THE NANSEN ROUTE

GREENLAND COAST TO COAST 2025

FOLLOW SONDRE, ANE KARINE, MAGNUS, ANN KRISTIN, ALI RIZA & KATHINKA

DAY 35 / wednesday / Nuuk!

So, the trip has ended. They are all back in civilization in the form of Nuuk—the capital of Greenland.

The day was as beautiful as it was uneventful. Even Mother Nature granted them a low tide and the leisure stroll over to the boat pickup rather than fight their way through the dense bushes.

The boat came in as planned, and they were treated to the first delights from Drinks and Snoop.

But on arriving at Nuuk, it turned out that there were no hotel rooms for them. A frantic search solved the problem, but the blissful single rooms with private showers had to wait :-(

So sorry for that, but it can't detract from the fact that this has been a really great crossing, two days faster than scheduled, with lots of great skiing and weather. We had a sunny Austmanadalen, complete with fresh fish and small rests on dry, warm ground, basking in the sun.

Travel safely home, and a big thank you from all of us at Ousland

DAY 34 / tuesday / fox aleret

Greetings from a very happy team. The journey down the valley yesterday had been absolutely fantastic. This is a place where we are almost the only people visiting. It may be the odd hunter, but this belongs to the animals of the area.

Thus, there are no obvious paths here, and it is often not easy at all to find the best way. BUT, this team has Sondre, the reindeer hunter! From now on, he is only called ‘Sniff’ for his extraordinary ability to sniff up the tiniest of reindeer paths and follow them forever.

The other revelation was that they finally caught fish and had it grilled for lunch.

All in all, not a cloud in the sky.

And this morning they could tell they had had a night with a billion stars, northern light, shooting stars, –  and foxes harassing the camp. The small buggers have stolen all sorts of things and quite clearly enjoyed the visit for this bypassing circus.

The other thing that fell into place this morning is that they will actually be picked up tonight at 18:30 local time. Our man, Erik Palo of ABC boat charter, will bring them out to Nuuk for the final part of this journey. They will probably get into town too late for a celebration dinner, but knowing Erik, it would not surprise us if he has a few surprises up his sleeve to boost the boat ride…

DAY 33 / monday / fishey

The team wandered down towards the fjord. After the fogy start, the sun finally came out for a glorious day. It is quite a significant change to step off the skis that have been on for over a month and then onto trekking boots and start walking.

Everybody was a bit stiff in the morning as their bodies battled with the transition.

In the evening, they arrived at a place where Kathinka had previously caught fish, and they all anticipated freshly bonfire-grilled fish. – But, no luck! Even Magnus running up and down the river gave no change of menu.

So, back to Drytech freeze-dried.

This morning (Tuesday), there was just a thin, picturesque layer of morning fog that slowly vanished as the sun came up and coffee was served.

The plan was to take a boat out to Nuuk on Thursday, but they are progressing well, and now they may get there late in the evening on Wednesday.

DAY 32 / sunday / See! No Ski!

Brilliant day (again). The last push was hard. The unruly ice really tested stamina, balance, and speed. So, a good long sleep on land did a world of good.

After organizing, repacking, and getting sorted, they started the trek, in light trekking boots, over the moraine landscape and the top of Austmanadalen.

This is where Nansen and his team walked all those years ago, and it really adds to the historic significance of this route.

Both the day and the walk were great. At the end of the day, they got to the usual trouble-river. Instead of two rivers, the water had flooded and merged them into one. Out came the pack-raft, and one by one they paddled over together with the luggage.

The evening was spent outside, and so was the night. No tent!

This morning the whole valley was covered in fog, and they all stuck inside their moisty sleeping bags hoping the sun would break through.

DAY 31 / saturday / WE HAVE REACHED LAND!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Go Team 
We have had a tough run down the glacier; it is really sad to see how much has melted!
But the weather has been incredible, so it has been worthwhile all our efforts. 
Several of us have gone through the ice on the rivers today, so we have a lot of wet feet. Magnus went in almost to his hips!
Now we have set up camp on land, and for the first time in over a month, not on ice and snow! This is where we re-pack, change into hiking boots, and start the trek towards the real coast. We came in a boat. We leave on a boat, just like the Heroic Age Explorers!

