Yet another life lesson. Learning from your mistakes. Whilst during the Expedition Greenland 2018 I was processing a tough divorce and fears for my daughters eyes, this time around I had that quesy feeling in my stomach when I arrived to Kangerlussuaq. Two weeks earlier I had overdone things in the Gobi Desert in Mongoila hauling tires. I know today it caused me a tear in my meniscus. And I couldn´t walk without painkillers. So my idea was to take painkillers throughout the crossing from Kangerlussuaq to Isortoq on the Eastern side. But the pills made my mind hazy, but what else to do?
On top of that, I had added way to much fat. Way too much, so I was heavy on top of this. The idea was that it would be gone by the time we had reached half way. Not wrong, but with age one has to be more careful.
Preparing from this crossing had taken a lot of time of the past two years. From assembling a team to all the incredibly unnecessary paperwork demanded by authorities. And expensive. I had hauled tires over 200 hours the past year and skied 700 km:s, so I was in a good shape.
The team had changed quite a bit from the original cast. Three of my very good friends had not been able to follow through for many reason, but the team that was left was a very able group. Which they later proved by crossing it to the other side.
It was one of the shortest Expedition I have made! See here https://www.dr.dk/…/de-arktiske-reddere_-fanget-paa… from the minute 58.21
Important lessons learned.
1. Don´t do Expeditions with medicine in your body. It takes a way the sharpness.
2. Don´t put on to much fat.
3. The group dynamics is really important.
I just wanna add that as important, is to be physically and mentally prepared.
All these lessons have taught me a lot!
Expedition Greenland 2018 https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/…/my-greenland…/
Peter Wilson´s beautiful description of the crossing https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/…/my-greenland…/
As regards to group dynamics and preparations https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/…/summary-of-the…/
Lots of articles on Greenland https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/?s=greenland
The Gobi Haul https://youtu.be/9dJf-8yv7mg?si=qzrjxSdEWRCDTtEL
Photos by James Ketchell, Peter Wilson, Mikael Mattsson.
