ARCTIC CIRCLE TRAIL_2014
PREAMBLE: ICE CAP HIKE
Despite not sleeping well, we were up at 5:30am due to jet lag and by 6am out of the hostel in Copenhagen (it did not offer a free breakfast). Our backpacks felt extremely heavy during the short 15 minute walk to the metro station. It was difficult to imagine how we will manage to hike with them (plus the added weight of water and stove fuel) for over ten days in Greenland. After checking our backpacks with Air Greenland (no penalties for excess luggage weight, woohoo!), we had breakfast at the 7-Eleven in the airport. They are a relatively inexpensive way to stock up on snacks and picnic supplies in Scandinavia. No wonder Lisbeth Salander likes them so much. We had cappuccino and split a chicken/bacon curry sandwich.
The 4.5 hour flight from Copenhagen went by quickly as we watched a short TV program about cooking with Greenlandic ingredients. Would we also see calving glaciers and catch arctic char, just like in the TV show? We were excited to find out soon. After a hearty second breakfast on the flight we landed at 9:30am in Kangerlussuaq, the only international airport in Greenland and the site of a former US airbase. The airport was handed over to civilian Greenlandic control in 1992 after the end of the Cold War.
We picked up our backpacks and went to the supermarket across the street from the airport to buy fuel for our camp stove. After some initial confusion and a few false starts, we finally managed to find exactly what we needed for our MSR stove: reis benzin, or white gas as it is known in the US. Bought 1.5 liters, just to be sure we have enough fuel. We met a Czech hiker who was also planning to hike the Arctic Circle Trail. He was trying to buy not only fuel but also a camp stove, which the supermarket did not stock. Hopefully he found one and was able to safely complete his journey.
The permanent ice cap that covers 80% of Greenland is approximately 38 km east of Kangerlussuaq. We had booked a full day tour to the ice cap (995 DKK per person) and was picked up at the airport around 10:30am. Adam, our Inuit guide, gave informative explanations of Greenlandic culture, flora, and fauna as we bounced along the rock strewn road in an old jury-rigged truck painted red (German engine with an American school bus body welded onto the back). We drove past the wreckage of a US plane that crashed in 1968, and later on stopped along the side of the road to pick arctic blueberries.
After an hour of driving we hiked to a glacial lake for lunch (sandwiches and hot chocolate, included with the tour). On the way we passed a herd of 14 musk oxen leisurely grazing. At the lake it was amazing to learn that the water level had dropped over 100 feet since last week. After lunch we hiked onto the ice cap, put on crampons, and explored a barren landscape with increasingly bizarre ice formations. Crystal clear water tumbled down seemingly bottomless moulins, trickled through tunnels beneath the surface of the ice, and collected into aqua blue pools of water. In some areas blocks of ice had recently pushed against each other into near vertical bands of angular plates - frozen plate tectonics. Elsewhere wind and water eroded the ice over time into curved formations that resembled crashing waves or rolling hills. The four hour glacier travel was exhausting but exhilarating.
On the drive back we saw some reindeer sprinting along the hillside in the distance. The setting sun was warm and eye blinding. It was a struggle to stay awake due to jet lag. Adam dropped us off around 7:30pm at the campground next to the Kangerlussuaq airport, just past the Air Greenland hangers. We set up camp, walked 5 minutes to the airport for water, and cooked dinner (chili mac with beef, chicken teriyaki with rice, and tea). We met four hikers (three Czech, one Canadian) at the campground who had just completed the ACT. They were friendly and told us about the trail conditions they encountered. By 10pm, the temperature had dropped down to the low 40s, but there was still plenty of light as we climbed into our sleeping bags.