Greenland Revisited Part Two

Saturday we got out of work and went back to Camp Tuto with Corinne & Kevin. The area had transformed quite a bit since John & I went there a few days previous. A large portion of the water had frozen over, so much so that we could walk on it, and it was just a lot more snowy. Amazing what a difference a few days can make. Really witnessing the transition to winter here. Later that night we had a great dinner at the TOW Club. It didn't quite end up being the all-out sloshfest that I expected because a hike to the glacier, actually led by someone who knew the way (Bob), was spontaneously planned for the following day. That didn't stop John & I from closing the place down at 3:00, though. I can't remember if we drank more back at the barrack or not.

Det-3, on the way to Camp Tuto	The broken bridge again	At the foot of the icecap, really starting to freeze over now
Exploring the ice cave	Exploring the crevasse	Walking back to the truck
Dinner at the TOW Club	Good times	Foxes hanging outside the club

I set my alarm for 6:00 so that I could get breakfast and be ready to set out early. Not surprisingly, I didn't get up, and no one managed to wake me, so by the time I got up, everyone was on the verge of leaving. I had to scramble to get my shit together and ran over to the dining hall and shoved as much food down my throat as I could in the few minutes I had, as well as stashing away some food for the hike.

We drove out to basically the same spot as before and started hiking around 9:30. There were 9 of us when we started. Within about 30-40 minutes of setting out, one of the group fell and gouged his nose pretty badly on a rock. I cringed realizing full well how easily something like this (and much worse) can happen on such difficult and unforgiving terrain. He was understandably shaken up, not sure if his nose was broken or not (turns out it wasn't), so Jamie and Steve walked him back to a vehicle and drove him back down to base. The rest of us continued on.

Bob made for the hill nearst the icecap and it was immediately apparent where we went wrong on our previous attempt. Once cresting the hill, the terrain gently sloped downward and got much easier for awhile. Around the third hour we finally saw the glacier, close but still separated from us by the most challenging section of the hike. Here, three of the remaining of our group decided to call it quits, so it was just Bob, John, and myself who went the whole way.

Starting out

Views along the way

Levelling off at the top of the hill

First sight of the glacier!

It dropped off rather sharply into a steep, very rocky slope that went down pretty much all the way to sea level, then another small climb up a huge rubbly section before we finally come upon the seemingly very abrupt edge of the almighty glacier! I say "seemingly" because it became clear that what at first appeared to be solid ground was really just the ice covered by varying amounts of dirt, rock, and rubble, but there was a pretty clear delineation where the glacier emerged in its full glory and stretched out as far as the eye could see up onto the icecap.

John crawls under a section of ice emerging through a hole

Our path straddles a huge ice ramp

The Howard Moltke Bræ glacier in all its glory

The steep final descent

Getting close to the glacier

We walked out onto it and it was surreal. The surface was covered with these sharp little spurs of ice that made it actually quite easy to walk upon, even relatively steep slopes. However, certain patches were insanely slippery and as huge crevasses opened up before me I got a bit uneasy realizing how easy it might be to misstep and slide into one. Also unsettling was, of course, the fact that this monstrous natural wonder could at any moment shift, shear, and fall apart, sending all of us tumbling into an unthinkable mass of crushing, churning ice and water that would tear us asunder as if we were gnats in a meat grinder.

I only stayed on there and walked around for a few minutes. John stayed on there for a long time and went really far out. I sat down on an outcrop that I believed to be off the glacier and had lunch. Only upon closer inspection did I notice the deep, clear, blue ice just underneath. I don't know about Bob, but John was making me a bit nervous out there. If he fell in a crevasse or something I don't know what we would've or could've done. Thankfully he made it off OK and we were soon on our way.

Reaching the glacier. Unbelievable.

Bob out on the glacier, standing in front of a huge, yawning crevasse

John scrambling along a spine of protruding ice

Various other views from the glacier

Eating lunch

The hike back up that last section was pretty brutal. I was definitely struggling while John & Bob seemed relatively unfazed. Of course, I drank more, stayed up later the night before, and was carrying more weight than them. I brought my heavy parka just in case, but didn't end up needing it in the slightest. We were blessed with some truly great weather. We ended up reaching the truck around 16:30, so it was a 7-hour hike all in all. It took pretty much everything out of me. Bob b-lined it back to base and went to the TOW Club where he treated us to dinner. It was a great fucking hike and just a great day, but I was beat!

Ice formations on the mountainside

A rock with some kind of shell over it

Looking back (composite)

Miscellaneous views on the way back

When I got back to my room around 20:00, I intended to lay down for just a few minutes but never got up. Ended up sleeping through til morning. I was awoken around 5:30-6:00 to get up to go to work. This was the 15th, the official start of storm season, so we had to bring all our arctic gear with us. Mine was all unpacked because I had used it when camping on Dundas, so getting that in order just added to the fun of the morning scramble.

Did grunt work cleaning up at the site all day. After work, John, Corinne, Kevin, and I explored Pingorssuit Mountain under more favorable conditions than the previous visit. Later that night we cooked dinner at our barrack and watched Boondock Saints. I ended the night drinking alone and listening to music late into the night. Today we did the final clean up at the site. After, John & I explored South Mountain, which was somewhat disappointing. After dinner I went to the TOW Club and played pool alone for awhile. It was an extremely lame scene, but I got to have my way with the jukebox, so that was one upside. Gonna wrap this up so I can try and get some sleep.

Morning at BMEWS (composite)	Bringing boxes to the warehouse	Pingorssuit Mountain	One-man party in room 8
Lowering empty crates from the roof onto the flatbed	The North Star Inn	South Mountain	Dusk over the barracks

Didn't do much these past couple days. We've pretty much done and seen everything we wanted to do and see. Last night we all went up to the TOW Club and ate, drank, played pool, etc. When the place closed we went with a bunch of British guys to their place and carried on the merriment there. I don't remember how the night ended, but I was told we were waking people up so we cut it short and just went home.

Gotta love the incongruous choice of clip art on this bathroom signage at the BX	Drinking with the Brits	Last day heading to BMEWS
Down by the bay at sunset	A fox outside our barrack	I couldn't resist going back to the shore for the conclusion of the sunset

Most of our group is leaving tomorrow, so this is their last night here. Normally we'd be ripping it up at the TOW Club, but as bad luck would have it, it's closed to the general public because of some function. So, we just went bowling (where I bowled the best two games of my life: 145 & 149) and came back here to a very lame night of watching football. It petered out and people dispersed by around 22:00. Total opposite from the last time I was here. It's probably for the best, though. I don't know how the hell I managed to get my shit together that morning in February.

Anyway, I was supposed to leave with the rest of the group tomorrow, but I asked to stay an extra week so I could travel to Qaanaaq, a small Inuit hunting village about 60 miles to the north. I leave for there tomorrow morning around the same time they fly home. Despite repeated attempts at contacting people there, I've been unable to get a response from anyone, so I'm going totally blind with no reservations or anything. I'll have to figure everything out when I get there. I have no idea what to expect there. Well, it's not even that late, but I'm pretty tired. Gotta get up early tomorrow and see everyone off and get my flight. Hope everything goes well up there.