It's melted!!

At last!  The ice in Kong Oscar Havn has melted. Those are mountains reflected in water that you can see :-)

Tasiilaq and Kong Oscar Havn

Whoops! I have just been informed that that is most likely water laying on top of winter ice. It should be clear if that's the case in a few days time.

Well, today Tassiilaq had a maximum temperature of 7 degrees C.

And the days are lengthening rapidly.It's only 14 days to the summer Solstice when the sun will rise at 00.55 and set at 00.05! So the town will have only 50 minutes with the sun below the horizon.

Meanwhile, down here in Tassie at 42 degrees South, we are getting the reverse. On our shortest day (June 22nd) the sun will rise at 07.42 and set at 16.43. Just 9 hours and 1 minute of sun :-) 

Breaking Ice

Finally, the ice in Kong Oscar Havn where the town of Tasiilaq lies is beginning to show signs of breaking up. There is a webcam located above the town so I can keep an eye on what is happening there :-) This is the view at 5.40pm 1st June 2013.

However, there is still an awful lot of ice to disperse off the coast according to the Norwegian Meteorological Office. Ammassalik Island is about centre of the chart.

SeaKayakAdventures

About 3 years ago I was wandering through the web and came across a website called Seakayakadventures. http://www.seakayakadventures.webeden.co.uk/
It talked about sea kayak trips in East Greenland led by a fellow called Martin Rickard. I had long wanted to go to Greenland and this seemed like a possibly worthwhile way of doing it.

The images and video on Martin's website certainly looked pretty good! I have a reluctance to join commercial trips as there is always the possibility that it becomes so controlled and regimented that the essence of the location is lost. Not so with Martin's trips.

Martin has extensive experience of travelling by kayak in East Greenland and his knowledge and awareness do two things. Firstly, it makes the experience of kayaking in Greenland as safe as it can possibly be. This is an unforgiving area so there is always a  need to be careful but Martin's experience means that clients can enjoy their surroundings and be gently guided in a safe manner.

Secondly, it means that people that sign up with Martin get as close to true Greenland nature and culture as possible. It does not feel like a commercial trip at all. More like a group of friends being led by another friend that just happens to know that part of Greenland like the back of his hand.

Anyway, after a bit of to'ing and fro'ing of emails we decided that it was worth the 45 hour travelling time to get there!

Martin's leadership style is relaxed and gentle but still firm and competent.  Just the way it should be. The trip with him was unforgettable and inspiring and I would urge any mildly adventurous paddler to seriously consider signing up with his company. You won't regret it.

His prices are extremely reasonable compared to other companies that offer commercial trips in the region and the equipment he supplies is top notch. Good British kayaks, paddles, spraydecks, pfds etc. All good stuff and well maintained.

Sooo, as they say, just do it!

Light and dark

Last time I visited Greenland, sunrise was at 3 am, sunset around 10pm and it didn't really get completely dark.

This time, because I will be there a month later. Sunrise will be 2 hours later and sunset 2 hours earlier so the days are quite a bit shorter and the nights definitely darker.

One advantage of this is that I will have a good opportunity to see the Northern Lights. I can't think of anything better than sitting alone in the middle of the wilderness in Greenland at night watching the lights dance above:-)

A disadvantage is that it will be dark dark at night, particularly as I will be there around the New Moon, not a lot of light from that! So I decided I needed the best headlamp I could get. I bought a Petzl Nao, one of their new Reactive headlamps ( a light sensor in the headlamp adjusts output to requirements) and I have to say it is a fantastic headlamp. Comfortable, well designed and the output compared to other headlamps available is just outstanding. Naturally the trade off is battery life but I also bought some spare lithium ion batteries to go with it. And a feature of the lamp is the ability for the user to adjust the various outputs of the lamp by creating user profiles in Petzl's headlamp software, OS by Petzl. You can vary battery life from less than an hour to 144 hours.
Walking down a country road behind the headlamp is like having the road lit by a pretty reasonable car headlamp. Amazing!

