The Youngsters Have Thrown In The Towel
Published on 28.04.2010 - Ice Dreams
Sébastien Lapierre and Olivier Giasson are confronted by a lack of wind. As they have a deadline to meet (04 May), they have decided to throw in the towel...
It was fundamentally a daft matter of a flight that put an end to this Canadian attempt to repeat an historical crossing. We don't really understand why the date of this return flight could not have been changed (they have professional obligations, we've been told) but what is for sure, it is that on 04 May, they had to be on the other side of the large island in order to take their plane.
No luck, they had lost time, and, as we saw from the previous updates, lots of time. Moreover, once on the Greenland Plateau, they were confronted by a cruel lack of wind whereas they had been counting on this as an essential factor for bringing off their endeavour.
Here are some extracts from their last communiqué, which explains why they gave up:
"It was not without emotion that Sebastien and Olivier made the difficult decision, which, considering the circumstances, was the only one possible. As the wind was still not on their side, they had to face the fact that to cover more than 30 kilometres per day without their traction sales meant that it was impossible for them to meet their deadline. So they changed course and retraced their steps in order to finish their adventure.
"The difficulties encountered from the beginning in getting to the glacier, the climbing of it that was so difficult and Mother Mature who was blowing so hard at times, were all circumstances that made them lose precious time. The kind of weather that they would have really needed for making a successful crossing. Be that as it may, the way home will be long. All in all, our two adventurers will have pulled of a feat - that of confronting the glacier and its rigours for 28 whole days. Thus, they will truly have acquired all the explorer experience that they had been looking for by undertaking this crossing ..."
