The Arctic Idea
When my sister, Olivia, passed away in 2018 I was about six weeks pregnant with Torcuil, my firstborn. Coronavirus followed the year after and then Henrietta was born in 2021. During these whirlwind years I had neither grieved nor celebrated Olivia. I decided that I should work towards doing something special for her 40th birthday. At the time I presumed I would get fit post second baby (hahaha) and that no one would sponsor me for running 100 miles through something as simple as a German forest. So I stumbled across the Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland and decided that was weird enough for a challenge. I had committed myself emotionally before I researched the final details of the trail. By then, although the date was still years away, I was not backing out. I would run the 100+ miles across Greenland, solo and self-supported. I would raise money for charity and ensure that a little bit of good came out of a devastating loss.
Here is the link to my charity page: https://www.givewheel.com/fundraising/8074/act-for-olivia/
Link to my sister's blog: www.oekiwiwithlymphoma.blogspot.com
The Short Reality
It has taken quite a long time to feel able to speak about the experience.
The good luck was that there hadn't been a polar bear sighting in over a month.
The bad luck was that the weather was bad for the time of year (even by Greenland standards) and it was a very wet year overall.
There were blizzards, bogs and bad dreams. I finished and I am still alive.
During the experience I was often stunned at how awful it was. I thought often about how it was not as awful as losing Olivia. Not as awful as telling her coffin that she was going to be an aunty, as I did not get back to New Zealand before she died. If I wasn't running for her and everyone who had donated, I would have turned back early on.
The Very Long Cold Reality
As a person, I am a bit of an oxymoron. I can plan something on Excel to the millimetre while also turning up late to an event, still braiding my hair and chewing on a banana. Given I was on my own and would have only myself to rely on, I went full Excel mode. I read hiker's reports. I watched videos. I even followed a Facebook page. The month before I left we went on a family holiday to Italy. Later in the afternoons Scott would play with the kids in the pool while I lay in a lounger on the sun. After a few days I thought that I should reassure Scott that I was not being normal by doing something such as scrolling on my phone or napping. I was instead creating a kilometre by kilometre elevation graph on Excel because I was not satisfied with the ones I found online and thought the process would aid my memory. I drew pictures. It brings me so much joy. I know, my coolness radiates.
Researching kit took up a ridiculous amount of time. I am now the owner of a female specific mummy style sleeping bag. I know it is warm because on trialing it, I woke up with my face in the hood completely covered with sweat. My puffer jacket is super light. I weighed my fleece. I had trained with my bag for over a year but was gradual with adding weight. I had 8kg in my bag on my final training weekend and found it really heavy. It was a big load on the legs... and I have a strong set of pins. Unfortunately, I did need a good amount of kit for safety reasons so I needed 8kg before I had even added my water. That's nothing in comparison to the hikers who attempt the trail. Some had as much as 18kgs to get them through 11 days. I'd topple over like one of those baby toys.
Journey
Sunday 3rd August - Edinburgh to Copenhagen flight
Monday 4th August - Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq flight
Tuesday 5th August - Russell Glacier and Point 660 tour (buffer day because flights in Greenland are often delayed)
Wednesday 6th August - start running the Arctic Circle Trail from Kangerlussuaq
Thursday 7th August - running the Arctic Circle Trail
Friday 8th August - finish the trail in Sisimiut
Saturday 9th August - overnight ferry to Ilullisat
Sunday 10th August - boat amongst the icebergs
Monday 11th August - hike to icefjord
Tuesday 12th August - Ilulissat - Nuuk - Copenhagen flights
Wednesday 13th August - Copenhagen to Edinburgh flight
Kangerlussuaq
The flight arrived late and then it took a long time for checked in bags to come through. Many hikers were anxiously waiting to see if their bags would arrive. When my bag finally came, it was so much smaller than everyone elses that I bolted before people could question whether I knew what I was getting myself into. The only supermarket was closed so I managed to find a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar for my tea... from an ice cream kiosk of all places! I did not think ice cream would be a top seller in Greenland.
Kangerlussuaq is inland. Previously the airport was used by American military. The hostels there are old military accommodation. Sadly the main international airport has recently been moved to Nuuk which has hurt the community population. It has also caused flight chaos as Nuuk has unstable coastal weather. Kangerlussuaq is also home to the longest road in Greenland which was built for cold weather vehicle testing. It is only 51km long and mostly a 4x4 track which leads to a glacier at Point 660 (where polar bear prints were spotted a month or so back). I cannot remember the cost of the road per km but it is extortionate.
