Intro
On the 4th of July 2023 a team of 13 including 2 instructors and 11 students had finished a journey of 167km with 4100m elevation over 9 days fully self-sufficient and headed straight to the hotel showers.
Background
The Arctic Circle Trail expedition was planned back in 2019 by the officer cadets of Northern Ireland University Air Squadron as a unique opportunity to take themselves out of their comfort zone and to develop many qualities such as, leadership, resilience, decision making, teamwork, and physical fitness. Due to covid-19 the expedition had to be postponed and felt like it was never going to materialise. But as time went on the ball started rolling and all the required planning, such as emergency action plans for polar bear and arctic fox encounters, had been completed. The only thing left was to prepare the students physically with long walks in the Mourne Mountains to simulate the long days with heavy bags.
Expedition days 1-5
On 26th June, the first steps were made in Kangerlussuaq towards Sisimiut. With the bags at their heaviest because they were carrying nine days of food, the students took turns navigating to checkpoints and learnt about the four Ds of navigation (Description, Direction, Duration, Distance). Morale was even high enough for all the students to wash themselves in ice cold water.
The next few days followed a similar structure; take down tents and cook breakfast early, walk until lunch and then walk again until reaching the next hut. Huts were scattered along the trail with a day’s worth of walking between them. So when they were reached, the tents would be put up and dinner was cooked. Any spare time would be used delivering the necessary lessons on maps and compasses for the students to pass the Summer Mountain Foundation qualification, as well as speaking to the other hikers who were also attempting the trail, listening to their stories taking tips on board. The good weather did not allow the team morale to be low until day six.
Expedition days 6-9
As the team got closer to Sisimiut, the finish line, the air got colder but day six was the day when the rain started, which affected some moods of the already struggling students. The joy and relief from reaching the hut each day was amazing, allowing just enough time to recover and do it all again the next day.
“The thought of warm dinner from a bag kept me going” – Officer Cadet Clarissa Partridge.
After day 7, the team reached the hut and started the routine of preparing for the night. As dinner was being eaten, the weather forecast for the following day was delivered to our Garmin InReach device and predicted heavy rain all of day 8. So, as a team, it was decided to walk during the night to avoid the rain that would raise the rivers that had to be crossed.
The night hike may have been the most surreal walk of the trip. After a couple hours sleep for the lucky, tents were packed away and the walking began again at 10pm. Due to the position of the hike, north of the arctic circle, during most of summer the sun will not set at night. This gives the midnight sun which made the walk a lot easier. The next day the weather was miserable, and everyone was happy they did not need to walk through it. Although two walks were completed in the space of one day the students were happy to get a full day’s recovery out of the heavy rain.
The weather made Day 9 extremely tough, since, due to the high altitude it was bitterly cold. But spirits were reasonably high as this was the last day of walking. It also entailed three river crossings which involved a lot of teamwork and communication to cross. The students had learnt various methods of river crossings during the theory lessons but now it was time to perform the practical side. With the leader at the front and their students behind in a triangle formation connected to each other by holding backpack straps, the group was comfortably able to cross high rivers. Shortly after the second crossing the group could see Sisimiut and at this point any aches or pains went away and everyone stormed towards the second largest city in Greenland.
“Once in a lifetime opportunity” – Officer Cadet Jake McBride
We are all very grateful to the Ulysses Trust for their support which helped to make this expedition possible.
