By Hands - by Feet - by Blog - expedition updates

Two of Britain's top politicians have added their congratulations to the By Hands and Feet across Greenland team.
21 July 2006

Due out in September - Karen's book 'If You Fall'.
30 June 2006

Posted by Karen: 'This week I was back at the schools with Careers Scotland, catching up with the young people. We shared stories about our recent goals and challenges. I showed pictures of the Greenland adventure, along with the stories of the highs, lows, fears, challenges, ‘WOW!’ moments and, of course, what happened to the gnome.'
29 June 2006

At last, we are now beginning to get some pictures of the expedition in. Over coming weeks we hope to accumulate much more of a visual record. Looks spectacular.
22 June 2006

One of the expedition's key partners / supporting organisations is the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. This short update tells you a little about the trust's work and explains how it helps many different people achieve their ambitions.
14 June 2006

A short update to our last blog from Anna on 9 June.
12 June 2006

Here's our first report from Karen. First day back in Scotland, adjusting from a month of white horizon, to the feast of summer colours here, reading over the blog (for the first time!) and reflecting on the last month of the 'icecap experience'. (Karen Darke, Friday 9 June.)
12 June 2006

News that two of our team, Anna and Pasi, have found their way safely home - bruised, brown  ...and bitten. (Report from Patricia McCormack, Friday 9 June.)
09 June 2006

The team is in the air, making its way home.
08 June 2006

A short blog from Sofie Runge of Careers Scotland. Sofie has been translating our Greenland weather forecasts from Danish into English for us.
07 June 2006

It has been more than two days since we've had a full report from the team. By now they will have had some time to lick their wounds, rest their weary bodies and will have gathered their gear together, ready for their long journey home.
07 June 2006

Here's Anna's promised update outlining the final few hours of the team's marathon journey.
05 June 2006

They've made it. Battered, bruised and with many stories to tell, our team has now completed its adventure. Congratulations (and pizzas) all round!
05 June 2006

It's Sunday 4 June at 09.00. The team is just 4km from its destination - and it is still tough going. The team holds its discipline together to make sure there are no last-minute mistakes.
05 June 2006

What a weekend it has been. The team managed to get some more messages through to us. Here, on Saturday 3 June, Anna explains how progress continues to be slow as they negotiate some very difficult glacier terrain.
05 June 2006

While we can't report directly from the team today, we can offer you a little insight into the last few stages of the journey.
02 June 2006

What do all of these have to do with an expedition across Greenland?
02 June 2006

With the team's sat-phone now out of action, this may be the last message from the ice for a day or two. Please be patient. We hope to hear from them as soon as they reach the coast. We also go back to the beginning of our story - and show a few pictures, here, of Karen visiting schools in Strathspey.
02 June 2006

Two short reports from 31 May and 1 June. They're getting there.
01 June 2006

Grampian Television has been following the team's progress and, just a week ago, broadcast a report from Grantown Primary school in Strathspey, where the pupils were learning about the expedition's challenges. The report can be viewed here.
31 May 2006

Latest updates from Anna and Karen as the team nears its destination. (Called in at noon UK time on Wednesday 31 May.)
31 May 2006

A few more bits of information pieced-together to keep you updated.
31 May 2006

Yesterday, we covered 34.6 km. For the last 9 km of that, my boots were not attached to my skis. It was a matter of holding them together by sheer force and plodding on. (Tuesday 30 May 9.35am Greenland time.)
30 May 2006

Yesterday, we set out from Camp Raven at 2.30 pm our time and finished at 6.30, having travelled 15.9 km. We had intended going on till 7 pm but both of my boots had gone. The first one broke within minutes of setting off. (Anna Monday 29 May.)
30 May 2006

We have had time to think and chat over the past twenty-four days. Normally, all we can manage is to keep going, plodding away, growing weary, melting snow, dropping in to bed, exhausted. (Anna 28 May.)
29 May 2006

Yesterday, Saturday, we covered the 12.2km to Camp Raven and a glorious break for us all. My other ski-boot broke so I was in a sorry state and we had to keep stopping to attend to my feet. (Report from Anna.)
29 May 2006

Just a few different bits and pieces which have been coming in recently ...
26 May 2006

I hope you are all comfortably tucked up in your warm beds. It is 8.20pm here on Thursday, 25th May, as I think back from my tent over the day just passed. (From Anna.)
26 May 2006

Here we are again at 10.15 am on Thursday, 25th May, preparing to set out on yet another tough day of relentless skiing.
25 May 2006

Yesterday's blog told how the team can now get weather reports by satellite phone - direct from Nuuk, Greenland's capital. Together with our regular reports, this will give the team a lot of useful information about the days ahead.
25 May 2006

Anna called in today, Wednesday 24th, with a long report describing the team's progress - positives and negatives - including another broken ski-boot and binding.
24 May 2006

