Trip Reports

Greenland Mountaineer - 29 July to 19 Aug '14

Written by Leader Alun Richardson, September 2014

The team (Alun (leader), James, Malcolm, Bob and Gill) met at Gatwick. The flight to Iceland (1 hour behind UK) and subsequent transfer to the accommodation went smoothly (bus tickets available on the plane - cheaper than online). CafÈ 27 is a cheap place to eat, (well cheap as far as Iceland is concerned).

An early afternoon flight to Kulusuk in Greenland left us with a few hours to look around Reykjavik and to pack our bags down to 20Kg. The flight in a twin-engine prop plane took 2 hours (Greenland is 2 hours behind Iceland time).

Landing in Greenland is an awesome experience as we spotted our first icebergs from the planes window. We walked from the airport for half an hour to kiuusuk and our baggage was picked up by Georg. A nice meal had been prepared and we even had some wine!

The following morning Matt and Alun spent a few hours sorting kit and doing some rifle training, then everyone chipped in to check tents and to sort the food. Everyone went through the SOP for bear encounters and practiced the set up for the trip wires. Alun assured us he was a good shot and had successfully hit the sea. Gill became the quarter mistress and did a sterling job all through the expedition making sure we were well fed.

We packed our kit in the afternoon and by 5.30pm we were loading two boats and heading for Sermiligup fjord and a branch of the Karale Glacier (2 hour fast and bumpy boat journey). Wrap up well because it gets chilly on the boat.

We set camp, cooked a late meal and slept well.

The following day we scouted out a better camp a little higher up from the coast. In retrospect camping at the base of the glacier is not recommended as a cold wind blew most days down the glacier yet a few hundred metres away there was no wind.

The next day we set off at a civilised time, thanks to the long daylight hours, to immediately attempt a superb peak above the camp. Like all Greenland mountainís distances are deceiving. We spent 4+ hours reaching the technical terrain of the ridge. We scoured the flanks for a safe and reasonable way onto the ridge, but after a few hours searching we realised that for a large team to ascend the very loose and tricky terrain it was an accident waiting to happen. We descended chastened, but excited by the plethora of mountains we had spotted further up the glacier.

We explored the glacier and decided to place a new camp 6 - 7km further up the glacier and spent the next few days ferrying loads to create a new camp on the glacier.

We ascended a fantastic summit - a 9-hour day, with complex glacier travel and a good ridge. We climbed a great peak the next day, which was a little shorter and then had a rest day. After a rest we climbed another interesting peak with fantastic red rock. In all we spent 5 days and climbed three fantastic peaks...two were probably new ascents.

We descended to the coastal camp and decided that we would look for a way onto a spectacular looking peak but if we couldn't find a route we would move camp.

We were unsuccessful at finding a reasonable way to get to the summit so we contacted Georg and Matt and arranged to be moved to the back of Apusiujik Island and bay called Tivparpik.

After setting camp we ascended a glacier that gave access to an array of peaks. We climbed what we thought was the highest one on a ridge only to then climb two others as they seemed higher!

The next day we used the glacier to gain access to a different col and climbed a massive peak that filled the skyline. On our final day we probably climbed our best peakÖwe set off with what we thought was at best a 50:50 chance, but as we got higher the peak revealed its secrets and we found a reasonable and surprising grade 2 scramble to the summit.

We spent that night having a fantastic fire on the beach, unfortunately our beer supplies had evaporated!

The pick up the next day went smoothly and we were back in kulusuk for beers and a lovely meal. We saw the Northen lights and a wonderful sunset, but it meant staying up until 12.30pm.

The flight to Iceland went smoothly and we had an early start the next day to catch the 6.30 flight back to the UK.

It was fantastic trip for those with an adventurous and exploratory spirit. The weather was fantastic and not withstanding our one failure we stood on 9 summits. The team were awesome fun and we are all going to return to Greenland one day. « Previous report | Next report »

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