Greenland Expedition
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
Hello,
Just thought I’d pass along some exciting news:
I am departing on Saturday night June 30 for an expedition to the northernmost land in the world, the “Stray Dog Islands” or “Ultimathule.” The purpose of the expedition, which will last about two weeks, is to:
1. Survey Ultimathule
2. Survey the changes in the sea ice in that region
3. Survey the status of the rock and island features
4. Explore and climb unclimbed peaks in the western Benedict Range
5. Survey the “Sifs Trench” and “Sifs Glacier”, about 40 miles in length
6. Sight wildlife, including musk oxen, weasle, hare, bears, fox, wolves, and birds
7. Search for archaelogical sites
The primary purpose of the expedition is to establish if there is a permanent geographic feature north of Kaffelubben Island, currently considered the world’s most northerly point of land. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffeklubben_Island.
A sand bank was discovered in 1978 that was 1360 meters north of Kaffeklubben. But, as this link tells, it later vanished into the
ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oodaaq
The term “Stray Dog Islands”, coined by Schmitt, the expedition leader, refers to these impermanent features around Kaffeklubben Island. Our primary mission is to establish whether there is evidence of permanent land north of Kaffeklubben.
I found out yesterday that my appplication to the Explorers Club (http://www.explorers.org) to carry the Club Flag has been approved.
The link below explains that there are 202 numbered flags, the most notable being carried by Thor Heyerdahl and the miniature flag carried by Apollo 11.
http://www.explorers.org/expeditions/flag.php
Esquire magazine is sending a writer, and they are arranging for an exclusive use of my photographs to create a photo essay. In the words of the email of the photo editor, “I think it is going to be an amazing photo driven piece” and “…this very well may turn in to a very newsworthy story.” (Napoli magazine from Italy is also sending a writer.
Below is an itinerary, which tells the story:
July 2007 Expedition to Johannes Jensen Land, North Greenland
Tentative Itinerary as of June 24, 2007
July 5, 2007 - Depart from Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen across the Franz Straits to Station Nord at 81 N. Despite the latitude here we are on the rim of an extreme high polar maritime microclimate generating the enormous Kilen icecap. Station Nord is a military outpost occupied by Danish soldiers in the Sirius Patrol. We will very likely overnight here. We will certainly refuel.
July 6, 2007 - We leave Station Nord on a bearing NW across the Independence Fjord and into the extreme polar desert of Peary Land. Some of the landscape here is Mars-like, some is sandstone Inuitan Orogen geological province. The Nord Kronen icecap gets us to Frederick Hyde Fjord, the northernmost large fjord in the world. This fjord-trench represents a major tectonic suture. North of it is an exotic metamorphic terrane that latched on to Greenland in the last 60 million years. (There is an academic controversy here.) This ‘acquired terrane’ is the world’s most northerly landmass of size.
It is now named Johannes v. Jensen Land. It holds the world’s most northerly mountain range. Before landing we will allot flight time to survey the seascape off the Greenland north coast to make determinations of island features present.
We will land at (name withheld intentionally) in a depositional stream outwash plain. The site was established on Schmitt’s 1996 expedition. It has been manicured for twin otter landings. The landing “strip” has a bearing of 90-270 (east-west), accommodating prevailing westerlies. We will set up base camp at this landing site, caching fuel and food.
July 7, 2007 - We march westerly along the coast, moving inland as much as 1 km to find hard terrain and crossing two major ice field-fed river systems to reach base camp at 18 km from the landing site.
July 8, 2007 - We will proceed out onto the sea ice (using inflatables if necessary across the coastal lead) and reaching the island of (name withheld intentionally). We may well set up an advanced sea ice camp here. It offers a sublime point of view to the mountains of Greenland to the south.
July 9-11, 2007 – Given that (name withheld intentionally) Island is attached to the continental shelf, we will survey the features of the sea ice around the (name withheld intentionally) region in order to determine the identity of the northernmost island in the world. Is it(name withheld intentionally) or is there a smaller depositional feature of permanence? Working our way through the multi-year ridges, pinnacles and lagoons of the sea ice we will investigate as many land features as possible. All features will be GPS-ed.
July 12, 2007 - We return to base camp on the Greenland coast and rest.
July 13, 2007 - We will follow a large drainage inland bearing SW to a lake-pass at 300m in the (name withheld intentionally). The distance is 20 km. The lake will serve as a new advanced camp. It overlooks a geographic system (that Schmitt calls the (name withheld intentionally) region) comprised of a trench, an icecap, its trunk glacier, and canyon lands. This lake has never been visited.
July 14, 2007 - Climbers will depart south along the escarpment to 1200+ meters to a point overlooking the entire (name withheld intentionally) region and the sea of ice peaks to the west. Important geographic features will be surveyed, noted, and GPS-ed if possible.
July 15, 2007 - Return to our landing site.
July 16-17, 2007 - Pickup by twin otter at (name withheld intentionally) with return to Station Nord and on to Longyearbyen.