2001 Trans Greenland
- Start date: April 2001
- End date: May2001
- Start / end point: Qaleraliq- Qeqertaq (South-North Greenland)
- Total kilometers: 2,225
- Expedition days: 32
- Challenges achieved: Fastest polar expedition in history until date
FASTEST JOURNEY
Ramón Larramendi planned this expedition, together with José Manuel Naranjo, to explore the interior of the Greenland ‘inlandsis’ from one end of the arctic island to the other aboard the WindSled.
The crossing was the fastest polar expedition in history to date. Its participants have the record of distance traveled in a single day: 421 kilometers in 24 hours. The expedition was sponsored by Tierras Polares travel agency and by the TVE program ‘Al filo de lo imposible.’
Larramendi and Naranjo departed from Qaleraliq glacier, in the south of Greenland, at the end of April with a temperature of -20ºC, in a journey not free of complications. The first days, the expeditionary had the wind against and they hardly advanced, still using the biggest kite. In a moment, the storm blew up the kite, endangering their lives and being at great risk.
Days later, the weather conditions improved and the WindSled was able to navigate at a good pace, between 15 and 20 km / h. One of those days they advanced 421 kilometers without stopping, surpassing the previous record of the Belgians Alain Hubert and Didier Daxencoerd (271 km).
THULE REGION
Once in Thule, near the Bay of Melville, the terrain conditions changed and the sastrugui (undulations in the ice) reached 70 centimeters in height, although the Sled surpassed them without great difficulties. Upon reaching the mountains of the region, Larramendi and Naranjo encountered new difficulties to find a way down, but finally arrived without incident to the mainland.
At a certain point, they had to leave the polar wind vehicle to get on skis to go to the small town of Qeqertaq, a few kilometers away, where the expedition ended successfully. They had traveled 2,225 km in just 32 days, an achievement that was recognized in the forums of international exploration.
This expedition would obtain the 2002 Award of the Year by the Spanish Geographic Society.