Petzl Nao

 

Electrics

One of the big problems on an expedition is keeping the electronic stuff charged. Even on a relatively short expedition such as mine, with the number of electronic items most people carry, charging is critical and just carrying enough batteries for the trip can result in too much weight, volume or expense.

I have a Brunton 26W folding solar panel that does an admirable job of harnessing the sun's energy and outputting power.

 However, charging my Nikon D7000 battery has always been a problem as nobody seemed to produce a 12V car type charger for the EN-EL15 batteries that it (and several other cameras, including the flagship Nikon D800) uses. I had previously tried a cheapo eBay charger supposedly good for charging the batteries but I found that once charged the battery showed as being almost a throw away item. The Nikon has a system that not only shows charge level of the battery but also nominal age on a scale of 1 to 4, 1 being new and 4 being just plain worn out. After charging with the cheapo the battery would read as a 4, recharging on the genuine Nikon charger restored it to a 1 but it created doubts about how much damage was being done to the battery.

Recently, I came across a company called Hahnel. Based in Ireland, they produce a range of chargers that will charge the Nikon battery. I ordered one of their chargers called a Unipal II and received it a couple of days ago.

After charging both of my Nikon D7000's batteries and some other different sorts of batteries I can genuinely say I am impressed. The batteries all charged without problem.

The Unipal II can charge AA's, AAA's, almost all lithium ion batteries, as well as having a USB outlet allowing it to charge iPhones etc. A truly versatile charger.

And even though it has the ubiquitous "Made in China" on it, quality looks to be pretty reasonable.

East Greenland settlements

In all of East Greenland, there are only 7 settlements. They are: Kulusuk, Tasiilaq, Isertoq, Tiniteqilaq, Kuummiut, Sermiligaq and finally Ittorqqortoormiit in Scoresby Sund 600 kms to the north.
This is an indication of just how inhospitable this landscape is, the East coast is roughly 2,500 km long and it supports only a little over 3,100 people

The first 6 settlements all lie south of the Arctic Circle and total a population of 2665 as of 2010.



Tasiilaq



 Tasiilaq (formerly Ammassalik or Angmagsalik) is by far the biggest settlement with 1930 people living in it.



Kulusuk



Kulusuk (formerly Kap Dan) is where the main East Greenland airport is located and where I will enter Greenland. It is a small picturesque settlement with 286 people.



Kuummiut



The friendly settlement of Kuummiut, has a population of 361 as of 2010

Isertoq

Isertoq is an isolated settlement to the South East of Ammassalik Island with a population of only 93 people.



Tiniteqilaq


Tiniteqilaq, on the edge of the stunning Sermilik Fjord, has a population of 134.






Sermiligaaq

And Sermiligaaq has 222.

On my last trip I visited Kulusuk, Tasiilaq, Tiniteqilaq and Kuummiut. Hopefully on this next visit I will also get to Sermiligaaq. The weather will decide...

It appears that these Eastern settlements maintain a far more traditional way of life compared to Western Greenland which has been heavily influenced by Danish culture.
Europeans arrived in the Ammassalik area only around 120 years ago. Contact was made very late due to the difficulty of navigating these waters with only a relatively small window of ice free conditions.

Compare this to the settlement of South Greenland by Eric the Red and his Viking countrymen. Eric the Red first landed in Greenland in 982 AD and by 1000 AD there were some 3,000 people living in 300 to 400 farms.

Food

On my last visit to Greenland, I took my main meals with me. There is a company here in Tasmania that provides dried meals and I thought it would be convenient to carry my food with me, and purchase the rest when I arrived in Iceland. There are two problems with that arrangement. The meals just add weight to an already too heavy pack and the airlines charge accordingly. And trying to buy food in a country where all of the packages are labelled in Icelandic is ......... difficult :-)

I am also pretty sure that I didn't take enough food with me and suffered as a result through a lack of energy.

This time I have organised for a UK company, Outdoors Grub, to supply my food. They come with a good reputation and they have gathered together the best outdoor food available under the one roof.

They provide two levels of day ration packs, Standard (2900 kcal) and Extreme (4100 kcal). The owner, Chris Frizelle, suggested that as I would be using a fair bit of energy covering 30+ kms a day in a sea kayak, the Extreme packs would be best.

