2007
Siku Extreme Arctic Challenge
by: Jeff Vicario
Team POLAR / Feed the Machine
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Adventure Racing at the end of the world… Tasiilaq, Greenland is the stage, population 1,849 where the summer is a miraculous combination of almost 24 hours of daylight, huge icebergs, vast glaciers, monumental mountains and crystal clear air.
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Our team, Team POLAR/Feed the Machine, includes Jon Barker, a UK guy living in Atlanta, Christian Burke a good friend from LA, Egon local Greenlander who has placed 3rd in this race twice and myself.
Getting here is of course no simple feat. A myriad of planes, trains, automobiles, boats, trucks and donkey carts (not really) and we arrive in the town of Tasiilaq, Greenland, about 1000 kilometers off the end of the planet. This was to be our base camp for the race duration. It is very small Inuit town with seal and polar bear hunters, fishermen, and sled dogs waiting for winter again. Seventeen teams of four, mostly from Northern European countries descend on the town to tackle icy fjords, man-eating glaciers and mountain peaks on foot, canoe, and mountain bike for five days. Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Scotland, United Kingdom, and of course us Americans are represented.
After a couple days of non-stop preparation of gathering food, testing and outfitting inflatable canoes, organizing gear, we started stage 1 on Saturday morning.
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Stage 1:
After some agonizing hours by race officials when Air Iceland didn’t deliver the gear we needed for the race including our team’s bikes they were able to find everything to substitute the missing gear. The first stage started as planned and our team was good and fast. It was relatively short in comparison to the next three stages. Stage 1 began as a mass start in our inflatable canoes paddling the icy fjord to the foot of the Polhelm Mountain. We had nice movement together and moved quickly through the 35 degree water. We exited the water in fifth place. After that we quickly transitioned to our trekking gear and headed for Polheim's Peak, a very famous mountain peak in Greenland. If you ever see pictures from Greenland and they show mountains, you were probably looking at Polheim's Peak. We powered up the mountain very quickly, although it was not easy. Very loose rock and very, very steep. Once we arrived at a ledge (the checkpoint), most of the way up the mountain, they smartly stopped the clock and allowed us to head to the summit for the photo-op with safety in mind and not worry about knocking someone off the hill to their imminent death trying to race to the top. When we arrived back to the checkpoint, the clock started and the game continued.We flew down the hill opting for a not so obvious route choice though we were not alone since there are other Greenland teams here as well with local knowledge. We arrived at the water, again, quickly transitioned to our water gear and canoed back to the Tasiilaq and the start/finish line.
After Stage 1 we sit in fifth place. 1st and 2nd place are occupied by Greenlandic teams.
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Stage 2:
This stage began with 35 Kilometers of mountain biking on a course that gives new meaning to ‘single track’ and makes you work for every hill, every turn. We got the bike part done, quickly transitioned, and were on to the trekking leg in, what else, fifth place.
The trekking venue consisted of ascending...then descending...three mountain tops, and back to the start/finish. Teams that ranked with an even number in Stage 1 go were to go clockwise over the tops, while those ranked with an uneven number summated the peaks counter clockwise so as to make it more difficult for close competitors to get an idea of how the other teams are doing. It is very hard to describe the violence in which Mother Nature created these mountains. A trail in Greenland is non-existent, the rocks are severe, there is no such thing as gradual; it is either straight up or straight down. On each ascent, we took the most direct lines, usually the steepest too. On climbing the second peak, it was nearly vertical, ascending through these vertical slots of granite rock, with the ground sliding away from us with every cautious step.We finished the stage in seventh place.
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Stage 3:
Again we were to begin this stage from the town with a two man time trial followed by the other two teammates along the same course. Egon and Christian went out first and returned in second place. Jon and I headed out and tried to hold the lead as the other team tried to narrow the gap. Our team did very well and we had a good head start to the trekking section.
