Sailing a Sea of Ice: Greenland Expedition
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On June 17th, 1980, a team of eight Minnesotan skiers set out to cross the Greenland ice cap—a feat that had only been accomplished twice before. The first crossing was completed in 1888 by six Norwegian men who crossed the cap in 40 days. In 1965 a Scottish party, including the first woman to cross the cap, also achieved success in 40 days. What would make the Minnesota team unique? They would be the first Americans to complete the journey and would do so in a record-setting 36 days. |
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Many of the participants in the 1980 Minnesota Ski Expedition across Greenland were alumni or students of Concordia. Also included on the trip was Beverly Johnson of ABC who filmed the expedition. |
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Both experience and training united the participants in their abilities to conquer the ice cap. All of the members had extensive backgrounds in outdoor activities including mountaineering, backpacking, winter camping, and skiing. To further develop these skills, the team members also trained both individually and as a group. All members were expected to run eight miles per day to condition themselves and simultaneously gain weight in order to prepare for the inevitable weight loss that would occur during the expedition. Group training included skiing across Minnesota to determine how many miles they could travel each day. For this trip, the expedition team was joined by 38 Cobbers and coined the “Ski Minnesota Epic.” The expedition team also traveled to Mille Lacs Lake to train for wind and sail functionality. For each pair of skiers, a pulk (sled) carrying 200 pounds of gear would be pulled with accompanying sails to ease the weight. The final group training exercise was a trip to Yellowstone to prepare for terrain and camping conditions.
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Originally, the expedition was slated to commence on June 15th, 1980, but weather conditions caused delays. Fog prevented the team from flying from Iceland to Greenland and then the Johan Peterson Fjord, from which the team would make its 9,000 foot ascent to the ice cap, was frozen shut. To solve these debacles, the group changed its starting location to the Jorgen Peterson Fjord. On June 18th the ascent to the ice cap began, and the team started skiing on June 22nd. The skiers made their descent from the ice cap on July 25th, 1980 thus completing their 440-mile journey.
Paul Erickson, leader of the expedition and former Director of Student Activities at Concordia, credits the success of the journey to the effort of the team members. Erickson stated, “The one thing we found out is that our greatest asset was that we came from Minnesota where we had a set of values that made us believe in each other.” The cohesiveness of the team made a significant difference at the end of the voyage as they scaled crevasses and crossed icy rivers--undoubtedly the most challenging segment of the expedition.
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From the planning stages of the expedition to its actual completion, local, state, and national papers provided updates on the Minnesota Ski Expedition. In so doing, the Greenland Expedition brought much excitement to Concordia, Minnesota, and the world during the summer of 1980. The Greenland Expedition not only turned these 16 young Minnesotans into explorers, but also into heroes.
The slide show below includes more pictures from the expedition. |
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