And I have to say, their service and helpfulness is stunningly good. Chris is going above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the food gets to me. Thanks Chris!

Packalarm

Well, I have had a chance to set up and try out the tripwire system using the Packalarm I ordered from the US. I have to say I am very impressed. It worked very well indeed. That was with a circle of a diameter of approximately 50 metres and using aluminium poles to run the line around (there are no trees in Greenland where I will be travelling). I have a second unit on order for the second, lower run of line and will now feel confident that nothing is going to arrive unannounced :-)

Correction-there actually are trees where I will be travelling. They are Arctic Willow and they grow to about 25mm height. They make Bonsai look like Old Growth forest!

Neqajaq

I have received some really good information from an acknowledged authority on East Greenland weather. Apparently there is another wind to be careful of other than the famed Piteraq. It is called the Neqajaq. Unlike the Piteraq which is a fall, or katabatic wind, the Neqajaq is a barrier wind that blows parallel to the coast from the North East, often accompanied by bad weather in the form of rain and snow. It typically occurs ahead of a north moving low from South Greenland. It doesn't usually have an effect in the fjord system but it can produce heavy swells in the Denmark Strait which may impact my exit and entrance from Kong Oscar Havn where Tasiilaq lies.

I have also learnt that the Piteraq is a north westerly blowing wind that occurs at the rear of lows moving northeastwards and understandably favours north east/south west running fjords. The winds are strongest nearest the ice cap.

Piteraqs usually occur south of Tasiilaq in Koge Bugt but can extend up into the Sermilik Fjord very easily, less so to Tasiilaq.

Below is a graphic showing a moderate Neqajaq blowing down from the North East past Kulusuk and a strong Piteraq blowing from the North West to the south of Tasiilaq.

Piteraq

The Greenland Piteraq is a violent katabatic wind that usually occurs in autumn and winter. Piteraq is a Greenlandic word, translated it means "what assaulting one", referring to the absolute assault on the senses by a Piteraq.

It originates on the inland ice cap at times of little or no cloud over Greenland and the most regular place for it to occur is to the south of the Ammassalik region where I will be paddling! Fortunately, they rarely reach up as far as Tasiilaq

The air closest to the ice cap is cooled by contact with the ice so that even in summer the temperature might be -20° or -30°C while the layer of air above that stays relatively warm.  Near the coast, air in the valleys is warmed by the sea and rises. Gravity pulls the colder air down into the valleys creating a very strong wind blowing from the west-northwest. Piteraqs are most intense whenever a low pressure area approaches the coast, usually as a depression travelling up the Denmark Strait

Piteraq weather conditions are characterised by an intense blue sky, a very clear and dry atmosphere and intense sunlight. Lenticular clouds perpendicular to the wind direction can often be seen towards the ice cap.

Normally, Piteraq wind speeds reach 100 to 160 kph but on February the 6th, 1970, Tasilaq, where I will be starting my expedition, was hit by a savage Piteraq that registered 324 kph before the instruments were blown away. The temperature was -20°C. The town was utterly destroyed and had to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Since that event, the Danish Meterological Institute has issued special Piteraq warnings. In Tasilaq, a flashing light on a mast beside the church is the first indication of what is coming. Warnings are also broadcast by Kalallit Nunaat Radioa, Greenland's National radio station.

Piteraq winds can even be seen on satellite infra red images as streaks heading out to sea as below. Ammassalik Island is just left of centre at the top of the image.

Jeff Schmaltz, NASA

Piteraq approaching
Carl Skou

Piteraq damage in Tasiilaq 1970

More Maps

I love maps, they are a window to wonderful places and adventurous travel and good maps are something to treasure, even digital maps :-)

One of the nice features of the DeLorme InReach Se is the way it can pair with an Android phone or iPhone. Detailed maps are downloadable from DeLorme and can be kept on the phone. Once paired, the InReach SE can provide location information on the maps. These maps will be accessible even when the phone has no signal.

