the sun coming out just in time to take some pictures and do some filming. We have done 32 kms in 10 hours, not bad due to the conditions!

It is Norway's national day today, so the boys have taken out their flag and are singing their national anthem while I film them. Then I conduct an interview of Petter as it is also his first Greenland crossing. PT refuses to be interviewed as long as there is no beer in front of him... (guess we'll have to wait until Isortok!)

It looks like the night is going to be very very cold as a cold wind has started to blow. We are freezing while having dinner and I change the Compeeds on my heels (a new blister has appeared...). Hopefully tomorrow morning the wind will have died, the sun will be out, the snow hard, and finally we will be going downhill and will be able to take off the half skins on our skis, and gliiiiiide!! (No big hope though....).

Day 15 and 16

Day 16

Blue sky today but really cold. We set off again in powder snow, and again our progress is desperately slow. The boys take it in turn to break the trail and I admire them as it is really not easy! The sleds are definitely sinking in the snow making it difficult to keep a course, so they are skiing and at the same time checking the compass and GPS often. We set up camp after 10 hours of skiing, frankly mostly slightly uphill. It is frustrating as we should be going downhill to Isortok! Well, hopefully tomorrow, we will start skiing down for real!
We are totally fantasizing about food. We talk about it non-stop. Antonia, Lucy and Rebecca beware, the boys are dreaming about the canapes of the party!! They also dream about a beer, and I know what will be our first port of call in Isortok!!
Apparently the weather is going to be good for the rest of our trip, with possibly the exception of tomorrow when we might have some wind and clouds.

Day 15

Very frustrating and hard day today. We have deep powder snow and our skis and sleds sink in it. Every step is a mission and we only cover 26kms in 9 hours. Per-Thore and Petter take turns at the front to break trail, and I am in second position so that the track is a little bit easier for the one who has come off the lead. Unfortunately we have just gotten the news that the weather is probably going to worsen and that the wind will blow in our faces. So it looks like tomorrow will be another very hard day. What is also very frustrating is that we should be going downhill which should make it easier with the sleds, but it does not feel like it at all.
Anyway we are really tired and off to bed to have a good rest and try to put a long day in tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Valerie!

Today is Valerie's birthday, the eldest of my lovely children. It must be one of the first time that I don't celebrate with her and it makes me a little homesick. Today is also Nicholas's apposition at St Paul's. He got his nomination for physics, and I am also very sad to miss it. But I know that they are well looked after by Klaus and that they are 100% behind me on this adventure.

We had a good and a bad surprise when we woke up this morning. The good surprise is that the wind has died.The bad surprise is that now a lot of fresh snow is lying on the ground and that it is very tough going. Our skis go deep in fresh snow (about 10 cms), and our sleds don't glide well. It is really hard work. It is probably made worse by the fact that we didn't move yesterday and our muscles are very stiff. However we plough on for 9 hours (I put my skis exactly in Per-Thore's tracks so that they don't sink too much) and cover a respectable 30+ kms. All day the sky has been cloudy nd the light has been very flat, making the snow look a menacing grey. However, as soon as we stopped for the night, the sun came out and it turned out to be a lovely evening. We did some filming.

I must say here that I am unbelievably grateful to Brynje for fitting me from head to toe with their clothes. They are unbelievable. My jacket is totally windproof and very soft to the touch and to wear. The balaclavas, neck warmers, hats and thermals are wonderful, very warm but extremely breathable. And my tent clothes are great. It makes a huge difference to be comfortable and warm in this environment, and the Norwegians certainly have quite a lot of experience in polar expeditions.

Day 13 - A well deserved day off..

