Friday 28 July 2017

Arriving in Greenland

I love the Arctic. The light and the stark, uncompromising environment. I also love the fact that coming to Greenland I'm not going to have to worry about crowds, altitude or 'delhi belly' compared to some other expedition locations I've been to.
I'm safely ensconced at the Tangent Expeditions basecamp at Constablepynt Airport in NE Greenland. I have a group arriving in a few days to try to climb Ingmikortilaq ('The place that looks like an island') which is a triple summited rocky peninsula that looks rather like 3 Skye Munros dumped in the sea. It sits in the furthest north part of Scoresbysund, the world's largest fjord system and attached to Hinks Land by a thin strip of raised ground. On the north side is Nordvestfjord and in turn at the nearby head of this is Daugard-Jensen Gletscher which calves directly into the fjord providing the bulk of the icebergs that slowly drift out down Scoresbysund to the open ocean.
My team of 4 plus me will take a long boat journey with one of the local Inuits from Ittoqortoormiit and after we've sited a basecamp we have 12 days to explore the area. As well as the rocky summit we have the option of heading up onto the local glaciated peaks. There is no record of anything being climbed in the area but with various geological expeditions dating back to Lauge Koch's epic sea plane supported trips in the 50s you never quite know who has done exactly what. Hopefully these peaks will be a little too remote or technical to have seen previous ascents but that's not my prime motivation for visiting anyway.
Google earth image of Ingmikortilaq
Owing to flights I have a few days here in Constablepynt. Its my 6th trip to the area (Milne Land, Gaase Land an epic 8 day blizzarded ski retreat across the fjord from Volkaarts Boons Coast, a N-S traverse of Liverpool Land and our amazing Catalina trip to Faxe So) and I've also been to Ausmannadalen in West Greenland and Svalbard with my (then soon to be) wife, Jane. The Arctic has given me some the best times of my life. Tangent now have a great base here; raised (to keep them above spring snow and melt) shipping containers used for storage and converted as staff bunkrooms and an HQ Weatherhaven with small kitchen, workshop, electricity and even some wifi piggy backed from the airport. This all forms an essential base for the busy spring expedition season supported by the Snow Dragons (skidoos) permanently based there.
I'll have a gentle start to the trip sorting food, tents, stoves, climbing gear, comms and emergency kit waiting for the team to arrive and then local boatman Ole will take us north on a boat journey that should take about 20 hours... excited!
 Amazing what you can do with a small shipping container
 Tangent HQ
 On the rise walkway
A la carte dining in the Arctic!
Last night, after dinner, I took a walk down to the coast to admire and take pictures of some small grounded 'berry bits'. The evening light as the sun lowers (it doesn't go all the way down) is lovely. There were Arctic Terns and a Long Tailed Skua around and a great view (if you turn your back to the airport!). Everything is a little further away than you think out here, the quality of the air seems to shorten distances so with a decent wee hike its important to take the right tools, including a rifle. Bears are rare in the area in the summer but always a possibility. A few more pics on: https://www.facebook.com/pg/climbwhenyoureready/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1618249094876567
 Grounded bergy bit
 Long Tailed Skua overhead
 Melting... Liverpool Land beyond
 Looking down Hurry Fjord from the beach
 Not a bad spot for an evening stroll
Lines in the sand

1 comment:

Refugia Stein said...

It looks sunning over there, beaches and snow what more could you want? When heading off for a trek I always find it's good to spend a day or two in basecamp first anyway to double check absolutely everything, and to acclimatise to the local weather. You're making me want to head out on my own adventures sooner rather than later!

Refugia Stein @ Container Domes