A DeLorme technician sent me some examples a little while ago so I could see how much detail the maps contained. For East Greenland it was pretty good!

Trials and Tribulations

I said before that there is only a very slight chance of running into a bear. But in the interests of getting a sound sleep I definitely want a trip wire system around the tent. I have had the poles made and I tried the setup out last week. I had intended using pin activated personal alarms but unfortunately the pins are a very notchy fit in their hole and wouldn't activate with reasonable tension.
Soooo, I have ordered an alarm called a Packalarm from the US. This is a self contained reel holding 330 metres of line which connects to a trigger on the unit. Looks pretty good, let's hope it is!

You can see a video of how it works here

UPDATE!
The Packalarm arrived in the post today and I am very pleased with it. It is compact and light, activates very easily, the line seems perfect for the job and the unit is simple but seemingly robust. Apparently getting wet won't affect the unit which is great so I needn't worry on rainy days.

I will set the trip wire up again in a day or two and see if it is as good as it appears to be.

Too notchy

Just right??

Polar bears.....

I have been assured that the chances of running into a polar bear or Nanuq in this area in summer is virtually nil. Virtually................

copyright E Bishop

polar bear photographed near the Sermilik Research Station in 2011, Sermilik Fjord

copyright Yoann Drocourt

However, I do know of at least a couple of instances where polar bears have been seen in this area in summer, as above.

Now polar bears, despite looking rather cuddly, aren't very nice at all. They are the world's largest carnivore and also the world's largest bear so an encounter with one is something to be avoided.

Inuit Elder:

“As human beings, and as Inuit, we know that the polar bears are ferocious creatures.

But we must know that polar bears are also able to think and are very similar to human

beings. A person must not get too scared or get panicked at the sight of a polar bear. The

polar bear is only protecting itself, but humans have to protect themselves as well.”
I initially planned not to camp in the Sermilik Fjord as polar bears are more likely encountered in ice areas due to the greater chance of seals being present. However, I have recently learned of a new hut that has been built which I am able to stay in so staying in the Fjord overnight is now viable. I am really pleased about this as the Sermilik Fjord is a stunning area, a place not to be missed with huge icebergs and a raw, elemental feel to it.

This is true Greenland!

As a precaution, I will be carrying a 12 gauge shotgun in a waterproof bag loaded with solid slugs.
The general recommendation for polar bears is a rifle of calibre of not less than 30-06, .308 or a shotgun with solid slugs. Smaller firearms don't have a big enough punch to stop a bear.

I will also have flares, as an initial deterrent, and I have put together a trip wire system to erect around my tent at night.

On my last visit to Greenland travelling in a group we had the shotgun with us but didn't bother with the trip wire.

Because I am travelling solo this time, I feel that sleep will come a lot easier knowing that I should be forewarned in the event of having a visitor during the night. If the alarm does activate, then I have to get out of the tent..........that will be the scary bit.

Anyway, it all adds to the adventure of it :-)

Weather forecasting

Knowing what the weather is going to do is vital on this trip. I will be a maximum of 85kms from my start point and I need plenty of forewarning of bad weather so I can get back to Tasiilaq before it hits so I don't miss my flight back to Iceland. I have allowed several days extra at the end of the expedition but bad weather can continue for quite some time.
Weather forecasting company Theyr.com have offered to provide my weather forecasts for which I am very grateful. Theyr have a range of forecasts of differing resolutions available and they provide information to leisure sailors, professional mariners and businesses that need the best in forecasting technology. One of the wonderful features of Theyr's forecasts is the ability to click on any spot within the forecast area and have a meteogram for that location appear. Brilliant!

First is a map of the region I will be paddling in as shown by Google Earth.

Below is a map of the Ammassalik district with Theyr wind forecast barbs and colour legend shown.

Then, if I click on a point pretty much in the centre of the map, on the eastern corner of Ammassalik island, I get a meteogram giving details for that point. A very quick and effective way to get an accurate forecast.

Ammassalik region, East Greenland

East Greenland's coastline stretches for 2,500 km from north to south. There are approximately 3,500 people living on this entire Eastern coastline with the majority in the Ammassalik region.

