55:38.91N 37:22.59W

Once the whales had disappeared, our concentration turned again to ice and it soon
became apparent that this was still too thick to passage comfortably and we were
going to need to brave the Tinititeqilaq narrows for a fourth time whilst smiling
sweetly at the happy campers/kayakers! We then retraced our steps down
Ikasagtivak fjord and enjoyed seeing it for a second time as it really is a most
impressive valley with steep mountains rearing up to 800 metres on either side and
about 14 miles long. This brought us back into Angmassalik fjord where we swung
south towards Tasiilaq and Kulusuk. We then did a hard right turn up a fjord that ran
parallel to Ikasagtivak and anchored at its head in another wonderful situation.

On Wednesday (30 July), we had a sunny morning. Dave kindly volunteered to stay
on board and the rest of us went walking up to a col on a sledging route that would
allow us views down towards Semilik again. This proved very hard going in places
(loose boulders and more type 2 fun) and very reasonably, Ian decided that this was
not going to work for him and decided to turn back. Fortunately we had two rifles and
Ian was happy to descend alone with one of them. Nigel, Mike and Al pressed on
and soon reached the col and were rewarded with an amazing vista of lakes and
clean granite slabs. We could not see right down to Tinititeilaq because of some low
lying cloud and a subsidiary col but the views were still brilliant. We descended
across the slabs down to the lake and enjoyed rapid progress as being on solid slabs
as opposed to massive loose boulder fields was an absolute delight. In fact, the
whole return journey was brilliant. Still sunny, not too many flies, wonderful views
and reasonably easy going – completely different from the initial climb. Soon, we
were on the radio to Dave who came to pick us up and we were all agreed, it was a
“…reet good day out”.

We had originally planned to stay in the same anchorage on Thursday (31 July) as
the forecast was reasonably good. We had seen another ridge that might have been
interesting but as the initial weather was not brilliant and as there was no clear
mountain objective we decided to move on again. We retraced our way down the
fjord and into Sangmilak fjord. This was obviously a popular spot as two yachts were
already at anchor in an idyllic setting. However, having enjoyed splendid isolation at
all our previous stops we did not feel inclined to linger and be sociable. There was no
sign of life on either of the anchored boats so we moved on and went into another
fjord a few miles to the south just north of Qitalivajik island. Another fantastic bay and
a relatively easy anchorage.

The weather was now much improved with multiple patches of blue sky and we
could see a fairly obvious ridge line leading up from a beach. It was Nigel’s turn to
stay on board so the rest of us went ashore and started climbing on to the ridge at
about 1230. It was totally different from the previous day, the climbing was easy on
solid rock or occasional scree (but all very straightforward) and we achieved our first
summit (Ungiarpik 265 metres) within just over an hour. 265 metres may not sound
very much but everything in Greenland feels so much bigger – I think it is a
combination of the remoteness, the very rough going on unstable ground and the
constant thought that even a fairly minor injury like a simple twisted knee or ankle
would lead to an evacuation epic! No quick mobile phone call to the Ambleside
Mountain Rescue here …any recovery would have to be exclusively self reliant.
From the initial summit the ridge appeared to run for some way and it appeared that
we should be able to descend at the far end and follow a river back to a suitable pick
up point. The going remained fairly straightforward with some interesting variations in
the colour and consistency of the rock. Another summit seemed about midway and
was followed by a steep descent on loose rock and then on to the final summit.

On the approach to this latter, Mike spotted what we took initially to be dead animal
lying on its back and this, of course led to intense speculation about what animal it
was and what had killed it. Fortunately, this was rapidly sorted when we realised it
was just an oddly coloured rock!

The next issue was how we should descend from the ridge and the initial stage of
this proved to be quite challenging with a combination of steep grass, loose rock and
loose scree. However, we achieved level ground relatively unscathed and proceeded
to the next obstacle of a wide river crossing. Viewed from the ridge, we had felt that
we would probably end up with wet feet, but in the event, with some suitable rock
hopping with or without sticks we all crossed and remained dry. From there, it was a
fairly uncomplicated descent and by 1730 Nigel was kindly picking us up and
speeding us back to Umiak to enjoy his freshly baked flapjack, followed by spaghetti
Bolognese – what’s not to like. Another great day and much kudos to Ian who had
struggled with his knee on the previous day but completed today in fine style (and
speed).

ALASTAIR