We started out on a cross country run with a path to the Kittimenfkasfnaf glacier. Once we passed a long valley, we started our climb up. Once again, steep and rocky was the theme. Greenland, France and Iceland passed us on this assent. We made it up to the glacier trying to stay clear of the many crevasses, started our way to the checkpoint and eventually down the glacier. We worked our way down to the end, finished with a canyon bouldering session over all the rocks that the glacier tossed out of its mighty way, and made it to base camp on the beach.*********************************************
Stage 4:
We woke, ate, received our maps and instructions, and began to prep for the expedition leg of the race. It was an estimated 120 kilometres (depending on your navigation and route selection), a long hard navigationally difficult course that covered the entire island. The stage would start with a short canoe section, then a difficult trek section, glacier work, canyoneering, coasteering, canoeing, the longest glacier trek on the island, more canoeing, trek with very difficult navigation, shorter glacier, canyoneering, and then finally a canoe to the end.
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With our course instructions understood, the short canoe section started with helicopters flying overhead. We get out of the water uneventfully in about fifth place. Off on what we could see would be a difficult navigation section. Everyone was everywhere. We eventually decided to take a very uncommon route and it paid off. We hit the glacier very quickly and without much expended energy, which would turn out to pay off in a big way later. Unfortunately we took forty-five minutes to figure it out. Climbing up the glacier, as we had done before, we felt that the glacier was solid enough to allow us to travel without crampons, we would however rope in. The crevasses were simply out of control, we found ourselves jumping over one or working your way around another literally every few feet. Eventually we arrived at the top of the glacier in seventh place. Lost two positions, but the other teams that heard of our route selection were jealous.Down the glacier, into and down a valley to CP3, the canoe. After a short canoeing section to CP4 and realizing that a few teams lost their way, we left CP4 in 5th. Up, up, up the longest glacier of the trip. Again, no crampons until we needed them. Being the very early hours of the morning the sky remained as bright as mid-afternoon. Being so far north, literally on the polar ice cap, there is no real darkness only a few hours of twilight each night. This helped fight off the sleep monsters as we continued through the night and into the following day. Upon arriving at CP5 we learned that we moved up to 4th place. The French team seemed to have gotten lost along their way. Down, down, down the other end of the glacier and then what seemed a forever long trek to CP6.
We make it to CP6 and third place is just heading out on the canoe section. Totally energized by that, we frantically inflate our boat, ready our gear, and head out. As we are depart Team France is coming in, a few minutes later, we see Team Intersport Iceland, and in the distance, Team Explorer.
Into the water, we move. In the distance we see third place, the Greenlandic team. We eventually make it to CP7 only seconds behind third place. Now the pace picks up. Team France lands on the beach just minutes after us. This next section turns out to be one of the trickiest navigation sections. We head out and notice that Team Greenland is taking a different route. We absolutely nail the first part of and re-join them and traveled together. We make it to CP8 in what felt like record time. We proceed up a valley and onto the final glacier, with second place at the top and in sight. We're sans crampons of course even though this glacier is a bit slushier and no less difficult. Greenland does pull away ever so slightly and the race is back on. CP9 is at the top. Looking back down the glacier and valley we cannot see any teams behind us.
Off the glacier, we had a simple downhill to the final canoe section and to the finish. Starting down we became separated as Christian and Egon who suggested they would move ahead to prep the canoe. Jon & I were without the map and ended up descending the wrong valley. After an hour plus we arrived at CP9 and frantically swap our glacier gear for paddling gear. We paddle hard and come out and up to the finish line with the canoe on our shoulders. We have finished the last stage in 4th place.
Now, the clock runs as we wait for the other teams to finish. A change of clothes, food, and stories abound. The times start coming in and our fears become reality. We have landed in sixth place overall, twenty five minutes behind the French, and ninety minutes behind Explorer. Our mistake cost us fourth place overall.
Final results:1. ISI Salomon - Danish
2. Neriusaaq - Denmark/Greenland
3. Maniitsoq 225 - Greenland
4. Explorer - US/Kiwi
5. Les Couleurs - France
6. POLAR / Feed the Machine - US/UK/Greenland
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Thanks to all who responded for your kind words of support.
