Greenland 2008

Ice Bergs Ahead!


St David’s College offers so many opportunities to its pupils both in and out of the classroom, a real whole person approach to education…so when the opportunity of a Sea Kayaking Expedition to South West Greenland was put forward six pupils signed up immediately! Two ex pupils now studying Outdoor Education / Sports Science at Bangor University also signed up both veterans of previous expeditions to Sardinia, Norway and Alaska and both back for some more of the same!

Our destination in Greenland was Narssarssuaq; the aim was to complete a 12 day sea kayaking tour of the area. We departed from Narssarssuaq heading south west along the Tunugdliarfik (Eriks Fjord), unlike Glacier Bay in Alaska where you had to paddle for a good few days before getting anywhere near the Icebergs and Glaciers we soon found ourselves kayaking past the first batch of Ice Bergs. If it wasn’t for digital Cameras we would have surely run out of film as every ice berg became a photo opportunity, with the whole group either photographing an iceberg, or posing in front of one!

It’s amazing how the thrill of kayaking past ice bergs lasted throughout the whole expedition. Their shapes, sounds (hissing and fizzing),textures, sizes, incredible colours (the most beautiful shades of blue you will ever see) and the fact that they can crack as loud as a gun, collapse and capsize at any moment certainly made sure that our interest was maintained.

Our journey along Eriks Fjord towards Narssaq was certainly interesting as the Foehn wind had been blowing on our arrival, so any small change in the weather created that element of uncertainty. The month long drought gave way to torrential rain on our second day, character building stuff! At the soggy wet camp we were rewarded with Thunder and Lightning…very, very rare in Greenland we were told…how lucky were we? We didn’t see Erik in his fjord; I guess he doesn’t come out to play when the weather’s bad!

Narssaq was our next port of call, its picture postcard houses and its impressive setting below Quaqarssuaq Mountain but I guess the real highlight was the stroll into town and the hot dogs and chips to warm the group up! It seems strange having paddled in real wilderness to be calling into a town, but what a great opportunity to see how and where the locals live.

The occasionally problematic ice of Narssaq Sund caused us no problems as we made progress towards Nungmiut our last short break before committing ourselves to the Bredefjord (Ikerssuaq) crossing. Low cloud, tide, ice bergs and collapsing icebergs made for an interesting crossing, (gaining some height on the headlands to have a look is always worthwhile to see if there is a way through the ice pack or not).On our arrival on the other side of the Fjord at an excellent lunch spot we were greeted by a friendly dog his owner and a white tailed eagle. The eagle was a sure sign that the Arctic Char were migrating up the river so I rushed to assemble my 6 piece Hardy Fly Rod an expensive luxury item I carry on all my sea kayaking trips…the Inuit farmer who lived by the river rushed across and gave me a lesson on how to catch the char….bare handed…no expensive equipment required!!! Another highlight of this lunch break (if not the whole Expedition) was talking to the Inuit farmer and seeing his very old traditional Greenlandic Kayak which had been handed down from generation to generation a real museum piece.

Having made it across the Bredefjord we were now within striking distance of the impressive and vast Ice Cap, we now had the opportunity to Kayak right up to the Glaciers themselves as they ended their long and slow journey into the Fjords. Every night we managed to find excellent campsites; even after finding a number of Reindeer antlers along the way we were pleasantly surprised by a curious Reindeer running past our camp one evening. We did find a Whale bone but unfortunately no Whales on this trip (a little too early in the season). A false shark sighting turned out to be 15 Seals hunting impressively as a pack, It certainly created some excitement and laughs, the Greenland Shark weighs up to 600kg so reason enough to be worried! Our only other wildlife encounter was with the Arctic Fox a cheeky little creature who liked sneaking into camp to feed on fish heads and guts!

After a few days exploring the fjords and inlets on the North Side of the Bredefjord it was once more time to cross, we headed for the cunning portage on Tugtutoq. We encountered some tide as we entered the narrow channel; we had been told by the Inuit farmer that this was a good spot for catching cod. We had caught cod pretty much every day enjoying some delicious and creative meals, the cod caught in the channel however were huge! Gutting and filleting was more like a surgical operation or a Biology lesson! The Tugtutoq portage proved to be straight forward and less of an effort than we had expected. Once we were afloat again we continued our journey back in the direction of Narssaq Sund.

Upon our return to Narssaq Sund we were surprised to see that the ice pack looked almost impenetrable, we were heading towards Stephensens Haven to camp amongst the remains of an Inuit settlement. Crossing the bay and its labyrinth of ice was certainly exciting and challenging especially when the fog threatened to roll in; kayaking on a compass bearing amongst the ice was not my idea of fun, so it was a relief to be most of the way across the bay before even having to ‘seriously’ consider using the compass and GPS. Stephensens Haven was a great camp, with all the stone ruins it was easy to imagine the settlement with its inhabitants, their homes and their kayaks in years gone by.

The following morning we were faced with the challenge of the 6km crossing of Narssaq Sund, the wind and the tidal flow in the sound had reorganised the infinite number of icebergs into an apparently impenetrable pattern. We crossed once more in single file playing ‘follow my leader’ through the icy maze until we were safely across, a fantastically memorable crossing and one of the highlights of the expedition.

After the crossing we headed back to Dyrnes a camp we had stayed at previously. The camp was great with good fly fishing for Arctic Char in the river. The end of the expedition was close so we had returned to Dyrnes to set ourselves up for the short and easy paddle back to Narssaq for our water taxi ride back to Narssarssuaq, and also to walk up to Kvanefjeld. After over 200km of kayaking the group was ready for a walk, no ordinary walk...but a walk with a difference…

It’s not every day you have the chance to walk up to a radio active Uranium Mine but opportunities are there to be grasped! We had some information about this walk for example we knew that a very rare mineral called Tutupit was to be found, we also knew that a fist sized piece was worth about £8,000….when you get opportunities like this you’ve got to give it a go! The walk was great with the river Narssaq and its white water kayaking potential being discussed at great length on the way up. The mine entrance was blocked off, something to do with terrorists stealing the Uranium! We were fortunate to meet a Rock collector from Denmark who had a Geiger counter, he told us that there was more radiation coming from the sun or in fact from inside an Aeroplane than from any of the rocks, he kindly gave me a small sample of Tutupit which glows beautifully under UV light, a great souvenir to add to the Whale Bone and Antlers! After a few hours of rummaging for minerals amongst the scree slopes no one had made their fortune but at least we had all tried!

Our final day on the water had arrived all that was left was the short paddle back to Narssaq. Before catching our water Taxi back to Narssarssuaq a few of us decided to end the expedition in style by Eskimo rolling in front of the town…in the cold water…by the icebergs! A few others decided to jump in and swim and the whole crew of one of the doubles decided to abandon ship! A lot of laughs and a great way to end an enjoyable and memorable expedition!

The Leaders:
Kelly Green
Ian Lloyd-Jones
The Assistant Leaders:
Sam Beesley
Alexandra MacGregor
The Group:
Stephen MacGregor
Tom Murray
Adam Richardson
Christian Roots
Cara Williams
Cai Williams

Photos (Click on the Gallery below) and Article by Ian Lloyd-Jones