To The Tops - and Even a Bit Over The Top
By Jim Gregson
2015 - Norway and Greenland
With plans firmed up and arrangements in place for a return trip to Greenland, it was time for us to think about another lengthy ski mountaineering venture over in Norway - a telemark skier's fix, which would also double as good physical preparation for the Arctic.
Sandy and I had talked about the possibility of using pulks (a sort of sled for moving kit) in Norway and we had made a deal to rent two small ones, towing which on hut transfer days would be an interesting experiment. Off we went, then, to the Jotunheimen mountains, which in this year, 2015, were heavily snowed up. We found our ski legs and had some good days out until the time arrived to load the pulks and move on. Our route would take us along a big frozen lake to a small hut, then another day's travel to a full-service hut further west. Traversing the lake was a long haul over bare ice into a head wind so it was good to arrive at the small hut, already warmed up as there were other occupants. The pulks seemed to work well.
The following day brought deteriorating weather - hill fog and rising wind - but the route was known to us so we set off in any case. Early in the winter season, not all of the routes between huts are marked so we were not surprised eventually to stop seeing the marker sticks. Visibility began to get very poor and Sandy and I actually got separated for a while and out of contact. After we'd found each other again, we decided to link the two pulks together with a few metres of thin rope so that we would remain in contact. The fog thickened further and the wind strength and speed increased. Without at first realising it, we were pushed off course onto the wrong direction.
Later on, by the time we'd expected to be descending, a fortuitous lifting in the fog revealed mountain features we recognised and we could re-orientate ourselves, but at the cost of a change of route albeit another one we had experience of so we pressed on. The hours passed but the storm did not. Perseverance ground down the distance and we regained a marked trail section. The quantities of snow coupled with the high wind had though, caused many markers to fall and disappear, so we used slow compass work and memory to move forward. Knowing that at a certain point we'd need to make a pronounced left turn into a small valley we strained to see, as the wind redoubled its efforts to knock us over. We did turn left, and after a short while I realised that the location was not correct, but I also knew that this way rejoined the intended route a bit further on. In gloomy light I pushed my skis forward to a point where the slope fell away more steeply. As we had the pulks, choice of line was more restricted so I called to Sandy behind me that a few sidesteps down would be needed.
One step, two steps - then a muffled "whumpf". The slope released and took me, then the pulk, then a second later because of the thin linking rope also took Sandy and her pulk down in a frightening rush. Luckily the avalanche did not bury us and we tumbled to a halt after a scary slide of forty or fifty metres. Neither of us was hurt we established, but in sorting ourselves out from the tangle we found that one of Sandy's skis had released and a pulk towbar was badly damaged.
As the storm raged on and the hour grew late with darkness now approaching we re-assessed the situation and decided that the least risk lay in digging in for an emergency bivouac to wait for daylight. This we did after checking that the rest of the slope above us would not send down further debris onto our position. After the effort of digging we got under cover and into shelter, insulated from the snow and wind. The night would be cold for sure, but survival skills and experience count so we were not unduly anxious.
In the early hours the winds abated and quiet calm took over. The clouds cleared to a bright moonlit sky and looking out we could work out our precise position - annoyingly just three kilometres from our destination. As the dawn came, bringing sunshine, we harnessed up for the last lap. One short sharp uphill stretch led to the long run down to the big hut. Reaching the door, I encountered an old friend, the lovely lady who runs the place. She was overjoyed to see us, having worried somewhat over our non-arrival the previous day, and we were ushered inside to an immediate enormous breakfast.
We actually then stayed for a whole week, with day after day of superb weather which allowed us to make some splendid mountain outings. I also found time to repair the damaged pulk bars too. As is often the way, we found that other hut guests included friends from Australia and Germany so we had good company for the evenings. We also met a few others - two young Norwegian women soldiers who had turned back from the storm we'd endured, and two Danes who'd had a sleepless noisy night in another small hut while we were sitting in our snowhole. We smiled indulgently at their tales.