We woke up today to a raging wind and a very limited visibility. This would not be a problem would the wind not be blowing directly in our faces. As we have been skiing so fast and are actually 4 days ahead of schedule, we decided to stay where we are for a day and hope that the wind will have died by tomorrow. So we take it easy, eat some of our food, as anyway we have much too much, and drink plenty of tea and coffee. I also took the opportunity to change my clothes (the boys keep exactly the same clothes from top to bottom for the whole trip... Hmmm!).
Maybe I should tell you a little bit about my teammates. Per-Thore is 45 yuears old (we celebrated his birthday in DYE2, and he is a former Norwegian army special forces. He went to Bosnia, the Middle East and Somalia. He is the ultimate born leader and tough guy. The only person he is afraid of is his wife (who, I am told is the prettiest and nicest person by the way..). He is now big into dogsledding (he has 80 dogs) and organizes weekly trips out of the arctic town of Alta. This is how I met him last year. Per-Thore usually skis in front, sets the pace and the pauses. He chooses the route and places to camp. I feel really safe under his leadership and appreciate his calm. It helps that he has a wicked sense of humour.
Petter Thorsen is 44 years old. He is a former Norwegian army Seal. He is a great friend of Per-Thore and they complement each other to perfection. He is a real chatterbox and when he is with PT, they talk and laugh non-stop, unfortunately in Norwegian... He organizes the camp, food and keeps an eye on the material. He is also our cameraman and does a stellar job. He films, interviews, take pictures, and nothing is too tiring or difficult for him. He is an amazing skier. He is also really kind and caring and if he sees that I am tired and slowing down, he will stay with me and it helps a lot.
I feel very safe with the two of them. I know that they were very concerned when I started to have a blister on day 1 (the only one by the way), and were even more worried when I was so tired on day 3 that I could not eat or drink for 2 days. But they really managed to motivate me without scaring me. And I rallied and now feel perfectly at ease in this most inhospitable environment. I know that I owe them a lot and I am convinced that I would have given up, if it would not have been for those 2 toughies who in fact are much softer than they look.

Day 12

Yesterday night was the coldest we had so far. It is really horrible to wake up and find that all the area around your mouth has been covered in frost. It is so cold and I really don't want to move.
We woke up again to a beautiful day (Happy Birthday Pierre!!) sunny and warm and took off in our thermals again. The first hours we broke off all our speed records with an average of over 4 kms an hour. This was fun but I started to get tired after the 5th hour. So we slowed down a little. We reached the summit (it is a big name as the ice cap is totally flat...), and took pictures with our national flags. That was fun. As soon as we were finished, we noticed that the weather was changing and some cold wind started to blow. So out came the jackets, gloves and balaclavas, and we went on. We stopped after 30 kms and set up camp, as there is really no need to go too fast. We will only get stuck in Isortok. As it is, we have changed our tickets to go to Iceland, but now we face a big problem as all internal flights that we need to take in Greenland are full!! We are trying to find a solution, but it is not like there are many daily flights!

Day 10 and 11

Day 10

Brrrr.... Today was really cold (-20 C) with a really bitter wind. So we started with balaclavas, face masks, and the lot! There was a track which was visible in the snow and as, for once, was ready first, I took the lead The snow was good and we were really fast. We skied like this for 10 hours, and covered an amazing 34,1 kms. As it was really very very cold, we didn't hang out during the breaks and that helped our speed. We set up camp and once inside, with the stove on, it was much warmer and cosier. The evening turned out really nice as the wind died and the sun shone.
Our progress may seem very slow to some people, so let me explain how you could get a feeling for it (in fact this is how we train for such a trip). Put on a pulling harness and about 2.5 meters behind, attach a tyre to it (a good size tyre, as it is the beginning of the trip... something like the back tyre of a Lamborghini). Then find a nice beach, take 2 walking poles, and start dragging your tyre for 50 minutes at a time. Then take a 10 minutes break during which you must drink and eat plenty. And you can go on for 8 to 10 hours a day for 3 weeks. If you need to go to the toilet, try the freezer!!!! I know, it is irresistible.... As I am nice, I'll let you go back home at night, and will not force you to eat freeze-dried food. Jealous? I knew it..

Day 11
Well, you never know what to expect in Greenland when you wake up, and this morning it was fresh snow! But amazingly the outside temperature was really warm. So we set off in our thermals and followed Per-Thore who has the GPS and compass. We thought that we were going to do a short day of 22 kms, but after 8 hours we had covered 27 kms, which is really good. So we stopped, the weather having become much colder. We set up camp and we are now thinking that we could finish the crossing in 19 days instead of 23. Unfortunately this would probably not mean going back home sooner, as there are not that many flights from where we arrive on the east coast But at least we will be able to put some weight back on!!

