Welcome to the homepage of the Oxford University Greenland 2006 expedition!

***JANUARY 2007***

Glad to be home, but nostalgic for the crevasses. We have now completed the task of report-writing. Selected highlights of our photos can also be seen here and we will be giving a talk in Oxford shortly. Details of this to follow...

GOOGLE EARTH ROUTE

1st September - We're now back in the UK and gradually reacclimatising to the novelties of a fridge, warm bed and flushing toilet! Before shaving Hauke and Chris dropped into Oxford's BBC studio to appear on their radio breakfast show, which can be heard here. The first of our photos can also be seen here.

29th August - Back safely in Iceland and enjoying a warm bed. Thanks to everyone who sent us messages, they really helped keep our spirits up on what has been a wonderful trip. We will be bringing more news to you on our return to the UK...

28th August, 10.45 - Waiting for the Twin Otter to arrive and pick us up. The sky is blue, and there's a slight wind up the glacier.

25th August, 19.45 - The weather is good and we have met up with Quintin Lake and his team (the group with whom we are sharing the return flight to Iceland). We've climbed a new peak (Sarah's Spur, for Chris' cousin) and established our final base-camp: CASTLE OXFORD, complete with fortifications and dining room!

24th August, 21.00 - 21 hours of heavy snowfall kept us tent-bound today. Luckily it cleared up towards nightfall so we were able to reach Base Camp 10...

22nd August - We are now at Camp 9 on the map and advancing ever further towards our pickup point. Although all our "special treats" in our food bags have now been found, spirits are still high. We haven't had to resort to hunting polar bears for their fur either. Scheduled arrival in Iceland: August 28th.

21st August - Another mountain, this one called Elizabethsbjerg for Ben's grandmother. We are now in the endzone, approximately 20km from our pickup point.

20th August, 12.00 - A full update of the team's route is now available, including today's base camp.

14th August, 21.49 - The views are stunning! Plenty of food, fuel and good spirits! The texts from everyone are greatly appreciated,they are getting through! Love to all.

12th August - Managed three new peaks today! Found a surprise in our food bags in the shape of 'quadruple chocolate cake' - much appreciated. Had a particularly arduous day earlier in the week. Assessing distances and timescales for travel takes on a whole different dimension in the icecaps.

11th August 2006, 22.30 - Another great day - the ice cap is amazing. We have moved our base camp again and the mountain of the day has been named Abbotsbjerg, for Chris' parents. It can get lonely up here! If you want to get a message to us you can use the contact form.

10th August 2006, 14.09 - What a great day! We have a new base camp, marked on the map. Mountain climbed, name to be confirmed. Everyone well and tired, but supplied more than adequately with malt loaf. No polar bears glimpsed so far...

20.15 - The Eagle has landed! The skies are blue and the temperature, -5 degrees centigrade. Throughout the expedition our progress will be marked on our website maps. Alternatively you can follow our route using Google Earth. To download and install Google Earth, click here.

6 August 2006 - The weather is still bad, but its looking better for tomorrow morning. We hope to fly at 9am local time if all goes well.

4 August 2006 - The weather isn't great so we are not going to be able to fly to Greenland until tomorrow or Sunday.

31 July 2006 - Tomorrow we leave for Iceland, from where we will travel to the Gronau Nunatakker mountain range in eastern Greenland. Preparations have been fairly intense over the last month or so, with lots of first aid training, rifle-training, packing, rope-work scenarios, and training trips to the Alps and North Wales (see pictures). A year's planning is about to come to fruition, and we're very excited! Whilst we are in Greenland updates will be posted on this website, so keep an eye out if you are interested in how the team is getting on. See you in a month!

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