A last note from Al Metelko before handing the Web Pages over to the KMC Webmaster

Excitement is mounting as final packing continues.
Three cars will leave from houses in Manchester, Warrington and Whaley Bridge in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Update received from Jenny Varley via SMS text Message

The plane to Narsarsuaq has been diverted to Kangerlussuaq due to bad weather.
The team are currently staying in a hotel and hope to fly to Narsarsuaq tomorrow.
They are not sure about the helicopter.

Update received from Jenny Varley via SMS text Message

Safe in Nanortalik today.
Yesterday Scott and Duncan put up a new route on a slab near the airport called Scott of the Arctic, E1 4c.
Hoping to go on the boat to Pam tomorrow.
May have problems shopping on a Sunday, though!

First contact from Base Camp was made by Dave Bone at 22:00 BST (19:00 Greenland Time) on 12/07/2004

The team have arrived on Pamiagdluk Island, after being delayed for a day by bad weather on the journey. Weather conditions on the Island are also less than perfect - at the time the team called in, there had been 18 hours of non-stop rain!

The team are all safe and well. Supplies and equipment appear to be complete, nothing obvious seems to have been lost en-route.

According to the team GPS receiver, Base Camp is located at:

The team expect to begin the exploration of the area tomorrow.

An update from Dave Bone at Base Camp was received at 23:00 BST (20:00 Greenland Time) on 18/07/2004

The team have had four days of sunny weather. However, at the time of the call, it was raining again. This rain was having an adverse affect on the satellite 'phone link, so some of the details shown here may have been mis-transcribed.

Four peaks in the area have been climbed. A team has been up the Baron, this being the highest point. There is a cairn on top, indicating that it had (as expected) been climbed before. Unexpectedly, however, the team discovered another expedition (from Sheffield) at the top as well!

Various new routes have been put up on the slabs to the South of Base Camp in addition to those done on the various peaks round the Baron.

Everyone on the team are doing fine. The Czech contingent (Karel and Helena) are acting as Chief Explorers and are currently away doing reconnaissance elsewhere on the Island. Steve is, apparently, in his element - catching fish to enhance the menu for most of the team members (the exceptions being the strict vegetarians).

Contrary to some of the the dire predictions, mosquitoes have not as yet been a major problem. The most prevalent insect menace is blackfly. Indeed, one of the climbs has been christened "Black Fly Buttress" by the team!

The next scheduled contact from the team should be on, or shortly before, Monday July 26^th.

The team made contact from Greenland at 22:00 BST (19:00 Greenland Time) on 25/07/2004

An initial attempt to "Phone Home" was made from Base Camp by Duncan Lee. He managed to get as far as saying that things were "Fine, fine.", in his usual chilled out way, when the satellite 'phone link was lost.

A few minutes later, Rob Allen had a go with the 'phone. He said that the weather had been a bit poor. [Perhaps this explains the problems keeping the satellite connection going.] Rob then handed back to Duncan so that he could provide a more detailed update on progress during week 2 of the expedition.

Dave Bone was currently away from Base Camp, doing some exploration of the Southern end of the Island. He was due to return to join the rest of the team on Monday (July 26^th).

A major new route has been put up: about 650m long, graded E3. This has been called "Bone Machine Buttress" in honour of the expedition leader.

There has been a lot of rain over the last week, so the majority of the other new routes have been much shorter. Climbing has been done whenever conditions allowed.

Another loss of connection via the satellite terminated the call. No further call was received, so either communications could not be re-established or (more likely) the team decided that there was no more significant news to be passed on. If the latter is indeed the case, then the next call should be on Sunday August 1^st, which is the day before the team is scheduled to leave the Island.

The last scheduled call from Base Camp was made by Dave Bone at 22:25 BST (19:25 Greenland Time) on 01/08/2004

During the last week there were three days of good weather. This enabled the team to do more exploration and new-routing:

• Another new line has been put up on the Baron.

• Duncan and Dave have explored the ridge above Base Camp, heading up to far Northern end and then following the ridge back as far as they could.

• A team was still out at the time of the call (7:25pm Greenland time) putting up some last-minute new routes.

Dave confirmed that the team would be leaving Pamiagdluk Island on Monday, August 2^nd. They should be leaving by boat at 1pm to head for Nanortalik.

Dave Bone called in from Narsarsuaq at 22:25 BST (19:25 Greenland Time) on 04/08/2004

The team have made it through Nanortalik and have arrived in Narsarsuaq, on their way back home though Greenland. All went according to plan leaving Pamiagdluk Island. Arrangements have been made to have their freight shipped back to the UK.

The team have a couple of days in Narsarsuaq before the next hop in their journey back, the flight to Copenhagen. Everybody is relaxing, chilling out and downing a few well-deserved beers!

Dave confirmed that the team should be back in Manchester on Sunday (August 8^th).

An e-mail from Al Metelko confirms that the team got back safely

We all arrived home without incident, typical that it's raining!