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East Greenland Expedition BURCH HYPER FITNESS SYSTEMS (BHS)
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- Health & Fitness
Gronau Nunatakker Range, First Ascents. On the 4th of July, British climbers (Euan Lawson, Stephen Phillips, John Starbuck, and Owain Jones), British/American Will Cross, and myself flew from Reykjavik, Iceland to Constable Pynt, Greenland, before continuing on to Gronau Nunatakker (N69'28, W30'13), an unmapped and unchartered region in Greenland which lies 60km to the north of Gunnbjornsfjeld.
The first evening out on 7 Jul our group reached the summit of a 2010m peak. The next evening Owain, John, and myself darted up a knife-edge ridge to the summit of a 2650m beauty. On 10 Jul, after a failed attempt to reach the summit of a peak parallel to 2650m on the periphery of Gronau Gletscher, I soloed a 2800m peak west of the team's failed attempt, heading up the mountain's East ridge zigzagging around bergshrunds and dicey cracks. I reached the summit at 3am just in time to enjoy the sun's pale orange color spread across the horizon.
Two days later, our team headed north and placed camp on an upper plateau, setting our eyes on new objectives among the Gronau Nunatakker and Gronlands Styrelsens Gletscher expanses. After several days of heavy winds and blinding snow, leaving four feet of fresh powder, Will, myself, Owain, and John emerged from our tents and hiked to a summit of a small hump peak facing just south of camp. That evening the four of us reached the summit of a 2900m peak to the northeast of camp traversing several icy patches along it's west face and then straight up the south ridge. On the 18th of July our team made it's second and last summit as a group reaching a domed peak in the far northwest corridor of the plateau.
Will and I decided to break off from the group and climbed on our own for the remainder of the expedition. We reached the summits of 2 beautiful virgins (Hhass Peak and Hans Schou Peak), with a gloriously fulfilling ten-hour ski and climb. After another 2 days stuck in our tent due to blizzard conditions, Will and I surfaced for a fourteen-hour, five-summit blitz of peaks (rated alpine PD+), traversing an entire range in the northeast corridor. Back at camp, I decided to make one more solo endeavor, and scaled "Schou Deux" by frontpointing up its south ridge, (1500-meter, alpine AD+) before traversing the western face to the summit. On the summit the wind had died, the air was crisp, and I was alone within the vast polar icecap of the Arctic circle viewing what no man's eyes had ever seen before, an untouched and unscathed part of our world.
A day later Will and I managed to ski back with our sleds to the British base camp just before our Twin Otter arrived to fly us out. The exploration had ended as abruptly as it started, and as usual, I wished I could have stayed behind within the natural world.
Gronau Nunatakker Range, First Ascents. On the 4th of July, British climbers (Euan Lawson, Stephen Phillips, John Starbuck, and Owain Jones), British/American Will Cross, and myself flew from Reykjavik, Iceland to Constable Pynt, Greenland, before continuing on to Gronau Nunatakker (N69'28, W30'13), an unmapped and unchartered region in Greenland which lies 60km to the north of Gunnbjornsfjeld.
The first evening out on 7 Jul our group reached the summit of a 2010m peak. The next evening Owain, John, and myself darted up a knife-edge ridge to the summit of a 2650m beauty. On 10 Jul, after a failed attempt to reach the summit of a peak parallel to 2650m on the periphery of Gronau Gletscher, I soloed a 2800m peak west of the team's failed attempt, heading up the mountain's East ridge zigzagging around bergshrunds and dicey cracks. I reached the summit at 3am just in time to enjoy the sun's pale orange color spread across the horizon.
Two days later, our team headed north and placed camp on an upper plateau, setting our eyes on new objectives among the Gronau Nunatakker and Gronlands Styrelsens Gletscher expanses. After several days of heavy winds and blinding snow, leaving four feet of fresh powder, Will, myself, Owain, and John emerged from our tents and hiked to a summit of a small hump peak facing just south of camp. That evening the four of us reached the summit of a 2900m peak to the northeast of camp traversing several icy patches along it's west face and then straight up the south ridge. On the 18th of July our team made it's second and last summit as a group reaching a domed peak in the far northwest corridor of the plateau.
Will and I decided to break off from the group and climbed on our own for the remainder of the expedition. We reached the summits of 2 beautiful virgins (Hhass Peak and Hans Schou Peak), with a gloriously fulfilling ten-hour ski and climb. After another 2 days stuck in our tent due to blizzard conditions, Will and I surfaced for a fourteen-hour, five-summit blitz of peaks (rated alpine PD+), traversing an entire range in the northeast corridor. Back at camp, I decided to make one more solo endeavor, and scaled "Schou Deux" by frontpointing up its south ridge, (1500-meter, alpine AD+) before traversing the western face to the summit. On the summit the wind had died, the air was crisp, and I was alone within the vast polar icecap of the Arctic circle viewing what no man's eyes had ever seen before, an untouched and unscathed part of our world.
A day later Will and I managed to ski back with our sleds to the British base camp just before our Twin Otter arrived to fly us out. The exploration had ended as abruptly as it started, and as usual, I wished I could have stayed behind within the natural world.
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