Greenland Expedition 2005.

Expedition Reports as they come in.

Updates received from the expedition by various means will be shown below once the team leave the UK. The team are due to call in several times during the duration of the trip and will give an idea of what has been happening..

Update: 22nd July.

Update received from Dave Bone via satellite phone, Friday 22 July 23:00 BST (20:00 Greenland time)

Team has arrived safely in Greenland. Dave B, Dave W, Dan and Carl have arrived on the island of Tornarssuk, but Marylise decided against going on to the island and has remained at the town of Nanortalik to do her own thing.

The climbing team has set up base camp on Tornarssuk at the mouth of the Kukasit valley at position 59° 58.49' N, 44° 15.49' W. Camp terrain is very rocky and dry with not much green. Camp was set up on Thursday 21 July after landing on a boulder beach.

Initial reconnaissance has been made to the head of the Kukasit valley, reaching a col just south of Point 1250. There are big, scary walls with no obvious means of access. Lots of interesting stuff to go at though and climbing is set to begin Saturday 23 July.

Update: 27th July.

Update received from Dave Bone via satellite phone, Wednesday 27 July 22:50 BST (19:50 Greenland time)

Mist rolled in after the last update so the start of climbing was delayed somewhat, and the weather has also been cloudy with drizzle for the past 2 days. There have therefore been more rest days than planned, although the team are feeling tired. Dave W and Carl have had colds, but otherwise the team members are well.

In spite of the rest days, Dave B and Dan put up a 3 pitch rock route, while the others went fishing (unsuccessfully). Dave B and Dan also went up the Kukasit valley on to the upper snow field between Points 1388 and 1230, then headed south and eventually up to the virgin summit of Point 1230. The cloud was level with the summit and Brocken spectres were seen. On the same day Dave W went to look at the hills to the north of camp, and found the ground to be bouldery and rough. An intriguing hut with an aerial was spotted in the distance.

On Wednesday 27 July Dan walked to the lakes to the north of camp. Carl and Dave B walked some way in the direction of Point 1090, and found a complex ridge structure with prominent rock fins.

Update: 3rd August.

Update received from Dan O'Brien via satellite phone, Wednesday 3 August 22:35 BST (19:35 Greenland time)

The team is well although the weather has been grim with rain, wind and cold since last contact.

Dave B and Carl are currently on the hill attempting Point 1388, following an aborted attempt 2 days ago involving a late and wet abseil descent. They have been in recent brief (walkie-talkie) contact with base camp, and are hoping to go on to attempt to climb a tower which they have named 'Odin's Tooth' and return to camp tomorrow (Thursday) night.

Point 1090 has defied 3 attempts to climb it since last contact. The team has however conducted some iceberg fishing(!). Dan and Dave W have managed to reach spot height 840 m.

Marylise has now joined the team on the island around Sunday 31 July, having chartered a speedboat from Nanortalik!

Update: 8th August.

Update received from Dave Bone via satellite phone, Monday 8 August 22:30 BST (19:30 Greenland time)

The team is all well although weather conditions have continued to be poor.

A few nights ago conditions were very windy. At around 1 a.m. Marylise's tent was ripped from its anchors and turned upside down. Happily Marylise is OK, but her tent isn't. This was followed at around 3 a.m. by the collapse of the main big tent when its poles snapped. The team was forced to take shelter amongst rocks until the storm abated.

Unsurprisingly, hill activity has been somewhat hampered, but a couple of summits have been reached. On Sunday (7 August) Dave B launched a solo bid via the E side and finally reached the summit of Point 1388 (a first ascent as far as known). On Monday (8 August) Dan and Dave B did some exploration of the coastal cliffs to the south of base camp and at last managed to scramble up the ridge (pursued by an arctic fox) to reach Point 1090 (also a first known ascent), and encountered an interesting boulder block a little further along.

The team has contacted Niels Jepsen [Tourist Officer] in Nanortalik and have arranged to be picked up from the island of Tornarssuk by boat as scheduled on Thursday 11 August at 6 a.m. The team members are hoping for good conditions on Tuesday and are planning to spend Wednesday packing for their return home.

Update: 11th August.

Update received from Dave Bone via satellite phone, Thursday 11 August 22:30 BST (19:30 Greenland time)

The team is now back on the Greenland mainland in Nanortalik, where the members are drying out in the Youth Hostel.

The weather was wet for the past 3 days since last contact. No further climbing was done, and the team packed up in pouring rain. The boat was somewhat delayed due to heavy seas, but the team left the island of Tornarssuk for Nanortalik earlier on Thursday as planned.

Local conditions in Nanortalik are misty, but the team is hoping that light winds forecast for overnight will clear this for the helicopter on Friday morning. [The team is due to fly by helicopter to Narsarsuaq, and then by plane with a stopover in Copenhagen to Manchester.]

Final update: 14th August.

Confirmation of return received by telephone contact with Dave Whittingham (15:50 BST) and Dave Bone (16:40 BST), Sunday 14 August

The team arrived back in Manchester earlier today (Sunday 14 August), in one piece and, after minor delays en route, in good time.

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