With my free Tuesday, I took a trip out to the ice sheet at Point 660 and the Russell Glacier. We spotted reindeer and arctic hares, walked on the glacier, watched some glacier calve and ate wild blueberries which grow on the ground. There are no trees! On return from my day tour to the glaciers, I was desperate to get something to eat having missed a meal the previous night and a lunch during the tour. Unfortunately there was either a malfunction with the refrigerators at the supermarket or a shipment had not come in. There was no refridgerated food and I instead had to resort to some instant pot pastas. Not brilliant a handful of hours before starting a journey where I was already restricted with my calories.
Kangerlussuaq to Kellyville - 10 miles (16km)
The official start to the Arctic Circle Trail (ACT) is at a research station called Kellyville, ten miles from Kangerlussuaq. Some people get a local to drive them along a gravel road to the start but as I planned to start early in the morning I decided to run the extra 10 miles. Initially I had planned to start when it got light at 4am but as I could not sleep, I ended up starting at 2:30am.
For safety I had to carry more technology that I would have liked. I am more of a ''start running when it's light, stop running when it's dark, call it a long run'' type of runner. I got a running watch less than two years ago simply so I could listen to music without shoving my phone down my crop top and ruining it with boob sweat. Now I own a Garmin In Reach (satellite emergency device in case I break a leg and need a helicopter rescue), some type of Garmin Forerunner watch that has the trail mapped and is giving me turn-by-turn instructions, my watch for music during desperate times, my phone on airplane mode and only used for photos, headphones, a charging pack and all the charging cords. I cannot decide if this makes me more Boomer or more Generation Alpha.
My Garmin In Reach and I do not get on. I have trialed Gertrude on a number of training runs. She requires a thousand different apps and seems to work differently every time. She insists on taking half an hour to get gps signal. Therefore my priority before starting is to go outside in the dark and leave her searching for signal in the pouring rain while I get myself ready. Just before I set off, I send messages to Scott and my younger sister Hillary to make sure they can see I am starting and the tracking link is working. Although Garmin typically sets the interval for sending location signals at 10 minutes, I have stretched mine out to one hour to preserve the battery. Scott confirms the tracking link is working and that Etta is unwell. How dare I run 100+ miles across Greenland for my dead sister without carrying a serious amount of mum guilt weight along with me?
Let's go...
The rain is torrential. The dirt road outside the accommodation is completely flooded. I think it's a bit humourous... for about half an hour. Just me, trundling through an isolated community in Greenland in the dark with my head torch for light. After about an hour I put on my waterproof trousers and my fleece layer. It's far too late; my rain jacket is already soaked and my running tights are saturated. It's COLD and the rain is still torrential.
One truck comes past. I don't get murdered. The homicide rate is higher than you initially think in Greenland.
I arrive at Kellyville, the official start, in the dark, wetter than a synchronised swimmer. I still can't decide if the two big white blobs I went past were boulders or tents. I do see my second arctic hare.
Kangerlussuaq to Katiffik - (total distance 40km)
At some point it stops raining but the damage is done. I can't understand why I am so cold. I never wear this much. I decide at the first official hut that I need to get dry clothes on under my waterproofs. Unfortunately, it is going to take a while to get there.
I miss a turn off from the 4x4 track to the 'trail' and have to willow stumble my way towards the lake. Calling it a trail is a loose term. I may have missed the turn off because most of the trail was fully under water. Once I have connected up to where my watch says the trail should be, it heads back in the direction of where I was and crosses the 4x4 track. Fortunately, I am still at the early stage where this does not cause a meltdown. Then I hit a long section where the gpx file on my watch wants me to veer right and follow a route. However, as it has been such a wet season and there is currently so much rain, everything to my right is just a lake. So I slosh through freezing water that comes up to just below my knees. I think I see a tent and some kayaks which throws me off a bit as I was not expecting them. It's too early in the morning to shout out a hello so I slosh on.
At about 30km I come bundling out of some bog to find a number of tents. There was a group starting the trail a day before me and I wonder if this is them after having got a lift to Kellyville. A few hikers are eating their breakfast or using the willow facilities. It is a pack-in, pack-out policy on the trail so we all either have to dig and bury, or wrap our loo roll up in a bag and hope we don't put our hands in it later. I just jog through, freezing cold and mumble a few good mornings. As I navigate some swamp, a few girls poke their head out of their tent to chat and wish me luck. It sort of woke me up and commited me to say aloud what I was doing and spurred me on.
A brief incline, around a corner, glance down ahead. Not a good sight. Two lakes have joined. Later a walker will tell me that at this time of year, we should have been able to walk straight across. The hiking season for the trail is short, predominantly from June to August. For the rest of the year, it's a good trail for sled dogs and snowmobiles. June and July are when the trail is typically wetter and boggier, while it should not be as bad in August (although still wet and boggy!)
