Air Iceland

I will be flying with Air Iceland from Reykjavik to Greenland. Their planes on this route are not big so they are necessarily strict on baggage amounts. However, they have very generously agreed to allow me 45 kgs of checked baggage. That's brilliant!

Hmmm...

I have just heard that a bear was shot the day before yesterday in Isertoq, that's a mere 64 kms WSW of Tasiilaq. They are still about.

I will be in Tasiilaq in 3 weeks time....

Google Maps

Goodness, Google Maps is improving all the time. I just took a wander around my destination online tonight and the detail and information is astounding.
This is a screenshot of the Torssukatak fjord north of Kuummiut that I will be travelling through.

Torssukatak Fjord

There's a bear in there.....

Last week I heard about a polar bear that was spotted sleeping on an ice floe near Tasiilaq, the town where I am starting my trip. I have just been sent a link to some photos taken by Tim James of the Wales Swansea University Glaciology team.

The bear is on the far side of Kong Oscar Havn. That puts it around 2 kms from the township, not very far at all!

It is a beautiful animal, obviously well fed. All the same, I do hope it has moved on before I arrive :-)


Image by Tim James, Swansea University

Image by Tim James, Swansea University

Image by Tim James, Swansea University

Mont Outdoor Equipment

Well a nice carton of Mont goodies turned up yesterday. It contained amongst other things an Epoch 4 season tent, a Spindrift XL Specialist Box Foot Series sleeping bag, a Lightspeed Hydronaut Pro outer shell jacket and Latitude Hydronaut Pro overtrousers plus some pile warmwear.

I have worn Mont pile clothing for years now (my wife calls it my uniform :-) and I know that it is top quality, well designed, warm and hardwearing. What more could you want?

The tent and sleeping bag will get their first outing next week in Tasmanian winter conditions. The tent appears to be really nicely designed with lots of thoughtful touches but I will report on it after using it a couple of times.

The sleeping bag is awesome! I have been fortunate enough to have had top level sleeping bags for many years and this is by far the best bag that I have had yet. The detail and quality of the materials used is outstanding with the highest rating loft I have ever seen (The batch of down that my sleeping bag was made from was tested at 875+ loft, that means that one ounce of down will fill a volume of over 875 cubic inches. ) and a sublimely low overall weight of just under 1300 gms. For a sleeping bag rated at -15 to -19 deg C that is ridiculous :-)

It's worth remembering that in Australia at least when a manufacturer claims a particular loft rating or design temperature that these figures are heavily regulated and can be taken as pretty good estimates of real world performance, always taking into account different people's responses to temperature in different circumstances.

Mont Spindrift



Johanna Kristina

There is a vessel run by the Royal Arctic Line that services the 6 settlements in the region, Kulusuk, Isertoq, Tasiilaq, Kuummiut, Tiniteqilaq and Sermiligaq.
It visits one settlement per day on a rotating basis and by very good fortune, it happens to leave the town of Tasiilaq on the 30th August, which is when I intended to start my expedition. I will book myself and my kayak onto the Johanna Kristina now and that will put me at a point 50 kms north which will give me a good headstart on the trip. The boat doesn't arrive in Kuummiut until 1 pm so I will probably camp in the area or stay in Kuummiut that night, getting an early start the next morning.



Johanna Kristina



Etihad

Along with Icelandair, Etihad Airways has agreed to waive excess baggage costs. At $70 a kilogram, that's awesome!

Etihad is regarded as one of the finest airlines flying in our skies. I will be flying with them from Australia to the UK via Abu Dhabi.

It is the flag carrier for the United Arab Emirates and flies to 86 destinations across the globe.

Etihad has also been fantastic in negotiating with Virgin Air Australia on my behalf and Virgin has now granted me an extra 20kgs of baggage :-) 

Icelandair

Icelandair is the airline that I will be flying to Reykjavik with from Heathrow. The airline is Iceland's main airline and flies from Iceland to 25 destinations in Europe and 10 in the US.

I flew with Icelandair when I went to Iceland last year and their quality of service was excellent.

The company has generously agreed to waive excess baggage costs for my trip, quite a saving :-)

Paqua

Being a sea kayaker, I have a need to keep certain items of gear dry whilst on the water. The main piece of electronic gear that I have on deck is my GPS. GPS units are an awesome invention and are really useful just as long as the fundamental navigation skills don't go out the window. I use a garmin 62S mapping GPS that contains contour and street maps for all of Australia, Marine charts for the whole of Australia as well as detailed custom maps of the Amassalik area in East Greenland. The GPS is the definitive means of locating oneself in unfamiliar territory and it is worth looking after. Over the years I have tried just about every brand of drybag suitable for use with GPS units (or phones or vhf radios) including the big name brands. They have all failed rather miserably, some are poorly designed, the biggest name of all is built far too light and fails after a fairly short period of time. About 3 years ago I came across an Australian brand called Paqua.
Paqua is a relatively small company run by Paul Trachtenberg. Paul designed the bags to be as tough and waterproof as possible. My Paqua Mobile bag has safely carried my GPS for the last three years and kept it dry every time. It has been across Bass Strait by kayak, it has travelled 260 kms by kayak in Greenland with me, and every time I go out in the kayak it comes along for the ride, whether it be surfing (and rolling, the two go together :-) or just going for a quiet paddle. It just works.
Paqua have generously supplied their bags for use on my expedition.

Paqua



Icebergs!

The Danish Meteorological Institute supplies satellite ice charts on an almost daily basis of the Greenland coastline and fjord systems.
The latest ice chart from 6th June shows two massive icebergs in the Ammassalik fjord systems. The larger of the 2 measures approximately 2.5 kms long, the second one isn't much smaller. Both of these icebergs have broken free from the tidewater glaciers to the north, either Karale  Glacier or Knud Rassmussen Glacier. Huge!

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.