 
Good night from a happy crew!

According to the PECS standard (The language of Polar Adventure), this is a Full Ski Crossing of Greenland ❤️

DAY 30 / friday / 🍨 / 🏔️

Wow
Beautiful sunny day again!
Lots of melting this year so the glacier is very bumpy with lots of rivers, luckily for us they are frozen so far. But we still need to cross them, up and down and up and down. There has been som spectacular falls and some broken poles, but no broken bones!
We have had an incredible view of the mountains in the west all day so in addition to our up and down struggles with the sleds we have truly enjoyed the day!
Tomorrow is our last day on ice!

Kathinka & the iceteam

DAY 29 / thursday / 🌞

A beautiful sunny day!
We started out from camp all roped up and ready to face the crevasses.
And boy did they show up this year!
We have gone through more crevasses today than I have ever done on this day ever before!
But the team did great, and we made it through safely.
We will continue being roped up tomorrow as well. There has been a lot of melting this year so conditions are difficult. But we are still having fun out here!

Good night from Kathinka and team crevasse

DAY 28 / wednesday / ☁️

A cloudy day at the Greenland icecap has come to an end. We have seen the horizon all day, but not much more.
Skiing has been good and we have got our first meetings with little baby crevasses. Good training before we go into the big ones tomorrow.
Tomorrow is also the day we might see the mountains on the west side for the first time. So many things to look forwards to!

Kathinka and the team

DAY 27 / tuesday / poetic day

Homebase: It seems to Mission Control back here in Norway, that there is no lack of energy in the team.

That is great as they now head into the crazy and unpredictable icefall.

Anyway. The day triggered a poetic nerve in Sondre, so he posted a rhyme diary!

This has evolved into two English versions to bridge the communication gap between the world’s most widely accepted language, Norwegian, and the more local offspring in the shape of British tongue.

Here goes:

Jeg gikk en tur på isen og følte isens ro,
så hørte jeg fra siden en bjørn som sa grr grr,
jeg hoppet ut til siden, mens Ali satt der jo,
så da ble det bløtt i trusen, men vi alle sto å lo.
Hoho hoho hohohoho

Fin dag, overskyet, strålende sol, for varmt, bra fart i gjengen.

Sondre and the buttsweat team

v1:

I walked upon the ice and felt its quiet glow,

when suddenly beside me, a bear said grr, grr, grr-oh!

I jumped off to the side — but Ali stood there too,

so my pants got rather soggy… yet we all just laughed it through.

Ho-ho, ho-ho, ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

v2:

I wandered on the ice, so silent, pure, and white,

when from the snowy shadows came a growly bear’s delight.

I leapt away in fright — but Ali stood in view,

and though my trousers suffered, we laughed the whole way through!

Ho-ho, ho-ho, ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Great day, overcast then glearing sun, too hot, good speed in the team

Sondre and the buttsweat team

DAY 26 / monday / downhill! defenitely downhill

First few pulls today were like skiing on silk!
Then it got a bit warmer, but still good skiing. We ran into an uphill today - we thought we were supposed to be going down……..
But once we were done with that - we actually found ourselves a loooooong downhill where we could feel the skis gliding down the hill! We were all VERY excited!!!!
So all in all it’s been a great day here on the icecap today🤩
Kathinka and the downhill crew

DAY 25 / sunday / not a sun day

The first 5 pulls today were in beautiful sunshine, but then all of a sudden Greenland decided to show off an gave us a 15 minute blizzard!
After that we had almost whiteout and some wind the rest of the day.
We are slowly but surely descending down towards the end of the icecap, but still a few more days to go.
Right now the wind is blowing outside our tents, but we are all nice and cozy inside listening to the wind and the sound of our campstoves.