Unfortunately, it's not a normal year. It's a wet year. You know, because being a full-time working mother trying to tackle this on my own isn't hard enough. Analysing how to cross the water took a long time. Even getting close enough to see the width of the crossing and the speed of the flow requires me to hop on sinking reeds knee-deep in the water. I do not have walking poles; partly because I am of the old school ultra runner variety when they were considered cheating sticks, and also because I have just never used them so don't know how helpful they could be (what you don't know, won't hurt you). This means that if I cannot see the bottom, I cannot gauge the depth with a pole. As it is not technically a river, it's a merging of two lakes, there are submerged river grasses I can try and jump for to prevent myself from going deeper than my waist. These do not have solid bases so I cannot hang about or I will sink fast and get my feet stuck in the sinking sand. Decisions are made quickly and my vocal output volleys between screaming 'think happy thoughts,' telling myself not to stop and swearing repeatedly. Olivia taught me the saying 'think happy thoughts' for when we were trying to pull up our skinny jeans as teenagers. She'll be delighted to know that skinny jeans are finally out of fashion.
Once I am out, I don't stop. The adrenalin followed by the shock of the ice cold crossing propels me up the hill. It takes a while before I realise my feet are so cold that I can barely feel them. The wind slaps my swollen face about. I just have to keep moving. It's hard to make out a trail anywhere, difficult to know when to trust the gpx file and when to just try and move forward. It's water, willow and bog. At one point just before Kaffilik Hut (the first hut), I follow what I thought was the clearest trail all morning. Unfortunately it went in the opposite direction and I then had to stumble over willow and shuffle down rocks to get to the hut.
Although the hut was small (think bothy rather than hut), there was also a wee shed with long drop. I decided to enjoy this luxury, feeling positive that I had made this first marker. Upon trying to exit the long drop, I realised that the lock had jammed. I am assuming this was due to the wood contracting when wet. While intelligent of me to make such an observation, I was still faced with the reality that I was possibly going to die of hypothermia alone in a long drop in Greenland. While an amusing story for someone unrelated to read on my tombstone, it's not the way my palm reading as a child said I'd go (although I'm pretty sure I am meant to own a swimming pool at some point). After many desperate shoves and swears, I break free from my lavatory prison and drip towards the hut.
The hut is empty and clean. I am desperate to put dry clothing on. With this decision also comes a lot of anxiety; there is no chance of getting my wet clothing dry and putting on a new set means I have less dry clothes for tomorrow. I already had four top layers on, two leg layers, a merino buff, a hood and yet I was still freezing. I do not bother changing my wet socks and shoes as they are going to get soaked again straight away. How heavy wet clothing is did not even cross my mind, I was so scared at how cold was. I eat a pouch of creamed rice.
Distance covered: 40 freezing km
Katiffik to Canoe Centre - 20km
In long ultras you expect things to get a bit messy; vision gets blurry, you start stumbling, hallucinations, fatigue, you stop eating, develop an inability to regulate body temperature. If there was anyone to talk to, my speech would start to become less coherent. For me in the last year, these symptoms have started after about 15 hours of being on the move, mostly running. Today, these symptoms started after a few hours. Although I haven't fallen, I need to be very careful as I am often tripping up. I could probably get through with a broken arm but not with a broken leg. There is only one rescue option on the Arctic Circle Trail and that's a helicopter. There's also only one rescue helicopter in Greenland. Greenland is a big place so good luck if you need it in a hurry. It also costs about £30,000. Yes, I've got insurance but we all know they'll do everything to get out of paying. Suddenly their policy on hiking also contains an exclusion clause around being a female, being solo and or being near where a polar bear was sighted a year ago.
Do polar bears like rain?
How does a helicopter land in bog anyway?
Just try to focus and not break any bones.
I understand I am too cold. I understand the best I can do is keep moving. I understand if I do not do this, it will become increasingly hard for my brain to make rational safe decisions. Not making a rational decision in this environment will involve walking into a swamp or lake and dying of hypothermia.
Can't move any faster. My legs are fine. My back is fine. The trail is non existent and not runnable. It is a thoroughly drenched environment. Dreicht. Every foot placement requires focus so that I do not lose a shoe or end up eating bog.
And then there are some boulders. On my rudimentary geek map I did draw some boulders and fugured I wouldn't miss them. My gpx route tells me that I should again be to my right, which would require me to be fully immersed in the lake. Instead I clamber over boulders with some new found joy. At one humourous point, I find myself teetering on a boulder with the lake water lapping at my feet. It's swim or pull out a Janja Garnbret rock climbing move. I can see that a previous human has dropped an oat bar down a gap in the boulders, presumably from a side pocket of their pack. I cannot reach it to remove the litter (or eat it, gobble, gobble) but am comforted in the thought that someone else has taken this route in the past too. Somehow I manage to lift a leg higher than a Soviet gymnast and clamber up. At the top, I fist pump myself and shout how awesome I am.