Most of Greenland's 57,000 people live on the West Coast of Greenland. The culture of the East Greenland Inuit is far closer to the original form of subsistence living than in West Greenland.

Video

When I last visited Greenland, I put together a video of the trip. It might give you some idea why I am compelled to return....
Sea kayaks in Ammassalik

Maps

Being a bit of an out of the way place, It can be difficult to find good mapping for Greenland. Saga maps produce a couple of really nice maps of the Ammassalik area fortunately but there is nothing available from the major gps manufacturers.
I use a Garmin GPSMAP62s GPS, a robust and useful GPS but no decent maps of Greenland are available for it. Soooo, one of the really nifty features of some Garmin products is the ability to load georeferenced scanned paper maps in. The end result is an accurate, highly detailed map. Below are a couple of screenshots from the Custom maps I loaded into the GPS compared to the world base map that came with the GPS. Pretty cool huh?

More sponsorship :-)

I received great news today when the Managing Director of Norske Skog Boyer (the company that I work for) confirmed that he would be able to assist with supplying me with an Iridium satellite phone.

This means I will now have the DeLorme InReach unit as my primary form of communication and the Iridium phone as a vital backup. Travelling solo in the Greenland landscape on expedition without access to weather forecasts is really not an option so it is vital to have more than one way to access forecasts and other communications. That was the final part of the jigsaw of logistics and now it is simply up to me to prepare for the trip physically.

It is amazing and wonderful to see how individuals and companies are willing to help someone undertake something a little more challenging than the norm. It's pretty cool to see how people understand and support a sense of adventure and I am very grateful.

Sponsors



DeLorme InReach SE

 Great news! DeLorme InReach has come onboard and agreed to sponsor me with one of their unique and incredibly useful InReach units DeLorme InReach. The new InReach SE, to be released in June, is a standalone unit capable of sending and receiving messages via the Iridium satellite network anywhere on Earth. It can also pair up to an iPhone or Android phone to display my position on downloaded maps on the phone. Weather forecasts will be vital and the InReach unit will be my conduit for receiving these daily.The InReach will also send out tracking markers that will show my location and progress in real time. The other very important fuction that the InReach provides is an SOS signal in case of serious trouble requiring rescue similar to an Epirb or PLB. The amazing thing that differentiates this unit from every other is that a confirmation signal comes back to the unit to let the user know that the message has been received providing peace of mind for the person requiring rescue.



Mont Epoch

 Mont Outdoors is sponsoring me as well, supplying their superb outdoor equipment for my trip to Greenland. I will be using their 4+ season 2 person Epoch tent, Mont Epoch a very strong shelter suitable for extreme conditions. I will also be using a Mont Spindrift Mont Spindrift sleeping bag rated to c. -15 degrees C. Mont have been manufacturing sleeping bags for a very long time now and are one of the few true quality sleeping bag manufacturers left in Australia. They are supplying me with one of their brilliant Lightspeed jackets, a well designed Hydronaute Pro jacket suitable for all conditions. I will also be using their fleece clothing and an Icicle down jacket for those chilly nights. I have used Mont gear for a long time and it is all superbly functional, innovative and very well designed.

  

Mont Spindrift sleeping bag


 

Mont Icicle down jacket

 



Mont Lightspeed jacket



Smitten Merino Clothing Smitten is supplying their very classy and warm  wollen undergarments. Well made and very durable, the beauty about wool is that you can, when necessary, wear it for days on end and not get too much of a pong going :-) Definitely easier on the nose than polypro.

Smitten Merino in Greenland

Warming up

Tasiilaq is slowly coming out of a bitter winter. Last week it was -15°C and blowing 60 knots. Today it is 3°C and blowing 12 knots...