Thank you so much to all of you who have sent me music, pictures, messages and presents. It is so nice to sit here in the tent and open them at random. I enjoy each one of them and it keeps my spirits up. I can't wait to see you all again, and thank you for helping me and the wonderful charities that I am supporting.

DYE 2 - Exploring the Radar Station

After a really hard day yesterday when we walked 33 kilometers uphill in 10 hours to reach DYE 2, we took it easy this morning. I was absolutely tired and freezing when we reached camp yesterday. It was terrible as we could see DYE 2 since the day before, but bit took forever reaching it. There is a scientific camp next to it and a huge runway on snow delimited by flags. For a long while, we thought that the flags were other people pulling sleds and going the same direction as us... The things that tiredness can do to your mind...
So this morning, after a really lazy time in bed, we went exploring DYE 2. This enormous radar station was built by the Americans during the cold war, and it looks like something out of a James Bond movie. It is absolutely enormous and there is a huge metal structure underneath to support it and to allow for ice movement, I presume. We went inside and found offices full of documents (even microfilms), bedroom full of furniture and garbage, a kitchen so dirty and full of rubbish that it was unreal, a larder full of food, storerooms with all kind of electrical equipment, even an infirmary with medicines. I believe that the station was abandonned in 1988, but it looks like it was all its occupants fled. It is really a shame to have such a garbage dump in the middle of Greenland!
We left the place at 2 pm and walked for 5 hours in a beautiful sunshine, no wind, and it reconcilied me with this trip. I must say that yesterday night I really questionned my sanity and wondered why I had put myself through such a tough challenge. But tonight I am happy again and I am now going to sleep as we have a very long day tomorrow.

Still uphill... but still going!

This is Lucy from Children in Crisis - I have just received an answerphone message from Sabine out in the Arctic.  She has had a half day today to rest after a really long day yesterday.  

Day 8 (Sunday) was a really heavy going day for Sabine.  The team spent over 10 hours trekking uphill. After ski-ing for 33km, Sabine and her guides thoroughly exhausted had to set up their tent.  Sabine spoke in her answerphone message of how she had to use her last ebb of energy to warm up her aching limbs, melt some ice for water for cooking with that evening and crawl into her sleeping bag. 

With three to four more days of uphill skiing to go, Sabine is really looking forward to when the hills flatten up.  On Sunday they spent the day following the tracks of a snow mobile - all Sabine could think of was how much she wished the snow mobile would come and pick her up...  Although everything around her is so incredibly beautiful, the challenge is immensely tiring and Sabine is finding it much harder than she thought she would.  But, in her answerphone message Sabine thanks all of her friends, family and supporters for sponsoring her and believing in her as she is having a life changing experience unlike anything she could have ever imagined.

The first 3 days!

Me and one of my guides packing up our kit before setting off.

We left point 660 at 11.30 and started to ski up the glacier.The first 200 meters were really bad. I fell, I screamed, but then it got better except when we had to go up on blue ice: no traction, sliding sleds and it reminded me when I broke my knee ligament on ice. But I guess you get used to everything so I managed 6 hours on that horribly difficult terrain.

We sat up camp and after a good nights sleep I was ready to go.

There is a lot to do in the morning and everybody has his task. Between waking up and skiing it takes about 2,5 hours.

Although the morning was still on glacier with blue ice it gradually became less steep therefore easier. The last 4 hours of skiing was a treat. No wind sunny and flatter. Setting up camp was fast and after dinner we slept.

When we woke up we had a bad suprise. It was very windy and cold. I put on my balaclava and goggles and we set off. I don't know if it was the wind or the fact that I couldn't see much but I felt totally exhaausted. After 10 hours of skiing I crashed and and I have never felt as tired in my life. Without my to PT"s I would have called the helicopter to rescue me 10 times today.They are really caring and pay a lot of attention my my physical and emotional state.

So far we have been doing 54 km uphill with heavy sleds which is very good and I am proud to be doing it for the two charities I have chosen. My childrens messages kept me going yesterday while I was listening to Brandan's music list, Emma and Koy letters were great fun and Clair's present made me feel glamorous. And tonight I am opening YoYo's letter "by the way YoYo you are mad wanting to go to the south pole. But you are adorable.