Expedition Sila
A 1,700 km south-to-north crossing of Greenland, from Kangerlussuaq to Qaanaaq, by kiteski in total autonomy, led by international explorers.
An extreme endurance challenge in the heart of the Arctic, combined with a scientific mission to collect unique data for climate research and the SUMup glaciological database, contributing to more than a century of observations of the Greenland ice sheet.
Live Tracking
Scientific Projects
The expedition brings together international scientific projects :
GEUS (Denmark/Greenland): monitoring of surface mass balance and characterization of the snowpack.
Japan Meteorological Agency (Japan): documentation of the SIGMA-A station and snow accumulation dynamics.
Northumbria University (United Kingdom): analysis of snow chemistry to better understand glacial processes.
Technical University of Denmark (Denmark): GNSS measurements of ice sheet elevation.
A key challenge: addressing the lack of field data, particularly since the suspension of NASA’s airborne missions in these remote areas.
Carnets Pédagogiques SILA
Diaries from Greenland
Day 3
From Gilles
Mountains are still accompanying us on our climb today, but not for long. As they’re fading away in the distant horizon, tomorrow morning might very well be our last sighting of land before actually getting to Qaanaaq, all the way north, some 1700km from here… Very soon, they’ll be but distant memories and the team will have entered for good the realm of snow and ice - and just that ! I was quite satisfied with our choice of itinerary as it’s been going rather well, although we each had two pulks and no less than 100kg of load each. While being heavier than during the Nanok Expedition in 2022, this afternoon we passed our old Camp 6 in less then 3 days time (while it obviously took us 6 days then). Great team, faster progress, less faff and a more detailed study of our entry route made a great difference - but mostly no cameramen ahah ! Snow this year is scarce, it hardly snowed this winter. Blue ice And most surprisingly of all, it is VERY WARM ! As we’re hovering around 0*C and many hours into the positive temperatures, we’re struggling with wet snow, wet tents, wet everything ! Nothing better than a good dry -15*C. Last night and this evening it rained… Mind blowing. Cramponing up our way onto the icecap from Point 660m, tonight we’ve reached a decisive stage : I’ve packed my pair of crampons away because tomorrow we’re clipping our skis and raising those big beautiful sails of ours - let the wind carry us like leaves in the autumn breeze, be free as birds, no more heavy lifting! I expect the chafe to be quite radical. Can’t wait. The next two days the wind’s shifting from the S to SW which is an absolute benediction as we should then be able to sail due east - as intended - without much effort. Drifting too far north means getting ourselves dangerously close to crevasse fields. Wish us fair winds
Day 2
From Sasha
A very kind Finnish team who had set off a few days before on their long arduous journey across the ice cap to the east coast for 35 days, had shared with us their track. It was amazing to have some new intel and with the satellite images, it looked promising - but deep down we all knew we had a complicated jumbled maze of a glacier waiting for us, with 2 pulks weighting a total of 100kg each - so there was no doubt we were going to be in for a tough ride. On top of this, the forecasts were predicting 100km winds tonight into Monday - so apprehensions were justified I think. Despite all of this, we were all buzzing with excitement as we jumped into Chris’s truck - our long journey had begun and no matter what happens I think w e all knew we’d figure it out. As we drove up the long old road from Kanger, passing Reindeers and Mountain Hare - the sun came out and gave way to amazing blue skies, stretching out towards the distant icecap - our home for the next month. We reached Point 660 at around 11am and decided to build a robust camp tucked in between the glacial moraines - placed on the ice itself we made V-threads with the ice screws to secure the tent ahead of the forecasted blow. Once set we decided to make use of the amazing weather and try to take one load and depot it on the glacier. At first we glided along the ancient blue ice, but soon the ice steepened and we dug in our front points to haul the loads up the never ending hummocks of ice. After 3km we entered a frozen melt water channel which helped us navigate past hellish crevassed terrian, following Icey runnels and hoping they would lead us to a flat begnin expanse. To our luck the channel was a good one and with few detours we managed to haul our first load 5km without too many dramas. Up on the rolling blue, distant hills stretched up like towering white mountains in an arctic mirage. After enjoying the views, we scooted back to camp and made tea and ate homemade brownies, hunkering down before the storm. Sila, the name of this expedition is Greenlandic word, and is the name for both weather and consciousness. The winds have started to pick up - so I’m going to drink my tea, contemplate that some more. In the morning we will see what SILA brings (: over and out
Day 1
From Sasha
The morning began with an early alarm, 5.30am and we were all up, completing our final preparations before Chris from the Kangerlusuaq International Science Support centre was to pick us up and take us to point 660 in his truck. Point 660 is a good access point to the ice cap. The day had finally come - Today was going to mark day 1 of the SILA expedition, and there was a fair amount of apprehension in the team. The first few days, for sure, were going to be the most physically demanding and we all knew it.
Our Main Partners on SILA
