On Tue, Aug 16, 2022, (travel permitting) I will attempt both an unsupported one-way (90mi) and out & back (180mi) Fastest Known Time (FKT) of the Arctic Circle Trail (ACT) in Greenland.
Unsupported means I will carry all my food and supplies (except water) from the beginning to the end and will not receive any form of external support.
The Arctic Circle Trail (ACT)
The Arctic Circle Trail (ACT) in Greenland stretches over a total of about ~200km/124mi from the ice cap to the ocean, between Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut. The trail traverses the UNESCO Aasivissuit – Nipisat World Heritage Site and undulates through the arctic tundra just above the arctic circle (66.6° N). The actual trails starts in Kellyville, ~15km/10mi outside of Kangerlussuaq. Most hikers will start in Kangerlussuaq and get a ride on the gravel road to the actual ACT start (first cairn) in Kellyville, then do the ~145km/90mi main trail section to Sisimiut. That section is an actual and pure trail. A ~50km gravel road extension of the ACT leads from Kangerlussuaq to the ice cap.
Arctic Circle Trail (ACT) overview map. The actual trail starts with the first cairn in Kellyville and ends with the last cairn in Sisimiut. There is a gravel road section between the ice cap and Kellyville. Illustration based on figure borrowed from the Cicerone ACT guidebook.
Logo of the official ACT website.
Current FKT
Torsten Niecke holds the current self-supported one-way FKT in 2d 4h 17m on the ACT trail section. According to his FKT report, he started at the old heliport in Sisimiut at the Mittarfimmut road (~ 66.937932, -53.633986) and finished at the Sonderstrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility (~ 66.987235, -50.941402). He logged 147km/91.3mi. Both his start and finish locations are past the first/last cairns of the ACT. I attempted to contact Torsten to get clarification on the exact locations where he started/stopped his watch, but have not heard back from him. I will go with the coordinates above.
The opinions diverge where exactly the “official” trail start and end points are located. Some folks argue the West terminus is at the Hotel Sisimiut (perhaps because they hand out trail completion certificates), others argue it’s the Sisimiut harbor, or simply the last cairn of the trail. Similar discussions happen for the East terminus: the actual trail begins (with the first cairn) just past Kellyville, about 10mi/16km outside of Kangerlussuaq. Yet, some folks argue the trail starts in Kangerlussuaq itself, or even at the ice cap, however, most hikers will try to skip the road walks and organize a ride to Kellyville.
Without going into further discussion, to complete this FKT, I will use Thorsten’s start and finish locations (66.987235, -50.941402 and 66.937932, -53.633986) so that our times can be compared. He submitted the route and set a first FKT, so his start/finish choice must be respected.
The weather forecast does not look great.
Dot watching
Tracking will be available in the embedded map below or at https://maps.findmespot.com/s/V6QT. If travel goes well and my luggage makes it, I plan to start in the early morning hours (GMT-2) of Tue, Aug 16, 2022.