Page 38 - 2009 AMA Summer

Nansen’s Endeavour
By James Woodhouse – MIC
In August this year a team of nine drawn mostly from the TA in Scotland left to travel across Greenland by the route first pioneered by F Nansen in 1888. After 27 days of hard work pulling and carrying loads of 85 kgs in temperatures as low as - 35 they succeeded; the first British cross- ing of the Nansen Route and the first cross- ing for 20 years. It was a magnificent suc- cess for the British Army; Sir Chris Bonnington said in his congratulatory letter to the team on return “a crossing of Greenland via this route rates higher and is more difficult than an Everest ascent by one of the standard routes”.
Nansen’s Endeavour set out to travel East - West across Greenland. The remote nature of the starting point required a flight into Kulusuk and then a 200k ocean boat jour- ney south in something that would have looked more at home in the Norfolk Broads. From there the team carried their loads over moraine to the start of the ice
Sunset over the ice. Jonjo Knott checks the tent
The Team at Nansen’s Tentplace. From (L to R) Stuart Knight, Phyl Scott, Richard Elder, Fraser Philip, James Woodhouse, Nigel Williams, John Coogans, Jonjo Knott, Magnus Jeffrey.
cap where they could start to pull. A tech- nical ascent of the ice was managed by some good route finding. Once established on the ice the team got into a routine of 12–15 hours of work a day with the bal- ance spent melting snow, resting and eat-
James Woodhouse leads over another crevasse
ing. Memories of 200g of butter, salami and cheese a day to complement more usual dehydrated rations will stay for a long time.
The team moved fast. By moving to night routine they were able to cover 120k in three
The team prepare to move at night
36 ARMY MOUNTAINEER