Kathinka and team blizzard

DAY 24 / saturday / DOWNHILL ???

What a glorious day!
Sunshine from start to finish. And we have finally found the downhill, we can’t see it, but we can feel it. So we are all looking forwards to tomorrow when we are going to ski another day!
The surface is also getting a bit harder witch is making the pulling a bit easier too.
So all happy thoughts here😊

Kathinka and the happy team

DAY 23 / friday / cloud burners

Once again, the forecast was low clouds and whiteout. And once again, Team Sunshine managed to shine bright enough to have blue skies and a bright, sunny day!
The snow is still soft and makes pulling heavy, but we are all enjoying the beautiful scenery while we wait for the downhill to start. According to the GPS, we are descending, but so far it still feels like uphill. 
High spirits and dancing on the break today. Maybe you will see a video of that later!

Kathinka and the sunshine team

DAY 22 / thurSday / out of the wite

«Still snowing today», I can confirm to my tentmate as I stick my head out the door in the morning. There is a northeasterly breeze, and a light drizzle of snow in the air. During the night, a few drifts have collected around our tents. It's quiet except for the wind; no one is stirring in the neighbouring tents yet. 

A few hours later, around 9 am, we’re underway again. 

The first few hours it is almost a whiteout, providing an interesting navigational challenge. The small snow drifts that have formed indicate the wind direction and are quite helpful to follow. Just make sure you ski across them at the same angle every time! 

During our intrepid march, the weather clears up and rewards us with an afternoon of warming sunshine. I throw back my hood, barely noticing the dwindling wind.

Best regards, Magnus and the team

DAY 21 / WEDNESday / WHITEFOLDED

We started out in whiteout again today, with a forecast of changing and increasing winds. We went 20 degrees north for a few pulls and then turned 20 degrees south to avoid the wind blowing in our faces. The whiteout navigation accuracy is increasing with practice!
Last night we had a lot of snow, so the conditions were quite heavy but the team did great! We made it 18 kilometres in 8 pulls.
Also on this expedition, we are doing snow samples for science, so we did sample number 4 today.
We change tent partners every 5 nights, so tomorrow we will all get a new roommate. That way, we can tell the same jokes and stories over and over again
Life is good on the Greenland icecap!

Kathinka and the others

DAY 20 / TUESday / NOW YOU SEE IT - NOW YOU DON’T

Team Sunshine got a little taste of what Greenland has to offer today. She was showing off for a while.
The day started out with some wind and visibility, then the visibility disappeared and the wind picked up and it started to snow!
But we navigated through it and landed safely in camp after 23 kilometres! Go team!
Always good to practice whiteout navigation, so far we have not practiced that enough.  

Kathinka and the whiteout team

DAY 19 / monday / suuuuuuuummiiit

World’s widest summit? We are now crossing the top of the ice plateau, on our track varying a few meters around 2630 for today’s pull of 27 km.

With low pressures on both sides of Greenland, there has been an open sunny space for us at the top of the world. 

Ane and the team

Homebase: As they now venture onto the western side of the Greenland Inland Ice, they will head into a new weather system. The two sides very often differ in weather due to the catabatic systems. Northwestern winds mainly influence the eastern side, and the western side is generally affected by southeast winds.

The western side has more land masses free of ice, often giving a bit (bit) leaner and stable weather. The trick for crossing late in the fall is to get out of the eastern part before the autumn storms start hammering the area. The ice extending all the way down to the sea has a significant impact on the weather there.

DAY 18 / sunday / summit

On the top of the world!
We have reached the summit. We camp at 2633m elevation, on the Earth next largest inland ice sheet. For all we know, we have a couple of thousand meter of ice below the camp.
We started in -10 today, turned out to be a sunny day, 24,5 km passed away,

Ane and the team

DAY 17 / saturday / turkey’s day

Goooooood morning Greenland!
Today is Turkish victory day, an we started the morning with Ali hoisting the Turkish flag and singing the national anthem.
Sondre has been wishing for weather for a long time, and this morning started with whiteout and wind. But with our usual luck on the good weather front, the whiteout only lasted a few hours before the sun returned. We are getting closer and closer to summit. We still had some wind to navigate on, so all in all a great day!

