Preparatory stages of the expedition.

The Adventure Club started to prepare the program "In ski across Greenland" in May 1998.

The first selection stage – the race at Alaska. In July 1998 three candidates to the Greenland team participated in the Race "Sadler's Midnite Sun" at Alaska along the route Fairbanks – Anchorage, 376 miles.

Reconnaissance in Greenland. In August 1998 Matvey Shparo, a leader of the expedition, visited Denmark and Greenland. He carried negotiations with the Danish Governmental organization "Danish Polar Center", regulating all expeditions in Greenland, handed the official letters to the Prime-Minister of Denmark and the Chairman of the Greenland Government, received all necessary permissions. For a week Matvey Shparo travelled on ice slopes of Greenland, choosing a place of the start of the forthcoming expedition.

The second selection stage – a kayak trip along the Pra river in Ryazan region. In November 1998 a group of sixteen men, including five disabled participants – the candidates for the Greenland expedition – carried out a weekly autonomous sailing along the river in the conditions, close to winter: snow and frost. A team was vigorously moving forward (40 km per day) along the route, which passed in absolute wilderness (with no populated localities).

Test of sledges. In December 1998 all future participants spent four days in a winter camp outdoors in Tver region, testing ski devices (special chairs, adjusted to skis) for disabled people.

The third selection stage: a winter training session in Maloyaroslavets, Kalushskaya region. In 1999 during two weeks the candidates were training on their ski chairs. The group was accompanied by a doctor, who registered the data of adaptation of sportsmen to cold and physical pressure.

The forth selection stage – general training session in Tiksy, Yakutiya. In April 1999 the candidates to the expedition, including three disabled participants, who did not use snow devices, passed 110 km along the ice of the Bykovskaya anabranch of the delta of the Lena river. The temperature of the air from -20...-32° Celsius degrees, a strong wind. The participants tested all expedition's equipment, worked out tactical questions: travelling with a load, setting a camp, overnight stay, rations, meals cooking, medical supervision.