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In July and August
2003, 5 British women
headed to East Greenland
with a mission to ski
into the Schweizerland
mountains and look for
new routes to climb.
Rosie Goolden and Di
Gilbert from Scotland
joined Sue Savege,
Catrin Thomas and
Justine Curgenven from
North Wales. The
challenges started at
Kulusuk airport when
half our freight didn't
turn up, and continued
on the approach when the
weather was too warm. We
decided not to risk
skiing over hidden snow
bridges pulling heavy
sledges and we were tent
bound for 3 days. When
we finally arrived at
base camp and calculated
how long we'd need to
ski out we realized we'd
only have a week to
climb. Despite this we
managed to climb 7 new
routes, including three
900metre ascents of a
mountain opposite base
camp which we called
'the Coven'. We
completed the ski out in
record time with two 11
hour days pulling
sledges over passes.
There were a few scary
moments as Catrin and Di
forged the way down
steep glaciers without
being able to see where
all the crevasses were.
Before returning to
civilization we enjoyed
2 days of comfort in the
Tasilaq mountain hut,
and helped to rescue a
girl who had fallen down
a steep snow gully.
Justine made a
film of the expedition called 'Climbing
Greenland' for the series 'Total Adventure'.
This was first shown on the National
Geographic Channel around the world, and is
still shown on various satellite channels at
times.
Amongst other
things, Rosie Goolden now runs climbing and
mountaineering courses for women'. For more
visit
Chicks Unleashed.
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