Kathinka and the happy campers

DAY 16 / friday / go’dye

Today was the 16th day at our Greenland Nansen route. I think I am more than 20 days away far from home. 

We woke up 06:00 with a frozen tent and very cold weather. After eating our horse meal breakfast (I will never eat again :-)  we started to walk as Kathinkas usual order 08:00. 

Every day we are walking as a shift . Everybody has to be a leader for 55mins and than 10mins rest. Then the last leader go to back another team mate will be a leader. You should watch the compass and you never sleep while you walking :-) 

We walked 9 hours and 50 mins and did 22.58 km today . And finally  reach the DYE3. Its beautiful view. Off course me, Ann and Søndre get into the DYE and explore inside. I should say interesting and creepy place.

Ali and the team

DAY 15 / thursSday / POLAR TOUCH

My polar heart jumped as we today had our first morning that was even close to being polar! It was double digits on the cold side and a little bris from the front/side. So on with facemasks and down shorts and vest! Yahoo!
As the day went on, we stripped off more and more layers. Until we again found ourselves skiing in our underwear.
My polar heart melted together with the Greenland icecap at 2300 metres above sea level

Kathinka and the underwear team

DAY 14 / WEDNESday / Glorious Greenland

Lars told us that today was going to be whiteout and snow, so we prepared and waited for that all day. 
But we are now in camp after 9 pulls in beautiful weather with great visibility all day!
Seems like the Norse Gods are on our side!
We bagged 24km+ today and are currently 45 kilometres from the old abandoned DYE3 station, a milestone on this expedition. 

Kathinka and the sunshine team

DAY 13 / TUESday / TENT ROTATION

Everyone went to bed yesterday with a profound desire for harder snow conditions. – But despite all our wet dreams of wishes, there was little change. Fortunately, the wind had packed the snow somewhat, and a slightly colder weather meant that we avoided 10cm stilettos (packed snow under the skies) today at least. But that doesn’t mean ice did not varnish the underside og the sleds :-• It meant a lot of hard work.

The sun was beautiful today as well, but with a fresh north wind, everyone crept into the solitude of their hoods, listening to their own breath and the whisper of the wind.

We are lucky!

Yesterday's tent rotation gave everyone a new partner! For my part, I was rewarded with two new experiences: sleeping with a world-famous polar bear celebrity and handling a rifle. The latter was (fortunately) a quiet companion, while Kathinka is both really pleasant and educational.

Today it's her turn to be the "kitchen boy", so now I am enjoying being looked after by the polar queen!

Many hugs from Ann-Kristin and a fantastic, hard-working team

DAY 12 / monday / BACK TO WORK

We were ready! The plan in my head was hard surface and fast conditions - but boy was I wrong!
It was soft, wet and sticky snow - suuuuper heavy conditions all day. But if you just put one ski in front of the other all day, you can still do 18 heavy pulling kilometres.
We have scraped and waxed and scraped and waxed and scraped and waxed all day.
But at the end of the day we are all thinking this was another great day on the Greenland icecap!
Better luck tomorrow

Kathinka and the strong team

DAY 11 / sunday / 65.6736111, -41.8046667 / restday

A well deserved break for the team, it’s been raining outside our tents all day. So we have spent the day chilling inside listening to the rain pounding on the tent.
We have slept, eaten and repaired some skis and boots.
It’s been a long day, so we are ready to head out first thing tomorrow morning for another day of skiing.

Hopefully your weekend was a bit more eventful.

