Greenland Expedition 2009
INLAND ICE AND GRANITE
The biggest island in the world, a title which is surely justified by its more than 2 million cubic meter surface, is the aim of our "Inland ice and granite" expedition from the end of April to June 2009.
Participants were Alexander Römer, Dr. Peter Schatzl, Felix Berktold and of course my humble self, Thomas Holz. The aim of the expedition was to dare a crossing, which according to our research had never been attempted before. The plan was to follow a path northwards from Tasillak, the main city in southeast Greenland, across the inland ice, to then climb to the height of Mount Forel, the highest point in the mountain chain with the distinctive name of Schweizerland, and then to loop around the mountain range to completely cross it. In addition to the typical challenges due to the Arctic the difficulties accompanying this undertaking lay in finding a route, the snow conditions met there, the difficulties related to the first reconnaissance that we wanted to carry out, and finally those difficulties that Schweizerland would throw at us. The logistical challenge was to be underway with as little weight as possible and nevertheless to be prepared for the difficult climbs across the rocks and ice. When our group finally arrived in Tasillak at the end of April, the old adage of my Business Administration lecturer, "Planning replaces coincidence with mistakes" was once again confirmed. Over the past 2 week almost 2 meters of snow had fallen with no improvement in sight. Many of the passes and connecting paths were impassable, so that even Skidoos and dog slays could not get through. Numerous large avalanches confirmed our intention to wait it out. Our equipment, including the expedition tried and tested.
Down sleeping bag from Carinthia,
was designed from colder to very cold temperatures, which at this time of the year can range from -5°C to -30°C. In reality it was naturally totally different: warm front after warm front came in from Canada, giving us by day temperatures of up to +7°C. The snow immediately turned to heavy and wet slush. Pulling our pulkas was more like a 'Strongest-Men-Contest', in which the aim is to drag tractor wheels as far as possible. The average distance was 1km per hour and at 10 km per day, you could definitely feel it. It became clear very quickly, that the planned route would not be possible within the planned timeframe, at least not without the help of a helicopter, which was out of the question for all of us. If you consider how untouched and natural this corner of the earth in Southeast Greenland still is and in which simple conditions the people live here, it would be almost perverted to pay thousands of euros for a flight, knowing it was damaging the environment. With heavy hearts our team began the walk home. No further attempt was possible and two weeks had already passed leaving us not enough time as our expedition was only planned until the end of June. A small compensation was the ascent of Polheimfjeld under winter conditions. An appealing chine climbing paired with snow and ice passages, at least for the moment, took our minds off things and rewarded us with incredible views of the pack ice belt, which still has the coast in its icy grasp. In the following days we began the journey back to Frankfurt from Rejkjavik. The planned route was not completed, first climbs could not be recorded, the weather was not as expected for 2 whole weeks – yes, also this can happen to expeditions. However the journey was still worthwhile, solely for the impressions and experiences and for the many nice people we met along the way. One thing is clear: Greenland, we will be back, even if it is in shorts.