Bruised and battered... but Britons say it was worth it as they beat ice cap record
A BRITISH adventurer and his team of polar explorers have beaten the record for the fastest crossing of Greenland’s ice cap.
Tom Avery, along with team mates Patrick Woodhead, George Wells and South African-born Andrew Gerber, clinched the coast-to-coast record yesterday in a time of nine days, 19 hours and 40 minutes.
The expedition took more than eight days off the previous record of 17 days, 21 hours and 30 minutes to complete the 350-mile trip. The previous record was set by Briton Matt Spenceley and his Luxembourg team mate Patrick Peters in 2008.
Mr Avery’s team also hold the record for the fastest surface journey across the North Pole.
Speaking from Greenland, where the team barely slept over the last nine days to break the record, Mr Avery said: “We are black and blue, dehydrated, weather-beaten, frost-nipped – and it was all worth it. To cross the world’s largest island in under 10 days – we still can not believe it. We are delighted but we are shattered and exhausted more than we have ever been in our lives.”
The east-to-west crossing was made famous by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen whose expedition in 1888 took 49 days to complete.
Mr Avery, of Gloucestershire, Mr Woodhead, of Kensington, London, Mr Wells, of Bury St Edmunds, and Edinburgh-based Mr Gerber are planning a celebration get-together with their families.