Kathinka and the sleepyheads

DAY 10 / SATURday / 65.6736111, -41.8046667 / RAIN SHOULD STAY IN SPAIN

Today started out like usual, a beautiful sunrise and fast skiing conditions. We did four good pulls, and then in from the east came ominous clouds, and the visibility disappeared.  The temperature went from nice to hot, and it started to snow/rain. On pull number 6, it was definitely raining, and as we were about to start pull number 7, it went from rain to full-on pouring down.
So we opted for setting up camp and waiting it out. Which means we will be here until Monday. Sunday, which is forecast to be very wet and windy, will be a well-deserved rest day for the team. 
We did 20 kilometres today before the downpour.

Kathinka and the soaked team

DAY 9 / friday / 65.7830000, -41.4550833

Another smashing day on the Greenland icecap
Holy moly, first part of the day was sweaty with pants on and the last half of the day was sweaty without pants on! We skied in just our Brynje netting!
But the snow remained fairly good, so we managed to do over 28 kilometres today as well.
Upon arrival in camp Ali and Sondre went for a barefoot run around the campground.
Super high spirits all around!

Kathinka and the underwear team

DAY 8 / thursday thunder

WOW! What a day! What a team!
We did 28,5 kilometres today in beautiful weather and great conditions.
Now we are setting our next course to DYE 3, it will take us quite a few days to reach it, but it is nice to know we are aiming directly at it.
We are now at 1900 metres above sea level and DYE is at around 2450 metres above sea level. So still some altitude to gain.
Super stoked team, ready for a new day tomorrow.

Kathinka & the speedy Gonzales team

Gratulerer med dagen til fineste Emil i dag

DAY 7 / INTO THE FLOW

What a glorious day!
It’s been hot and sunny all day, and we have kept a good pace, our first 25 kilometre day! Go Team!!!
Butt sweat is a problem all around, but we are battling through it🤣
So far, all good spirits and happy campers! 
200 kilometres to DYE 3. But towards the weekend, a low-pressure system is pushing in from the east and seems to bring several days of snowfall. So we are fighting to gain altitude so that it will not rain. Cross fingers ;-)

Kathinka and the butt crew

Homebase: The Hurricane Erin that has hit the news lately is heading north along the American coast, but, luckily for us, it seems to deviate east over the Atlantic and not up towards Greenland. That is good news, but it may be that it plays a role in the upcoming weather changes.

DAY 6 / THE ICECAP

We start the day bright and early, at 08:15 we’re off! The day was bright and sunny, and the snow was crisp, and the conditions were excellent for skiing. We have changed our bearing (course) in a slightly more western direction today, heading into the vast and white expanse in front of us.

As the day progressed, the tiny blue sliver of ocean in the east gradually disappeared, becoming only a tiny speck before it disappeared completely. Now it is just us and the enormous white fields – or rather, the other way around…

The sun warmed our faces, and the snow, towards the end of the day, the going is slower and the snow softer. Still managed a new best distance before it was time for camp, and a few hours of melting snow and enjoying the warm weather! 

Best regards from Magnus and the rest of the team!

DAY 5 / CLIMBING

A stunning and sunny morning kicked off with a great birthday celebration for Ane. It was toppled with all of us singing ‘Happy Birthday’, as a cake with Greenlandic flags was handed over. It was a perfect atmosphere at ‘måråskvisten’ – as we call the ungodly early hours at home.

Otherwise, it was a fabulous (vørr en gøranes go’ dag) day skiing. No bother, just straight Norwegian, Easter skiing with the sun doing it’s best to keep us company. 

Regards, Sondre and the team

Ane hilser hjem til familien!

day 4 / upper icefall

Another beautiful day on the ice! We were granted a start two hours later as a bonus for good effort yesterday. Luxury to enjoy two cups of coffee and have all wet equipment dried!

The sun shone in the blue sky all day, and after half the day, we were rewarded for our efforts so that we could finally go skiing. There is a lot more snow melted than usual. So it has been trekking till here. It felt great to get the skis on!

The only thing to complain about is some slightly red noses.

