August 24. We are with you my friend!

We just got the very sad information, that Robert was sent from Greenland to a hospital in Munich. Apparently he is suffering retinal detachment and has been operated three times by now.
Good luck Robert - our thoughts are with you!

August 19. Isortoq

Our expedition on the ice cap ended in quite a dramatic way: The heliport in Tasiilaq announced a huge snow storm hitting us within the next 72 hours. At the current position we were, we were totally exposed and therefor extremely vulnerable to mother nature. We were aware that burying under the snow for a couple of days wouldn’t be an option, since Robert was in poor health.

We decided to hurry down to coast and seek shelter in one of the settlements nearby. Thanks to great support of a few hunters we eventually made it back to Isortoq in time - a couple of hours before the storm hit us. It was stunning to see it’s power and we were all relieved sitting in a safe place.

Isortoq is a place with officially 92 inhabitants, but actually many more people abandon the settlement during most time of the year. Living is extremely rough, though the hunting in this area is superb.
To get more informations about Isortoq, click here.

 

 

 

 

June 27. On the ice cap with Robert

Robert Peroni is 68 years old. His eyes are alert, his thoughts sharp and his talking makes clear, that his soul is still full of idealism and energy to live up to it! I have to admit, that I have never heard him say a word that was not remarkable.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s his charisma or his mostly spectacular deeds that makes him the admirable fellow he is!

He is a patient and clement intermediator between the two cultures colliding in his Red-House. He understands and respects the peculiarities of the Greenlandic people as much as he knows how to deal with the western demands for convenience!

In his book „Die magische Grenze“, Peroni sets things about his attitude straight: “Deep within, we all know and feel, that life is only possible outside of the little idyll in our front garden.“

 

 

One early afternoon the helicopter dropped us off at the edge of the big iceshelf and our journey to the white horizon began.
Our souls were filled up with the existential feeling of being just a small part of something bigger when the great white plain dispersed before us.

 

Five red and one green tent built up to our meager fortress in this never ending and extreme landscape.

A sunset on the icecap at 11 at night is definitely one of the reasons, why you want to live forever!

 

June 12. Hunting day

Tobias is a big but strong man with a warm laugh and the wonderful sense of humor that you will find a lot amongst the Inuit people. He is known as one of the best hunters in the area and is a close friend of Robert Peroni.

 

We pitched our tents on a little hill right at the fjord from where we had a fantastic view! It was only 20 meters up the hill but Tobias didn’t want to join us. He slept right where we had arrived. „It’s too far!“ is what he said when we asked him to join us. He sure knows how to manage his energy!

A hunter’s working day is not set by hours and minutes. Nature tells him how long he has to work and he will stay out there on the water until the conditions either turn bad or he has made enough booty.

In the morning we (naive city-boys) thought this thing is gonna take a quick two hours and we’ll be back again. Our day on the water lasted twelve hours and we didn’t bring any water or food… This is how Greenland deals with the western thinking!

The picturesque surrounding with all those millions of ice floes hypnotized us! We were fascinated by the extraneousness of the scene.

For the Inuit the seal on one hand means food for himself and for his dogs. On the other hand he can sell its fur, which is mostly the only way he has to deal with the financial duties that are carried to him by the new standards of living the Europeans brought to him and that he wants to enjoy!
Many people humiliate or even despise them due to their hunting habits. If you get a better insight you’ll figure out the hunting they’re practicing is completely sustainable. The animals (mostly seals) they hunt are living a beautiful life and it’s a fact that the population in eastern Greenland is even rising. East Greenland is as long as it’s from northern Norway to southern Italy and not more than 2’500 people are living there. In our opinion it’s pretty far fetched to blame the citizens for the extinction of the animals in the polar area.

June 7. Tasiilaq

Tasiilaq is the biggest settlement in Greenland’s entire east coast and even though there are not more than 1′500 people living there. It’s fascinating how humans once decided to settle down in this harsh area living just from what nature provides. Now, there’s almost everything you need: Gelateria, university, filatelia, supermarkets, museum, harbour, school and community centre. But the living is hard. Many young people decide to move to Nuuk (west coast).

For us, Tasiilaq is one of the most beautiful places ever been to. It’s unique.

Here some pictures to enjoy:

The only road in east Greenland is approx. 1km long and it gets busy sometimes..

We went skiing around the village in order to get some practice for our expedition. I didn’t ski for the last twenty years but with the awesome gear we got sponsored by Völkl, it wasn’t really hard to learn though.

I’m really fond of icebergs. Can’t get enough of them.

We went dog sledding. It was quite steep and not every sled made it down without crashing. Luckily the dogs weren’t hurt.

Yes, there is soccer in Greenland and yes, there is a national league. Unfortunately they didn’t make it to Africa.

