Let’s Go Fly A Kite

In the tradition of the great adventurers of the past, a British team has crossed Greenland in the fastest time ever recorded… and they didn’t just shave hours off the previous mark, they beat it by more than a week.  The team of four completed the 350 mile coast to coast journey in nine days, 19 hours and 40 minutes – eight days faster than the old record and 40 days quicker than the first east to west crossing made by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen way back in 1888.   The secret to their incredible time?  Kites.  The modern day adventurers snow-kited across rough terrain in temperatures below 25 degrees.   Snow-kiting involves using a kite to glide on snow or ice with skis or a snowboard.  Back in Greenland, the team had set themselves the ambitious target of completing the challenge in 12 days.  Thanks to favourable tailwinds they were able to snow-kite for 17 hours straight during which they managed to cover 174 miles, the equivalent of London to Manchester.  It wasn’t all kite sailing though.  There were hairy moments with rock crevasses when the ground beneath their feet gave way, then there were frost damaged feet, but it was lack of sleep that was the hardest to deal with.    Expedition leader Tom Avery, said “We are delighted but we are shattered and exhausted more than we have ever been in our lives…We are black and blue, dehydrated, weather-beaten, frost-nipped – and it was all worth it.”  Tom Avery, Patrick Woodhead, George Wells, and Andrew Gerber, the HEN salutes you all.