Correne Erasmus-Coetzer encounters Greenland's Pittaraq

Explorer Correne Erasmus-Coetzer has returned to her native South Africa after having to abort her latest expedition in Greenland in May 2008, after encountering terrifying winds known locally as the Pittaraq.

Coetzer, an ex-teacher turned adventurer, was the first South African to ski the last degree of latitude, a distance of 110km, to the South Pole in December 2001. Soon after in April 2002, she achieved the same feat to the North Pole.

A solo crossing of Canada's Great Slave Lake in March 2006 ranks as one of Coetzer's greatest achievements. The lake is the second largest in Canada, ninth in the world and measures 480km long by 110km wide.

Frozen throughout winter, Coetzer described Great Slave Lake as a "tough" expedition, not least because it was dark for 12 hours during the night and the ice made loud cracking noises underneath her.

Recently, on January 17, 2007, she became the first South African and African woman to reach the geographic South Pole on foot from the Antarctic coast, covering a total of 1130km.

Her latest mission was to cross Greenland's icecap on foot. It is the second largest icecap in the world after Antarctica, and would have meant a journey of 550km between the East Coast's Isortoq to a fjord near Kangerlussuaq on the West Coast.

"Being on Greenland was a God-given privilege," said Coetzer. "It is a beautiful place, especially before and after a terrifying Pittaraq! The coastal area is picturesque and naturally the white wasteland of the inland ice will always be beautiful to me."

Beginning on April 24, 2008, Coetzer and her expedition companions immediately encountered tricky conditions. Travelling with backpacks and pulling sleds, the group negotiated steep climbs next to open crevasses and experienced whiteout weather, which meant extremely difficult navigation.

After two days, the Pittaraq hit the expedition, blasting them with icy cold gale force winds and confining them to their tents. Despite building walls of snow to protect the camp, at times their tents were blown flat by the force of the wind.

By May 3, following a couple of days of limited travel, Coetzer and her colleagues were once more holed up in their tents and on May 7, the decision was made to turn around. They had covered a quarter of the distance, but consumed most of their provisions and, due to the extended time stuck in camp, had unsolvable insurance issues.

"We had food for 30 days with us and after quarter of the way we had eaten nearly half," says Coetzer. "So many things were wrong and it was a gamble to go on."

"I was glad we turned around."

It was a tough journey back and the wind still caused problems, but by May 14 they reached a fjord near Isortoq and called a close to the expedition.

Coetzer's trusty companion for the trip was a Suunto X6HR wristop computer, which she used to check altitude and weather as they trudged across the ice.

"I had thought that my watch would only be useful for me because we were eight people in the group and they, or the two guides, would have had smart watches," says Coetzer. "No way, the Suunto was the star. The whole group 'used' my watch."

"For example we didn't get weather updates from our logistic operator like on Antarctica and we were in real trouble with the weather. The barometer was the only weather forecaster we had. I had to report daily to everybody about the pressure."

"Altitude played a big role in our distance," she continues. "We knew more or less how far we were in the expedition by knowing the altitude. Several times a day I reported what height we were at."

"On the last day the weather was so bad that we couldn't see how far the coast was. The only way we knew how far we still had to ski was with my altitude report every hour. The guides had a GPS point, but it was a process to get it out, warm it up and switch it on."

The compass function on the Suunto X6HR also played its part. "It was also great to check the direction and to know the day and date."

"Sounds simple, but on the ice one lost track of the day and date, because one day is like the other."

Images: Correne Erasmus-Coetzer, Tom Alkin and Denise Martin (SP photo)