To plan for everything is impossible, but you have to plan for as much as possible. Before Pole2Pole I knew that there were many things that would be completely new to me, like snow kite and polar crossings.
I had already spent a lot of time in polar regions like Antarctica, the Arctic and Northwest Passage, but those expeditions were more scientific than adventurous, so this would be a challenge. In Antarctica, I met Rune Gjeldnes, who introduced me to the kite, and I spent many weeks with him in Norway before the big crossing, which was only a training expedition for the big one.
Pole2Pole would be 180 days in polar regions with kite, ski and sled, so I needed all the help I could get. I read a lot about the early explorers and how they learned from natives and people with more experience, so why not take their advice and learn from the best and Ronny was known to be the best at kite and was also a world record holder in kite.
Crossing Greenland from South to North has been made before, not many times, but it had been done which was a big advantage when we had 1700 km in front of us. We flew up on the glacier and started a month-long expedition over the ice cap. After a few weeks we had to walk off the glacier and then ski the rest due to melting ice. We had everything from extreme winds to sunny days. This was the perfect place for me to train for the 2400 km long crossing in Antarctica.
Kite over Greenland