Further along I spot my first wild hiker. A solo walker with a lime green waterproof bag cover. A hallucination or the real thing? As this part is runnable I catch the real life German hiker quickly. He's walked the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way previously! He does not look to be having the best time and I am with him on that judgement.
Here the gpx wants me to be to my left but there is a faint trail right next to the lake to my right. I spend some time going back and forth trying to find the right spot but finally give up on the gpx for this segment.
Some more swamp and then the Canoe Centre comes into view.
Distance covered: 60 soaking kilometres
Canoe Centre to Ikkattooq Hut - 22km
The canoe centre was built as an attempt to run canoe trips on the lake. Due to the difficulty of getting to the lake and general bad weather in Greenland, the business was abandoned, alongside the canoes. The centre that is left serves as a large hut. Hikers often wish to find canoes here so that they can spend a segment canoeing rather than walking. They are old, heavy and apparently patched with duct tape! I had no intention of getting a canoe because I am more of a legs girl than an arms girl.
At the hut a Slovenian hiker informs me that the weather is expected to turn worse at about 7pm and that many hikers were sheltering in their huts or tents rather than walking. Before I started the weather forecast was for snow which is unusual this early in August. I have run in snow plenty of times so had assumed that with enough layers on I would be warm. However, having been cold since 2:30am, the idea of a blizzard makes me uneasy. I decide that rather than push on to the Eqalugaarniarfik hut before getting warm for a few hours, I will need to stop short at Ikkattooq hut for safety. I do a final gear sort and head out.
There was probably some more bog but I have blocked it out of my memory. I am feeling a bit panicked about the trail not being runnable and conscious the weather is going to get worse.
Occasionally I think I hear voices but I cannot see anyone either ahead or behind me. Then I spot a figure on a mountain and think that it may be a hunter sitting on a stool, presumably with binoculars looking at the musk ox or some reindeer. Upon climbing the hill, I am disappointed to find it is just a rock. Can I hear those voices again?
I stop to fill up my bottles with some water as the upcoming hut is not next to the water and I need some for my dehydrated pasta. Why have I not mentioned filling up water yet? That's because it's so cold, I have not even drunk the 1.5 litres I started with 18 hours ago.
Finally, I see the hut.
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| Tiny little Ikkatooq hut in the distance, taken from the ACT website, visibility was not so good for me |
As I burst through the door of the Ikkattooq hut at about 8:30pm I look in quite a dishevelled state. I am greeted by 4-5 Greenlander and Danish hikers. I ask if there is room, knowing that despite sheltering earlier than I planned, any hikers out will have finished for the day. I am willing to huddle in my sleeping bag in a corner if needed to get warm. It's not needed. They clear a bench, share a sleeping mat and even blow me up a pillow! As I fill my dehydrated pasta with cold water and wait the 40 minutes for it to be ready, I am fed salted whale and dried fish. A very special memory and I could not have got more fortunate than who I shared the hut with.
Scott and my sister Hillary are tracking me and should be receiving an update on my location about every hour. Therefore I need to use Gertrude ( Garmin In Reach) to send them a message as to why they will not see my dot moving for a while. Typing on an In Reach is a hassle in the best of times. Typing on an In Reach when your vision is blurry, you are falling asleep and your fingers can no longer do any fine fine motor tasks is particularly tricky. So the message Scott received was this:
*Bad weatheramhajfway sheltering in hut tonite*
He got the idea.
I charge my Forerunner watch first as it contains the most convenient mapping. It had dropped to about 19% in charge. I chose to get an Anker Nano Power Bank and it charges my watch quickly. Next, I plug in Getrude for the night as she will enable me to send the emergency message if I end up lost or with a broken bone. I won't be in Sisimiut until Friday now that I have decided to shelter early. Hillary is waiting at the end. It is disappointing but I try not to let the sadness overwhelm me as I am still just halfway into my journey and need to save all my emotions for the next parts.
Once in my sleeping bag I fall asleep quickly. At some point in the night I venture into the wilderness to use the willow loo. The blizzard is still swirling so I go back into my sleeping bag.
Ikkattooq Hut to Eqalugaarniarfik Hut - 11km
At around 5am, I wake and start to get ready, pulling my pack and belongings out onto the steps of the hut. The wood is covered in ice. As it is now dry, I keep my puffer jacket on under my rain jacket to start the first climb. I need to keep the jacket dry so I can wear it if I break my leg somewhere or need to shelter in a hut. Decisions yesterday over how much to wear while keeping some dry gear for today caused me too much anxiety. I send a message to Hillary via Gertrude to let her know that I am starting. It can be tricky to know if messages go through. Although I left both my watch and In Reach tracking as I was sleeping, Gertrude turned the tracking off herself. Fortunately, when I started her tracking again, she did notify Scott that I had restarted, although it took a while for the message to go through. Therefore, there was concern from headquarters that I had not restarted... and tears when Scott realised I had.
