DAY 1: If there was a direct flight from New York City to Ilulisat, Greenland, it would take only about three hours.  Unfortunately, the shortest route to the west coast of Greenland this time of the year is through Copenhagen. Meaning that we have to take an 8 hour flight east only to turn around and fly 5 hours northwest to Kangerlussat in Greenland.  Then there's another one hour flight north to Ilulisat, where I am now.  But we're not done yet. Tomorrow, we have our last flight up to Qaanaak, another three and a half hours north in a small twin otter.

And then the adventure really starts!

Well, that's what I thought.  It actually started today, as my luggage didn't arrive with me in Ilulisat.  The next flight isn't for another week, so I will have to do without!

Desperate for apparel, we rushed to a small Inuit clothing store before it closed, and found a few things that will complement the gear that my partner Alain will kindly share.  Fortunately, there's a mountaineering spirit and an arctic generosity that will provide the basics needed.  Alain had two sets of clothes, and now, we each have one...for the next 17 days.  I am glad we are the same size, as wearing undersized clothes would have been embarassing in front of the polar bears.  Before leaving Ilulisat, though, I was able to get some nice Inuit clothing, which I am looking forward to giving to my wife Vicky when I return...She loves exotic clothes.

What a bummer--I had been carefully preparing my suitcase for the last month, paying close attention to all the little details that make a trip to such extreme environments just a bit more bearable: the right fabric, the appropriate layering for warmth, and, of course, matching shoes (just kidding).   That's not to mention the little pleasures (my favorite nuts and chocolates) that can brighten the most difficult days.   I realize that I had become very peculiar about the right equipment, and with this loss I have been delivered the journey's first lesson: What I thought were the bare necessities included some things I can do without.  

Apart from that, everything is bright, the team's is jolly, and spirits are high. Isn't that most important?

[Editor's note: Over the course of two weeks, Larry Lunt, a member of NRDC's Global Leadership Council, and Alain Hubert, a Belgian explorer and founder of the International Polar Foundation, will trek some 200 miles from the town of Qaanaaq across Greenland's Humbolt Glacier, the Northern Hemisphere's largest and fastest moving river of ice. Along the way, as special contributors to OnEarth's Greenlight blog, Lunt and Hubert will post dispatches from the ice: stories of a culture and wilderness in flux and lessons for what our own future may hold.  Follow the journey at our Destination: Greenland page.]