In Nansen’s Footsteps
In 1888 the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen sailed from Iceland on board the sealer Jason, bound for Greenland’s eastern coast. Nansen, along with a party of five (three Norwegians and two Samis), had a loose plan to traverse Greenland’s yet-unknown interior from its little-explored eastern coast to its western coast, sparsely inhabited by the colonising Danes. The team would attempt a ski crossing, hauling specially designed lightweight sleds with everything needed to survive over a month on the ice. In retrospect, their undertaking was beyond audacious when plotted on a timeline of the great polar journeys. Yet it was Nansen’s team who would prevail against the odds and mark the beginning of the race for the poles that culminated in the notorious Scott vs. Amundsen push for the South pole in 1911. Nansen’s many innovations, such as travelling lightly on skis, a fuel stove that worked in the extremes and a diet that included fresh meat to ward off scurvy would dictate to those that followed the formula for success at the edges of the inhabited world.
In May 2018 I took part in an expedition retracing Nansen’s journey with the Antarctic Heritage Trust, skiing 560kms across Greenland’s icecap.
Executive Producer: Antarctic Heritage Trust
Directors: Rick Harvie and Keith Parsons
Cinematography: Keith Parsons
Editor: Mike Kelland
Explorers: Brando Yelavich, Hollie Woodhouse and Bridget Kruger
A feature story in Wild Magazine, Edition 174 can be read as a pdf here.
DYEII, an abandoned American Cold War-era early warning radar station’s gargantuan steel frame sits on the ice cap near the crossing’s halfway point. Brought up onto the ice piece by piece on special ski landing C130 aircraft in the 1950’s. Its eerie interior revealed a glimpse into a world of secrets, fear and the constant threat of nuclear war that permeated the mid 20th century. It was trashed inside, although glimpses of life in the station were still evident with food frozen to the galley shelves, Fortune magazines from the mid 80’s and even some early PC’s among the mess strewn throughout its 5 stories. It was a milestone on the crossing, but one that we were happy to leave behind.