Equipment

One of the biggest challenges with this trip is getting all of the gear to Greenland while staying under the 30kg airline limit, especially since Etihad charge $70 per kilo excess baggage!. This is really difficult, particularly since I need to carry warm gear plus all of my kayaking clothing. I am also taking my own paddle. Paddles are very personal things and it really is best to use what you are comfortable with.
My paddle is a Werner Cyprus, a beautiful paddle that is lovely to use and light as a feather.
I use a Kokotat Goretex Expedition drysuit, it's as good as they get..
I also use Smitten Merino base layer clothing. Wool is a beautiful insulator which has the ability to be worn for days on end and not smell. 
For camping gear, last year I used a Mont Moondance III tent, a spacious, light 3 person tent suitable for 3 seasons. This year, since I will be travelling one month later than last time with a greater possibility of bad weather, Mont is supplying me with their 4+ season Epoch tent. A super stable, 2 person tent suitable for all conditions short of a Pitteraq.
Mont is also supplying a Mont Spindrift XL sleeping bag from their Specialist Boxfoot Series. Suitable for temperatures down to -15°C. I won't be getting cold :-)
Last year I used a Mont Icicle down jacket, toasty warm and well made. I will have the down jacket with me again this year but I will also be using a Mont Lightspeed waterproof outer shell.
I use an Exped Downmat 9. These sleeping mattresses are soooo comfortable. A good nights sleep is really important and with a Downmat there is no excuse.
I will use the same stove as last year, a Primus Omnifuel. It is the only stove on the market that can burn multiple liquid fuels AND gas. That is an invaluable quality in an area where fuel availablility is never guaranteed.
I will have have a Petzl Nao headlamp with me for this trip. Last time, there was far more light with sunrise being at 3 am and sunset about 10 pm. This time sunrise will be approx 5 am and sunset 8 pm so a headlamp will be more important. The Nao has reactive lighting technology which is really effective in putting the right amount of light in the right place.
Communications will be provided via satellite. I will have an Iridium satphone with me. I will also have a DeLorme InReach SE , an ingenious standalone unit that allows the sending and receiving of messages and emails via satellite.It also pairs up with an Android phone or iPhone to allow the use of high quality maps supplied by DeLorme.This also uses the Iridium network. The other satellite networks are unreliable in Greenland as it right on the edge of their range. This means the Spot Messenger is unreliable too as it doesn't use the Iridium network. I need regular contact so I can receive weather forecasts daily.
I will also be carrying a 406MHz GPS PLB just in case it all hits the fan. ACR make the ResQLink+ which is a remarkably compact PLB.
Navigation will be aided by a Garmin GPS62s on which I have loaded maps of the area. Naturally there will be a hard copy map on my deck as well as a compass and the accompanying navigational skill to use it.
I will be taking my Nikon D7000 D-SLR camera plus a range of lenses and plenty of cards and batteries, also a GoPro HD2 video camera. Batteries will be recharged using a Brunton 26W solar panel.  I made a video of the last trip which you can view here .
I will be carrying all of this gear with me in my bushwalking pack. That way, if the weather prohibits paddling I will walk instead.

An idea is conceived.....

In August of 2012 I took part in a trip in East Greenland organised by www.seakayakadventures.co.uk.

The group consisted of 5 paddlers including our leader Martin Rickard.

Some of us flew into the airport on the island of Kulusuk in late July 2012. After meeting up with Martin we piled our gear into a boat which took us across to Tasiilaq on the island of Ammassalik.



Tasiilaq

 Tassilaq is the largest town in East Greenland but still only has a population of c. 2000. It is set in a stunning location on the edge of Kong Oscar Havn with rugged mountains set behind the ice berg studded bay.

During the following 10 days we circumnavigated Ammassalik Island, camped at the face of the Karale Glacier and met the locals, friendly and helpful people even though we couldn't speak their language. We paddled approx 260kms, some of it through ice berg choked fjords, and set up our tents in the most spectacular and awe inspiring settings I have ever experienced. We paddled with huge Fin whales, had a cheeky Arctic Fox investigate our camp, saw an iceberg roll directly in front of us  and sat around campfires sipping whisky under the vast Greenland sky at night.



Sermilik Fjord

Greenland is a fascinating contrast of raw nature at its most elemental, and a civilisation that is struggling to adapt to modernity and global warming at the same time.

