In a little over a month, the first of our Greenland Crossing teams will be leaving the frozen fjords of East Greenland behind with a course set for Kangerlussuaq and the West Coast - a major polar-style ski and sledge-hauling expedition of around 550km. We put a huge emphasis on thorough preparation for such a big trip and so, each February, the Pirhuk team can be found on the edge of the Hardangervidda Plateau, a wild, sparsely populated region of fjell (rolling hills), glaciers and frozen lakes in SW Norway. Many notable expeditions have tested themselves against the area's infamously fierce weather systems, from Amundsen (who claims it's the only place that almost killed him) to Rune Gjeldnes and Borge Ousland. The tiny settlement of Finse, lying at 1222m above sea level, is home to Pirhuk guide Ronny Finsaas and an excellent starting point for our trips (and also the location of many of our expedition kiting courses). This year, Alex (guiding the first crossing) joined Matt and 8 others for what turned out to be a great and, at times, challenging trip.

The 2 expedition teams present undertook a circular route that reached (but didn't go into!) the Tuva hut - a journey of a little under 100 km. The focus of these trips is firmly on developing strong personal and team skills that can be transferred directly onto the Icecap. It's impressive to see just how quickly a motivated team can adopt these systems, the last days of our week together being both testing and long - a perfect place for everything to come together. Temperatures also dropped during these last few days, reaching below -20 degrees Celsius which, together with the wind, made for some realistic Greenland conditions.

Thanks to everyone on the team for a really excellent week!

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