Sending a lot of hugs home. Ann-Kristin and the rest of a fantastic group. 

day 3 / saturday / Mid icefall

It had been raining hard all night, but it stopped around 7:00 and we were ready to start at 8:00 again today. We have a goal to be up the big hill and onto the «flats» before the wind was predicted hit today.
And we made it! Go Team!
Today has been sunny and very nice until around 14:00 then the wind (ca a moderate gale force) came like a bullet and we had to stop in our tracks and put on jackets and hats. But we kept going for another few hours.
Now we are chilling in our tents and listening to the sound of the wind outside.
Tomorrow we are hoping to reach some snow and start skiing.
The glacier has melted a lot this year 😢 !

Good night from the windy, but sunny Greenland icecap and a happy team!

Kathinka & the team

day 2 / friday / lower icefall

It’s been a beautiful day on the Greenland icecap!
Nice and warm and we did a good day. Started of with getting stuck in a crevasse area, but we backtracked and went around it. We also tried a «new» route, and it was sooooo much better!
We had a few fun river crossings, so not all smooth sailing, but lots of fun!
Tomorrow we head up «the big hill»

All is good with everyone!

Kathinka and the team

DAY 1 / THURSDAY / ISORTOQ / START - a whale of a day

We got on the boat and left Tasiilaq at 10:30 today. The sea had calmed down after heavy weather last night, and we had a great trip. Passing lots of beautiful icebergs and even saw a whale!
We got dropped off around 13:00 and started carrying all our gear towards the glacier. Almost as soon as we started it also started to rain. So we got soaked to the bone!
Lucky for us the rain stopped when we reached the ice around 18:00. So we managed to dry up a bit before camp.
We are now camped aat the foot of the great Inland Ice - and out doing bear watch all night.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so fingers crossed!

All excited to be on the road!

Kathinka & the team

DAY -1 / WEDNESDAY / TASIILAQ / COUNTDOWN

We have finished all packing and organising of all our food, fuel, tents and personal equipment! Go Team!

We also went up to the hotel for a team dinner.

Now we’re ready for departure at 08:00 tomorrow morning. Super excited to start this adventure across Greenland to Nansens last campsite on the west coast.

Follow here for daily updates!

Kathinka and the team

DAY -2 / TUESDAY / TASIILAQ

Finally we are all gathered together here in beautiful Tasiilaq!

All getting to know one another and also at the same time diving deep into expedition packing and preparation.

All day has been spent sorting gear, packing and preparing food and trying to also preparing the mind for what we are about to experience. The Greenland east to west - coast to coast full experience. In the footsteps of the great Fridtjof Nansen!

One of my very favourite expeditions!

Follow us here for updates through out this journey.

DAY -3 / MONDAY / TASIILQ

We have had a rainy day today, and that on moving day. But we managed to get everything from A to B anyway. Go team!

We found Ali before moving, so that was great.

After moving we went to the store for some serious butter and cheese shopping.

And finally in the evening we welcomed our last two teammates to Greenland.

So now the whole team has arrived.

Day -4 / TASIILAQ - PREP

Another beautiful day in Tasiilaq, a bit colder in the morning but nice and warm in the sun during the day and evening.

Yesterday I found both Magnus and Sondre, and there are rumours that Ali is in town as well.

They were both put to work on fuel and stove testing as well as taping and expedition packing of a tent.

Today we have done gear checks and Sondre has finished making his delicious breakfasts for the expedition. We also went for a hike over the nearby hill to make sure the rifle was in good condition and ready to go.

Tomorrow evening, we will all be gathered together and do all the rest. We are making sure there is plenty more to do when the rest arrive.

Stay tuned for more expedition preparations!

DAY -5 - TASIILAQ

It is slowly getting together. The permit is ok. The cargo has arrived safely by boat to Tasiilaq. And now Kathinka is there putting the pieces together as everybody will slowly trickle in from all over.

Stay tuned, and we will all join the team here on this journey, coast to coast, of Greenland

DAY -10 - IT’S COUNDOWN

Throughout the week everybody will filter into Tasiilaq on the east coast of Greenland. There, they will pack, plan and prepare before taking a boat over to the Isortoq area, where the journey starts for reel the 14th of August.