The first climb is nice but then I go the wrong way around a lake for 20 minutes and have to backtrack, costing me more time I do not have. I am light on calories but decide to scoff both a creamed rice and and an apple sauce gel within an hour as I am hungry. This segment is shorter at just 11km but it contains the biggest river crossing of the trail. Two years ago during a wet year, a bridge which crosses the river washed away. Fortunately, a new one was erected just weeks ago. Unfortunately, there is no trail leading to the new bridge or even faint tracks to follow. It is easier to follow the track to the river crossing. However, the latest update I had was that the river crossing was sitting at 1.50m deep... and that was before the torrential rain. For those of you unaware of my epic stature - I am 1.57m tall. And the river flows fast. It's from a glacier after all! I heard later that the river was the highest level recorded.
My new Greenlandic and Danish family had warned me that there were also a few scary crossings getting to the bridge. Some of them would be chest height on me and I would not have poles to check the different depths. After sloshing what felt like aimlessly through swamp, I come across the first tricky crossing. It is not particularly wide but it's too wide for me to jump (afterwards when I am retelling this story to Scott I'll claim that I am a 'good jumper' which he now regularly reminds me of)! I spend a long time going up and down, sloshing in the reeds, trying to find the best option. I do the full river preparations; everything waterproofed, bags straps undone. Eventually I opt to go knee deep and jump onto reeds next to the bank on the opposite site which were also knee deep and pull myself out.
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| A fun game of when will you sink, when won't you? |
Then I slosh again. Some cairns have been placed randomly as markers but they zig zag across the swamp and do not seem to make much sense. I read afterwards that during wet times it may be easier to walk next to the river bed instead. I think perhaps making different gpx routes for dry years and wet years might be a good idea.
Crossing the river bed brought it's own challenge in the form of sinking sand. Wow, that sucks you down quickly. After some high pitched screaming and some general stubbornness I avoid a Jumanji scene. The mud stuck to my shoes is so heavy that I search for some rocks to scrape it off on. The bridge finally comes into view and it's a simple cross over a fast river. The next hut comes into view shortly after, brightening my mood. I don't pop my head in, assuming that any hikers who might be inside may still be sleeping.
Distance covered: Should be 92km but as I went the wrong way it probably ended up being about 96km
Eqalugaarniarfik Hut to Innajuatooq Hut - 19km
The morning is dry and I am no longer cold. This is helped by climbing up a hill. My splits slow even further from the climbing but I am enjoying this section. There is no swamp on the uphill sections which means I can relax. I see numerous reindeer. Despite it being hunting season, the reindeer come much closer than I expect. They are going to taste delicious when I eat them tomorrow. It is easy to spot the different prints on the trail; musk ox, reindeer, arctic hare and arctic fox. I just see the musk ox from afar which suits me fine. I have heard that there are some arctic fox dens near the trail but I do not follow their paw prints as I do not have a rabies vaccination.
Hopping through an unmemorable bog, I become complacent and my shoe slips off. There have been many close calls so for this pathetic bog to have been successful is quite amusing. I wade back into the bog in my sock and gallantly immerse my hand into the sludge to fetch it out.
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| Lakes with sandy shores and snow capped mountains |
As I approach the top of a hill I see a hiker sitting next to a boulder and a reindeer runs straight past her! I thought she may have had it lined up for a photo but she was closing her eyes! She is only the second hiker I have seen out on the trail as opposed to in a hut or tent. As I am speaking to Monika from Germany, three hikers come up the hill from the opposite direction. Crowded trail! This is more than half the hikers I will see walking all in one place. We speak of the previous days blizzards and then move on before the hill chill starts.
While the gpx from the Arctic Circle Trail website contains many errors, there is one known one. Scott edited it for me so that I would go south of the next lake rather than looping to the north. However, we had to make the route up so for the next part I slosh through swamp rather than managing to find any trail to follow. Approaching the Innajuatooq huts is confusing as there is a sign pointing in two directions but then cairns going in a perpendicular direction. I decide to follow the cairns with the official red semi circles and reindeer antlers on top only to find that they went to nowhere. It was frustratingly common to find a part trail and then it completely disappear into nothing. I had to willow whack my up to the first Innajuatooq hut, sapping my energy.
My stomach rumbles. Better get used to the hunger and embrace it.
With today being warmer (I think it was six degrees Celsius), the mosquitos were out in full force and I have to jog along with a full midgie net on. Less than convenient. I bought one to wear with my sun cap underneath but my sun cap is somewhere wet in my bag and I cannot be bothered to take everything out to find it. Refilling my water has to be done more regularly. Although there is plenty of water about, it is a faff, taking time and providing golden opportunities for the beasties to bite.
