Kiwi adventurers survive 560km ski trip of Greenland ice cap
One of the first things Christchurch adventurer Hollie Woodhouse did after completing a 560-kilometre ski touring expedition across the Greenland ice cap was to have a Bacon Bros burger.
The 33-year-old returned to the city yesterday morning and by 1pm was enjoying a meal at the central eatery.
‘‘I’ve been dreaming of this all the way across Greenland,’’ she said.
Woodhouse and her fellow explorers, including fellow Kiwi Brando Yelavich and Australians Bridget Kruger and Keith Parsons, were selected for the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Inspiring Explorer’s Expedition from a pool of 200 applicants.
The explorers left Greenland’s west coast on May 4 and reached their destination, the small east coast village of Tasiilaq, on June 2. On the expedition’s last day, they were skiing for 21 hours.
Woodhouse said it felt like they were on a plane home soon after they arrived.
‘‘It was a fast turnaround – we were out on the ice longer than expected.’’
Now she was home, the enormity of the experience had begun to sink in.
For Woodhouse, the trip was the biggest mental and physical challenge she had ever faced.
She said the explorers had a lot of ‘‘thinking time’’ as they pulled 60 kilogram sleds containing all their gear.
The team experienced delays due to bad weather, with snow storms often making it hard to walk. On days when the weather was too severe, the team lay in their tents, slept, or in Woodhouse’s case, read books.
‘‘It was nice to give the body a rest,’’ she said.
Pre-trip, Woodhouse was most nervous about the cold, but found it was not an issue, and while they did experience hurricane conditions and a wind chill factor of minus 39 degrees Celsius that meant some got frostbite, she said nothing serious occurred.
The expedition was sponsored by Kathmandu, which provided the group with gear.
Woodhouse said she would jump at the opportunity to repeat the trip and hoped what she had done would inspire others.
‘‘It’s so important for people – it’s the idea of setting a goal and achieving it,’’ she said.
After 29 days away, Woodhouse was most looking forward to catching up with family and friends.