… on the way to hunt with Tobias. More about it in the upcoming blog…

May 30. Our Journey to Tasiilaq | East Greenland

In retrospect I have to say we’re literally lucky devils. A day before we left to Greenland, all the four Airports we had to do stop-overs were shut down due to the ash. The clerks of Icelandair suggested us to postpone our trip for a couple of weeks, but that wasn’t possible. Despite the unlucky circumstances, we dicided to give it a try. Here are a few pictures about our journey to Tasiilaq:

It all started at Zurich airport. We had no idea if we get a flight to Copenhagen at that point.

But we got one. Arrived in CPH they told us there aren’t any connection flights to Iceland but we could try to go to Scotland instead and try it from there…

That’s what we did. After a long detour via Scotland we eventually got to Iceland at 1 a.m. Unfortunatelly exactly on the other side of the island we were suppost to be.

After a 7 hours bus ride and almost no sleep we arrived in Reykjavik…

… and couldn’t believe when they told us there might be a flight to Greenland sometimes this day. We were optimistic even though our nerves were heightened as!

And it payed out! Happy and reliefed we sat in the Dash 8 in direction to Kulusuk/Greenland.

I really felt like hugging this lady when she handed me our connection flight tickets over.

Finally in the Chopper to Tasiilaq. It was a long and struggling journey. 42 hours of flying, waiting and endless hoping. But we made it!

May 30.

That was approx half of the tech gear we took to GL. The other half was already there from last time. Overweight: 71kg

We had another story in a Swiss newspaper the week after we left. Click here to get to their website.

May 25. We are back!

After one month in Greenland we are back. It was an unforgettable journey and we’re still overwhelmed by the many beautiful experiences we made. Thanks to all who made this become reality!

More to come soon, we first need to digest a little…

We camped here for two nights. When you unzip the tent in the morning and this is your view - you think you’re still dreaming!

This picture was taken on a hunting-day with Tobias.

The camera team getting ready to capture the last shots… just before we came home.

April 24.

Finally! We have a flight - at least to Iceland so far. Well then, we’re off. Next blog in a month hopefully.

April 24. One day to go, hopefully!

We’re happy SF signed the contracts for our cooperation.

We’re not happy our flights are cancelled.

I’m pretty much at a loss, but we’ll find a way…

April 23. Two days to go!

Interview in a Swiss newspaper.

April 22. Three days to go!

Here a few pics from last time…

Me and my dad filming near Tasiilaq.

Filming the overwhelming glaciers and in the back the big ice sheet.

Harbour Tasiilaq

Getting ready for our flight

seconds before we opened the doors. It was bloody cold!

Can you ask for a better job!?

Kids in Tasiilaq.

My dad doing some workout

Robert’s RedHouse after the snow storm

Pitching the tent. It was a beautiful night.

April 21.

Today, spring was in the air. On days like these you ask yourself “why the hell am I going to the arctic!?” On top, few of my mates just booked a surf trip to the Maldives.

Nevertheless, as soon as we arrived in Greenland, I don’t want to be anywhere else on earth. It’s definitely a magic place.

April 20.

It’s probably rubbish, but I have to say that my biggest concern regarding our expedition are these extremely cute looking polar bears. At this time a year, they’re starving. Lucky us we’re exactly where they’re roaming around - at least the first and last two days.

Anyway… we are armed and I really hope we don’t need it.

That’s where I hide if I see one…

April 19.

That’s our protagonist Robert Peroni. He’s been living in Greenland for over 25 years now and runs several significant social projects. He was the first person who crossed Greenland on it’s widest place on bare manpower.

Due to his illness he’s not able to stay in the cold for a long time since his lungs aren’t able to uptake enough oxygen. That’s the main reason we’re going on our expedition in May - it’s supposed to be “warmer” by then.

Confronted with the daily problems - a broken water pipe flooded the entire basement with inches of ice.

April 19.

One of the biggest problems we had to solve was how to bring oxygen to Greenland. By airplane? Oxygen equals bomb. Boat? First boat this year arrives mid July. Buying in Tasiilaq? I tried to work it out, but the clerk at polar oil only knew two words in English: oxygen and yes. So according to his answer I reckon we finally got it…

April 18.

I went to Zurich Airport today and I’m still impressed how empty it was. 7 days to go. I so hope we can fly…

April 14.

Interview in a Swiss Newspaper. I’m sorry for the English folks - it’s written in German!

Click here to get to their website.

April 14.

Dear volcano, please stop fooling around! We’re leaving for Greenland in 10 days, today all flights in the northern atlantic territory were cancelled and we have to stop over in Iceland. Our fingers are crossed. We really hope we can catch our flights without any struggle…