There are two huts but I just jog past them both.
Distance covered: 112km (+ a few extras!)
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| One of the Innajuatooq Huts |
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| The sun is out and so are the mosquitos! |
Innajuatooq Huts to Nerumaq Hut - 18km
Immediately past the huts is a river crossing. The French Russian hikers I had spoken to along with Monika, had warned of the level of the river crossing and suggested that with my height I might need to try downstream. I spend a long time climbing over rocks next to the river trying to find the safest place to cross. Wider is sometimes shallower but I could not find a spot that was below my waist the whole way across and the river was flowing too fast to go deeper than that on my own without poles. I can see how in drier times, there would be some rock jumping as a possibility but definitely not today. Eventually I end up back at the mouth of the river where it emptied from the lake and power across with the water just above my knees.
Reindeer stare at me from the trail as I get into the swing of a nice trail for jogging. Other than the annoying midgie net and worry about time, this current part of the experience is palatable. At some point I stop at a boulder, conscious that I need to check on the battery life of my devices and I feel a bit mentally exhausted. I plug my phone into the power bank and put them both in my front pouch. My second Snickers bar has finally defrosted. I look forward to the energy that gives me soon. Those Snickers bars are precious.
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| Dishevelled in the sun |
I pass and talk briefly to a Greenlandic couple who are hiking. They also got caught in the blizzard the day before but as Greenlanders, they are taking it in their stride. There are patches of snow around and some of the mountains are beautifully dusted.
At the end of a gradual downhill, a trail appears to my right. Quite a good trail by ACT standards. After running along it for a few hundred metres, I notice that I am off track and should be down to my right. I cannot see a trail to my right and the trail I am currently on is visible. Another one of those tough decisions; is the gpx map right or wrong this time? After running up a mountain and doing two straightforward river crossings, I run out of trail. After climbing up for a second time, I spot a trail down below. Unknown to me, I did not turn my phone off video mode as I put it in my front pouch and I have an 80 minute video of me running along, waterproofs swishing where I have tied them on the side of my bag. The video also captures the audio of when I spot the trail I am supposed to be on. After swearing and saying aloud that I should be ''down there'' I then casually proclaim that I might as well take a photo of the view with the snowy mountains. I am not sure what the middle section of the video contains yet... maybe some good listening for next time I have insomnia.
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| Snow and wild hair |
I evaluate my options. The weather has turned quickly and is now cold and windy. I would like to get off this mountain. Scott won't like the decision I am about to make and he's going to be really annoyed if this is how I end up breaking my leg. I shuffle down the cliff on my bottom, using my hands behind me when needed. I mostly have it under control and do arrive at the bottom safely. In hindsight though, probably not a good decision.
Now, let's get to the next hut and put some layers on before the next section. The sky is not looking good and I do not have the patience to be stopped by another blizzard. The next night stretch is important to get right for safety. I need to decide which layers are the driest and going to keep me the warmest. Annoyingly, my microfleece is still soaked from yesterday morning and I do not want to get my puffer wet and cold yet. The two best pieces of clothing I took with me were made with merino wool. The first was a long sleeve icebreaker top which belonged to Olivia. I wore it on a hiking trip in the snow the week after she passed away. It has a few holes but I love it dearly. The second was a merino vest which was given to me by my friend Nicole when she left St Andrew's University to return to New Zealand. Sadly, Nicole passed away in a cycling accident in 2014. Both are generous and intelligent women who made the world a better place by being in it. They both loved to travel and I feel comforted that I could bring them both to Greenland with me.
As I arrive at Nerumaq Hut at about 6:30pm to get changed, I meet Leonie from South Africa. I am pleased to see her in her London Marathon t-shirt and we compare years that we each ran it. Leonie offers me a hot drink which would have been lovely but I feel the need to press on quickly and get as much of the next section done as possible before it gets dark. I have not remembered what the next section entails but thankfully Leonie has Paddy Dillon's book to hand and takes me through what is next. First, I am to cross the same river three times. Then, it will be horrendous bog swamp. Leonie has been told by some Greenlandic hikers that at some point the quad bike track will be visible and in these conditions it may be a better option.
Scott and Hillary expressed after I finished that they thought I would stop at this hut and shelter for the evening as they had also read about the next section being horrid. But I really want to get this finished and there are no blizzards right now stopping me.