After our great week we moved on again, over two days via a small remote hut. From there we had to cross over a high pass with the pulks. In the course of a steep descent, fog again rolled in, complicating things as we sought a gentler line. All of a sudden, my skis tipped down and I fell, followed by the pulk. I immediately thought "This might hurt!" then was pile-driven into deep snow with the pulk crashing into my chest. It did hurt, as I frantically yelled to let Sandy know that I was alive. Without even seeing it I had skied straight over the top of a small crag! I might say I was fine having landed in snow rather than boulders, but all was not well. Another pulk towbar was wrecked, but worse, for me, I now had severe bruising and one or more cracked ribs - and only halfway through our holiday.
Sorely we pulled to the next large hut and gave ourselves another week of comfortable stay. There was another workshop session to fix the second busted towbar set, but despite my rib problem we did get out most days for some good skiing, including an ascent to one of the big mountains we'd eyed up for several years.
The rest of our Jotunheimen trip was mostly very good apart from some awkward pulk work on a couple of days. My ribs were sore, but more of a problem when turning over in bed rather than out on the hill. We met more friends and got some excellent skiing done. On reflection the pulks were not ideally suited to the Jotunheimen mountains; the terrain is a bit too much up and down and neither steep ascents nor steep descents are very easy when towing a loaded pulk, so more thought may be needed about shedding weight from rucksack loads to be carried.
Afte returning from Norway only three weeks were to elapse before we would leave for East Greenland. I'd pulled together another group, from friends and Alpine Club contacts, making us six in all. Sandy and I were making a third visit to the striking and beautiful mountains of North Liverpool Land. By the time we flew out to Iceland my ribs were almost back to normal. From Reykjavik we drove for six hours to the northern town of Akureyri and from there took a charter flight over the ocean and pack ice to the small airstrip at Constable Pynt. Straight back into markedly sub-zero conditions.
We had to wait for a day for the Tangent Snow Dragons snowmobiles to return from extracting another group from the Staunings Alps. This group had been quite seriously avalanched and sustained some injuries so were pulling out early. The next morning we loaded up the "train" of four snowmobiles and their big Siglin cargo sledges to go north for about 80km to the icecap of North Liverpool Land. By using GPS steering we were taken to and dropped off at a spot just 50m from our basecamp location of 2014. This position allows very good access to the mountains on skis, but more importantly maximises the time when tents are in sunshine. This is very important in the tail-end of an Arctic winter.
Conditions, both of snow and weather, got better and better after the first couple of very cold days. We spent a day or two on shakedown trips, and then had a prolonged spree of wonderful skiing and climbing. The long sunny days allowed us to make an impressive bunch of first ascents of unclimbed peaks, plus some good new routes to previously climbed summits, with variations on days when we made some great ski tours with fabulous descents.
Our outings included four north face firsts on peaks in the Seven Dwarfs group, a new route and traverse on Castle Peak, a first ascent of Farfarer Peak (the Dennis Davis Memorial Route) plus first ascents of the south faces of Hvithorn and Lewty Peak. We also made a big new route on the north face of Mount Mighty (Snake in the Outback), a repeat of Longridge Peak and a new route on it from the east (Cryogenic). Two people made the very lengthy approach and return to make the first ascent of the big Lancstuk peak.
When we returned from Cryogenic on Longridge Peak, there were some anxious faces in camp. Their owners had skied out west from camp and after only a short distance had discovered a fresh set of Polar bear tracks coming down the glacier. The ski tour was aborted in favour of a return to camp with its firearms. The next day we went to inspect these tracks and, yes, they were impressive. Obviously, a BIG Polar bear had gone by, leaving very large and deep footprints with characteristic dragging clawmarks. Fortunately he didn't see us and we didn't see him but he had been close -- while I slept with a loaded rifle, one of the group admitted to a couple of sleepless nights!
As our time ran down we made afew more ski tours plus a visit to the two prominent nunataks in the glacier close to basecamp. A satphone call informed us that due to some mechanical/electrical problems with some of the snowmobiles we would in fact be picked up by ski-plane right from basecamp. The Twin Otter aeroplane duly came in to land close by the tents and we had a quick and comfortable twenty-minute flight back to Constable Pynt , and then onward over to Iceland the next day.
This closed out one of our very best Greenland expeditions where we'd had a lot of laughs, lots of good company and plenty of enjoyable climbing and skiing. Maybe the rigours of Norway earlier in the year had in fact, been very good preparation and training for our latest Arctic adventure.
