Karabiner Fjeld
By Alan (L) Jones
As readers of the 2004 60th Anniversary Journal will know, but most newer members may not know, Lord Hunt named a mountain after the Club during an expedition to Greenland at the time he was the Club’s Honorary President. Karabiner Fjeld is situated at the head of the Leo Glacier in the Staunings Alps (24° 89′ W, 71°37′ N) and has only had a few ascents since first climbed by Hunt and his colleagues. I had proposed a KMC ascent to commemorate the Club’s 50th Anniversary. During the correspondence I had with Lord Hunt about this possibility, he sent me a photograph which he thought (but was not certain) was Karabiner Fjeld and this was reproduced in the Journal.Unfortunately this project turned out to be expensive and impracticable, so the 1994 KMC Expedition explored the Pourquoi-Pas Glacier area instead. This is described in Jim Gregson’s recently published book and some photographs appear on the KMC web site http://www.karabiner.org/expeditions/1994-greenland/index.php. I think the full Report is still in the Hut Library.
Since then, access to this area has been opened up by a refuelling station at Constable Point. Next year Tangent Expeditions http://www.tangent-expeditions.co.uk/ is chartering some regular flights to Constable Point. This is the organisation for which Jim Gregson has been working in recent years and which arranged the logistics of our trip in 1994. This new service makes a KMC ascent of Karabiner Fjeld a much more practicable, but still expensive, proposition. However, the cost may be reduced a little by the introduction of an EasyJet service from Manchester to Reykjavik, Iceland, http://www.easyjet.com/en/cheap-flights/iceland/reykjavik from next year. Luggage will need to be freighted by another route or the excess baggage cost will be prohibitive.
Would this idea appeal to our younger Members? Alas, I do not think I could still cope with the arduous travel in the Arctic, but I would be delighted to support such a project in any way I can. I hope that Jim’s book will inspire more of our Members to visit Greenland. It is a fascinating country with hundreds of still unclimbed peaks.