Official distance covered : 130km (although after going off track again, it will be more)
Nerumaq Hut to Kangerluarsuk Tulleq Syd - 17km
I am extremely grateful that Leonie warned me of the river crossings, otherwise I would not have been mentally prepared for three deep tricky crossings. The first crossing is within minutes of leaving the hut. Again, I take a long time walking up and down the river bed to find the best crossing point. I can see exit points which hikers have used on the other side of the river but I suspect that is for when the river is not so high. I can also see a tent on a peninsula on the other side of the river and would love for the hikers to come out so that I can ask how they crossed!
Sadly in 2018 a hiker went missing on the trail and was never found. He was last seen near a river crossing and is presumed to have been swept away. Therefore, I take a lot of time with my river crossings to make sure I am being as careful as I can. Inside my bag, all my kit is in dry bags. This is a nightmare for packing as it is hard to condense gear down but unfortunately essential. To cross a river safely, I need to unclip my bag at the front. As I have an extra pouch on the front (annoyingly my bag does not have front waist pockets), I also have to remove this and place it in a dry bag within my bigger bag. Although I am fine about getting my tights wet and my socks and shoes are already wet, I take my waterproof trousers off for the crossings so that they do not fill up with water. All this takes so much time.
Then, once the safest crossing is picked, it is a case of moving quickly but carefully. I prefer the river crossings with rocks at the bottom as you can see the depth better. Fortunately this river has rocks. Water below my waist means I have more control over my leg movement and are less likely to topple over. Where I cannot see the bottom, I try to cross near a big rock so that I can hug the rock and pull myself across that section in the water rather than go up to my chest. A chest height crossing with the cold and fast flowing water, combined with wearing a backpack and being on my feet for over 15 hours while not having enough to eat, is too deep to be safe for me.
Across and then swamp with no defined trail. River crossing again. I go through the procedure all over again. Waterproof trousers off, front pouch off, kit secure in dry bags, straps undone, pace along the side of the river looking for a safe crossing. ''It is strong but you are stronger,'' I yell at myself each time I approach a strong flow of water. I use all the strength in my legs to keep me from getting swept downstream. I do not take any photographs or videos of the river crossings because if Scott sees what I crossed, he won't ever let me leave the house again on my own!
I have peed six times in half an hour. It's too cold again.
Then swamp again. Then the final river crossing for this section. It's late at night but not yet dark. I'm tired. The same river crossing procedure again. I need to be careful, vision is blurry.
And then it's dark. On a clear night, a soft light might remain but tonight is not a clear night. It's raining and I am about to trudge through kilometres of bog. I put on my head torch and make sure Gertrude is riding in my front pouch. When she is tucked in my bag she can struggle to get gps signal and it won't update for my fans. It also means that I have easy access to it if I need it from my pouch, an important consideration given my current surroundings. I never even see a quad boke track so that's not even an option to consider.
It feels so dark with just my head torch.
It is boggy swamp next to the lake but no path to see so I just have to trust the line on my watch.
Relentless rain.
I cannot die in this bog.
I fall into the bog multiple times, stumbling out and onwards.
It is so cold.
Snowflakes start to slowly flutter down.
I cannot die in this bog. I really don't think my life should end this way.
Please don't do anything silly like go swimming in the lake.
I'm so tired.
I can see something on that hill ahead of me. A hallucination? It's a hut! As I barge through the wooden door I am partly relieved that it is empty. While a little company may have been nice, it is after 2am in the morning, I stink, need to eat and sort my gear out. I fill my chocolate moose up with cold water so it can settle while I get organised and try to get warm. I sent Hillary a message via Gertrude to say I will begin again when there is some light. There is at least one big river crossing in the final section and I do not think it is a sensible decision to cross it alone and in the dark after about 21 hours on the go this second day. Stripped of my latest wet gear, I keep my two trusty merino layers on, add my puffer jacket, fleece hat, dry socks and shuffle into my sleeping bag. I do not manage to get warm but at least I spend a few hours not drowning in a river or dying in a bog.
Official distance covered: 147 nightmare inducing kilometres
Kangerluarsuk Tulleq Syd to Sisimiut (THE END!) - 20km
Distance covered: 174km
My 4am cold mousse is excellent. I did not mix it properly so sometimes it is like I am eating luxurious hot chocolate powdered from a packet, something I am known to do in the house at desperate times whe I have consumed all other forms of chocolate. At 5am there is some light and the snow is swirling lightly. I message Hillary to say I am starting but that it will take a long time. Although I approached the hut quicker than I thought last night, I still have not worked out that means there is more distance to cover than I think. There is a second hut in this area but I had forgotten so do not see it. I suspect that this is where other hikers will have stayed as after seeing Leonie last night, I will not see any other hikers.
Let's get these miles finished.
Bog, bog, bog. Some steep hills as the trail meets the quad bike track. I am caught by surprise that there are three or four river crossings where I need to spend time looking at crossing options, taking off my waist pack, blah, blah, blah. I was only expecting one major river crossing. The snow has given way to a relentless rain. It's cold but at least when I finish I can get warm. Huge waterfalls fly off the hills through the mist. I did not take any photos because I could not be bothered getting my waist pack out of my backpack.