It has the most gob smacking scenery you can possibly imagine but behind the beauty is a land that has the ability to bite if you don't give it the respect it deserves. The winds can be catastrophic, the water temperature is very low, even in summer, the icebergs are unpredictable and the wildlife can cause you to have a very bad day indeed......

This area of Greenland occasionally experiences katabatic winds called Pitteraqs. These can utterly destroy everything in their path. In 1970, a Pitteraq destroyed Tasiilaq, with wind gusts up to 324 kph. The town was subsequently rebuilt.



Karale Glacier

 The water temperature in the fjords was as low as 1.9C on our last trip and there is a constant cracking and booming as the ice and icebergs shift, roll and decay. This necessitates the wearing of a full Goretex drysuit for safe travel.

Nevertheless, this is a stunning landscape that instantly slipped into my blood and said "you WILL return".



And I am. In September 2013 I will embark on a 10 day solo sea kayak expedition in this awesome landscape. Hiring the same kayak as I used before, I intend to paddle out of Tassilaq harbour on the 30th August, weather permitting, and head up Ammassalik Fjord. On the third day I will enter the massive, iceberg choked Sermilik Fjord and if conditions allow I will paddle down to a hut located 10kms south of the outlying Inuit settlement of Tiniteqilaq.

This fjord, 100kms long and fed by one of the world's most active glaciers, the Helheim Glacier which moves at the staggering speed of 11 kms per annum, adds a huge number of icebergs to the North Atlantic ocean. It has been studied by scientists concerned with global warming and has produced some interesting facts.

The calving face of the Helheim Glacier is 83 metres high, BUT, it extends a further 800 metres down below the water's surface!! That is a staggering depth of ice and gives some sense of scale of this land of giants.


Sermilik Fjord icebergs

The fjord is up to 950 metres deep and the trench from the glacier extends right out to the edge of the continental shelf 200 kms from the coast. Deep flowing warmer currents of water of temperatures up to 7°C travelling up the East Greenland coast beneath the cold South flowing current feed into the fjord trench, travelling right up to the glacier snout, massively increasing deep melting.

Greenland has been recognised as one of the most dramatically changing landscapes due to global warming and it has now attracted intense study from the scientific community. Some of the glaciers in summer are losing as much as 10cms of ice per day!
If all of the ice in Greenland melted, our world's oceans would rise by 7 metres, a catastrophic event considering how many of our major cities are in coastal areas.



Kuummiut

On leaving the Sermilik Fjord, I will paddle up to the small settlement of Kuummiut, a place of much friendship and laughter, and then continue on up a narrow, dramatic valley staying in a small hut called simply, the Blue Hut. The next day I will paddle up to an area of tidal glaciers, possibly camping at Knud Rassmussen Glacier.

Last time we camped at nearby Karale Glacier and from a small rise I was able to count 29 glaciers in a 360 degree view!! This is the land of ice and glaciers.



Moonrise over Apeserajik

 Leaving Knud Rassmussen Glacier I will begin making my way back to Tassilaq, 85kms distant.

I plan to be on the water for 10 days, covering approximately 300 kms but naturally allowance must be made for bad weather holding me up. I will be receiving forecasts by Satphone and I will also have a neat little unit called a DeLorme InReach Messenger with me. This unit pairs with an iPhone and enables the sending of messages or emails from the iPhone to recipients via satellite.

Weather forecasts will be vital for safe travel here and they will dictate my movements totally. Travelling alone, I am aware that all decisions and judgements need to be conservative and safety based so during unsettled or bad weather I will stop and wait.



Mountains of Kong Oscar Havn

There is a minor but still present risk of running into a polar bear or "ice' bear. These animals get carried south down the Greenland coast on ice floes and occasionally end up in the Ammassalik region in summer. They have the potential to be dangerous to humans so I will be carrying a 12 gauge shotgun with me loaded with solid slugs. I will also have a trip wire system to place around my tent at night to alert me to the presence of a bear should one come close to the tent. Even though the likelihood of seeing a bear is very remote, the trip wire system will help me sleep at night....



Sermilik Fjord evening