Question Greenland

The aim of the visit was to highlight the struggles and triumphs of the famous explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton by as closely as possible matching every element of his gear and kit that he wore and also the food that he ate back in the early twentieth century.

Starting from Kangerlussuaq on the west coast of Greenland, the route would take us 555km across the ice cap to Tasiilaq on the east via the abandoned DYE II radar station. The expedition set out to support research programs at King’s College London’s, Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology.

In-depth studies were conducted on the twins before, during and after the expedition.

The other aim was to compare old and new clothing. Ross wore replica clothing to that worn by Shackleton 100 years ago on his famous ‘Endurance’ expedition, while Hugo used modern clothing so they could directly compare the performance of old against new.

What they discovered was nothing short of remarkable. Unfortunately Hugo sustained a catastrophic knee injury, which after a few days of medical treatment was deemed to be too dangerous to continue. The team were evacuated off the ice cap by helicopter after two weeks.