I did not bother eating or drinking during the final section. Hunger was the least of my concerns. Upon finishing I had one apple sauce gel sachet left. I did have quite a few electrolyte tabs as sweating was not a problem I faced!
As I trudge up a hill, head down, half covered in my rain hood and listening to the power ballad Bang Bang by an all mighty female trio, I spot a figure further ahead. When the figure starts waving like it is in a YMCA dance-off, I realise it's my sister Hillary! She has come out of the town and walked up the hill to wait for me. She has stood up the hill in the wind and rain for three hours waiting for me. She was on the verge of hypothermia herself.
At some point I lost one of my gloves. Unfortunately, it is the left glove, the hand that my watch is on showing me the route. This means pulling my rain jacket down over my hand to keep it warm is not possible. So after a brief hug and wah, wah, I ask if I can have one of her gloves for the final run into town. Hillary wants us to huddle behind a boulder to get some shelter from the weather while she messages Scott to let him know that I am alive. But I'm not stopping! This is the most runnable track we have had in days. I am cold, wet and wondering what time breakfast stops at the hotel! I haven't eaten proper food since I left Copenhagen!
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| Final stretch and a decent bit of trail |
Once off the hill we go past all the husky dogs, bored while they wait for winter to arrive. Although, over two months later as I am finishing writing this, I can see the weather in Greenland is warmer than when I was there in August! It feels like a long slog through the village of Sisimiut before we arrive at our hotel. We hear a helicopter buzzing above, a sign that someone is being rescued.
The finish is a blur. It may have been check out time at the hotel as reception felt busy and we were able to stuble into a lift, drenched head to toe without too many side glances. After entering the room, I take everything off so Hillary can take my gear down to the laundry. Every item has been used and needs a wash! Hillary kindly hand washes my shoes in the shower, takes them to the drying room and comes up with a plate full of rolls, meats, cheeses and eggs. The room is piled with snacks and some requests I made in advance... such as hair conditioner for all these beach hair knots.
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| Finishing the Arctic Circle Trail |
Numbers:
- 174km covered (108 miles)
- 55 hours from start to finish, approximately 43 hours on foot outside of huts
- 4639m in elevation
- I will apply for the women's fastest known time (FKT)
- Less than 2000 calories consumed!
Adrenalin and a desire to make the most of my time with Hillary stops me from crashing. Later Hillary goes out to get my Arctic Circle Trail completion patch and I fall asleep on the bed with all the lights still on.
The day before I left Scott had told me that he had booked Hillary and I a spa and sauna at the hotel with a bottle of champagne for when I finished. It was going to be a surprise but when we saw the weather forecast he was worried I might not make it back for 3pm. I did, but when I stayed so long at the hut the first night, they decided to reschedule. Which meant that Hillary and I got to enjoy some delicious reindeer and musk ox for tea before a late night sauna and spa.
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Celebrating finishing the Arctic Circle Trail
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Recovery was good, aside from my feet. The adrenalin meant that during the trail, nothing hurt. But the hotel had underfloor heating in the bathroom and I got chill blains from walking on it after I finished and showered. I ended up having to put towels on the floor. So my feet were swollen too big for any footwear for a few days and one foot got some extra nerve damage and lost feeling for a few weeks. My blisters were not a big deal at all, which was a shame as I had threatened to send anyone who sponsored my photos at the end! Although a month later, the skin on the bottom of my feet all peeled off!
I am delighted to have seen so many reindeer and huskies, two arctic hares, herds of musk ox and arctic fox prints (but not catching rabies). I took the overnight ferry up to Illulissat where I saw a humpback whale from my hotel balcony and took a boat through the ice bergs at night.
In the weeks following my expedition, I heard the following stories;
- A hiker falling into the river and getting hypothermia
- Groups turning back to Kangerlussuaq and not making the full distance due to the cold
- A hiker being rescued from the trail via helicopter
- An alleged polar bear sighting near Katiffik Hut
- The river levels are reported to be at their highest levels since records began
- Numerous mountain rescue stories from within the UK
- A hiker being rescued from Norway after going missing and falling
- Runners stopping on the Race Across Scotland (an organised race with a route, checkpoints and a crew) due to feeling hypothermic
- A runner stopping an attempt at a FKT in the UK due to dangerous river crossings
So, I am grateful that I made safe decisions and also perservered to the end.
This blog post has been long enough so I will write my kit list in a separate post at a later date!
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| Throwing myself in for some desensitisation to cope with being cold, wet and in more bog |
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| Greenland buffet while whale spotting |
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| Just some giant icebergs |
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