News from Careers Scotland's Sofie Runge
Grampian Television has been following the By Hands and Feet across Greenland story ...
24 May 2006

On Sunday we decided to stay in our tents because of the wind. The Greenlandic women set off in the afternoon heading eastwards and downhill but we stayed put. We were interested to hear that we were mentioned on Greenlandic radio. (Anna reports Tuesday 23 May.)
23 May 2006

Latest Greenland weather map and short report. High pressure. More snow?
23 May 2006

Sunday's report talked about the team meeting another Greenland expedition. Here are two more expeditions which have been hitting the news recently - another on Greenland and one on Mount Everest.
22 May 2006

Latest Greenland weather map and short report.
22 May 2006

From a low point to a high point - the team has a fantastic surprise. And, believe it or not, after days of nut and raisin rations, dreams of a round-the-corner Pizza Palace suddenly look like they might come true! Just the cheerful thought the team was needing.
22 May 2006

Mixed emotions after twelve days of cold, wet, relentless skiing. The team shows signs of tiredness and frustration. Who can blame them?
22 May 2006

Thursday 18th. It is now 19.45 at camp as we cook our evening meal. We are growing tired of rice and nuts and raisins, of the monotony of our diet.
19 May 2006

DYE-2 is situated on 2,583 acres of ice cap territory leased from Denmark. This former (and now abandoned) US airforce auxilliary radar station is located approximately 100 miles inland from the west coast of Greenland about 90 miles south of the Arctic Circle at an altitude of 7,600 feet above sea level and may be able to offer our team some welcome shelter.
18 May 2006

It is 9am here and we are preparing to set out on the next lap. Yesterday we covered 16.5 km.
18 May 2006

Today is a very special day.
18 May 2006

Tough going! Another telephone update from the team - this time from Anna.
17 May 2006

Slow progress in snow - short telephone report to Anna's mum.
17 May 2006

Until the team can again get email and internet access (mid-week hopefully) we're hunting around looking for the best ways to get icecap weather forecasts to them.
16 May 2006

Karen satellite-phoned me in Inverness this afternoon. It took two attempts (I don't think the weather in Greenland was helping) but she eventually got through with a few very short messages. She sounded very chirpy and cheerful. (Posted by Ken Porter, HIE webmaster).
15 May 2006

Three short messages came in this weekend -13-14 May. Two from the ice and one from Anna's mum.
15 May 2006

Anna's mum reports on a telephone call she had this afternoon, Friday 12 May.
12 May 2006

Hi, We experienced high winds today but we still covered another 20km.
12 May 2006

An expedition 'friend', Boele from the Norwegian Polar Institute, has agreed to track the team's progress and provide us with regularly updated images from Google Earth.
10 May 2006

Another short text message from the ice, sent at 23.39 Tuesday, 9 April, 2006.
10 May 2006

Tuesday 9 May 2006 1.04 a.m. BST. The following short update came in as a text message from Anna on the ice cap.
09 May 2006

Recieved phone call at 11.15am (UK time) today, Monday, 8th May, 2006.
08 May 2006

Our last few hours in civilisation. We leave for the icecap this afternoon, and it’s a fantastic clear sunny day. The chopper is at 3pm so it's hectic just now, getting all the kit to the heliport, post office, and trying to shrink a few hundred cubic metres of gear into small bags. (Posted by Karen)
08 May 2006

Not a patch of green to be seen in Greenland! Just ice, snow, ice and snow. As we flew in yesterday we saw icebergs punched up through the sea ice, cracked and shattered like glass. Jagged mountains rise steep from the frozen shore, and somewhere behind them the icecap hides.
04 May 2006

On Tuesday the 25th and Friday the 28th of April, Karen and a Careers Scotland team went to Grantown Grammar and Kingussie High schools to introduce the pupils from S2 and P7 to Karen’s Greenland adventure. (Posted by the Careers Scotland team.)
03 May 2006

Reykjavik makes Grimsby look like Vienna! Windy, cold, wet and gravelly - wheeling about in search of traditional Icelandic food last night, and ended up eating fish and chips, and kebabs! (Posted by Karen, 3 May - from Reykjavik City Youth Hostel.)
03 May 2006

We have just had news that two of our experienced (and able-bodied) expedition friends, out attempting a traverse slightly earlier in the season, are already back in the UK. (Posted by Anna McCormack)
01 May 2006

(From Anna McCormack.) We met in Enontekio - 300 km above the Arctic Circle – during the week of 11 – 18 March so that we could put faces to some of the names within the eclectically put-together team and try to get more of the team involved in the planning. Daily temperatures varied from -10C up to +1C and dropped to -21C at night. Two of the days were sunny but there was moderate wind every day.
26 April 2006

Here is my very first expedition blog, hopefully one of many - if we get our solar panels and technology sorted for the ice cap, and can email things! It's been quite crazy the last few months getting everything organised for the expedition.
11 April 2006