It's good to talk

We have just acquired our SAT phone for the expedition - the number is...

Yeah, right!? It costs something like £15 per min - stick to leaving messages on the blog :)

Less than a week to go...

This time next week we will be in Kangerlussuaq :)

Good news - my new insurance docs arrived in my post box this morning! A company called 'PJ Hayman' came to my rescue.

So that should be everything sorted...

Beard is coming along nicely too :)

End of a dream?

I have just received a phone call from my insurance company telling me that they can no longer insure me for the trip :'(

Good news is that the rest of the group are still insured.

However, it has taken me two months to find a company that has the right cover for an adventure such as ours.

I now have ten days to find another...

PoNR

No! The title is not a typo :)

I have been doing a little route planning...

If we do not cross the 44º W line of Longtitude by the end of Sunday 8th August 2006, we will have to turn around and ski back to Kangerlussuaq :(

Which do you prefer?

It looks sooooooo professional! Still no word on whether it's a done deal yet, but they must be interested...

We are allowed to go!

Today we received official confirmation from the Danish Polar Centre that our expedition can go ahead :)

Dirty Harry never had a gun like this

Everything seems to be falling into place...

We just need to sort out the sat phones, insurance,... oh and a way of protecting ourselves from the polar bears!

We are at war!

A bidding war that is!

Matt and Iain are in negotiations with two companies to become primary sponsors for the expedition.

Once we have 'sold out', we will have to change the name of our expedition (not that it really has one anyway) and the company will use our photos to show they are comitted to polar exploration!

I'll do anything for money :)

All Gone

That's it!

All our stuff is winging it's way to Greenland - hope it makes it...

ASDA online

Today Alistair received a very polite phone call from ASDA asking him never to do a shop like this again...

He ordered the food for our expedition online to take advantage of their free delivery on orders over £50 - bet they didn't see this coming :)

We wiped them out of Pepperami - I am so proud!

More shopping!

This time it's for food - below is a sample of what we have bought.

13kg of Porridge
13kg of Peanut M&Ms
13kg of Sweets
5kg of Cous Cous
7kg of Banana flakes

Guess how many Pepperamis we have bought?

The Last Supper

This will be the last time we are all together till we meet in Copenhagen. So we had a lovely meal and a drop or two of some fine port.

After the meal Matt decided to show us his fire breathing skills - using Alistair's Cypriot 90% 'Pure Alcohol'. It was very impressive.

Here's Iain showing you how it's done...



And here's Alistair... erm... showing you his skills...

The Weigh In

This afternoon we had to weigh all our gear to ensure we met the stringent (and some might say stingy) baggage allowance on our Air Greenland flights.

Special delivery

That's it!

Everything packed - it just needs posting to Greenland now...

Food glorious food

BREAKFAST
Porridge
Crunchy cereal
Peanut M&Ms
Chocolate protein drink

LUNCH
Pepperami
Plastic cheese
Banana flakes
Ginger nut biscuits
Nuts
Raisins
Fruit pastilles

EVENING MEAL
Starter: Soup
Monday ........ Curried Cous Cous and Beanfeast
Tuesday ....... Garlic & Herb Smash and Beanfeast
Wednesday ... 5 Spices Noodles and Beanfeast
Thursday ...... Chilli Cous Cous and Beanfeast
Friday ......... Mustard Smash and Beanfeast
Saturday ...... Noodles, Gravy and, yep you've guessed it - Beanfeast!!

Sunday is a special day...
For on this day we eat Gnocci and Sauce. We also have a pudding, clean underwear and clean socks!

Just hanging around...

Poor Ems spent most of this morning dangling off a banister so that Alistair and I could practice setting up a pulley system for crevasse rescue.

Can you spot the deliberate (!?) mistake?

Skis

After all my careful planning, the bindings I bought were 5mm too big for my skis :(

Luckily, those nice chaps at Backcountry UK helped me out.

All the gear...

Bought the clothes that I will be living in for the duration of the expedition - spent far too much money :(

How many boxer shorts would you take on a 5 week expedition?

Route C

The Itinerary

Day One: Travel to Copenhagen.

Day Two: Travel to Kangerlussuaq.

Collect equipment and fuel.

Day Three: Transfer to the Icecap.

Days Four to Thiry Nine: Ski

Day Forty: Transfer to Kulusuk.

Day Forty One: Travel to Kangerlussuaq.

Days Forty Two & Forty Three: Rest Days

Day Forty Four: Travel to Copenhagen

Day Forty Five: Travel to Germany.

The Challenge

5 people. 500km. 30 days. Polar bears...