65:54.32N 37:42.99W
8th - After a relatively quiet night in yet another great anchorage sheltered from the busy ice activity of the main Fiord once more Umiak ventured out pushing further north into the Sermilik Fiord with a thin fog obscuring the mountains.
The deeper we ventured in a NE direction the heavy the ice became. We passed many tabular bergs huge in size some with towering ice cliffs and chaotic sculptures and many small chunks of ice. Not a whisper of wind , the sea took on a glassy oily texture. we weaved our way from one open lead to another. Occasionally the fog thinning with the sun trying to break through only to thicken again.
The morning was spent in this fashion until we came to a place called Nuk at which point the decision was made to turn around and head back due to even more ice cover. By late afternoon we had made steady progress back through the ice to a fantastic sheltered anchorage in a sheltered bay on the West side of Sermilik. With the Stove lit food on the table we settled in for a cosy night.
On the morning of the 19th we headed back out into the fog, skirted around the headland of Qertartivatsiaq into Johan Petersen Fjord.
With not as much ice Umiak weaved its way down the Northern side of the fjord making good progress, the fog cleared and to the SW a string of glaciers and snow capped mountains could be seen and a possible mountain objective for the following day. Several Humpback Wales were spotted one of which was very close to the Yacht. After approx. 2/3 of the way down JP fjord the ice became much thicker so we turned around heading back to yet another breath taking anchorage in a small fjord nestled below Pingertuit peak. This beautiful place Sang Mileg was hemmed in by steep walls with two impressive waterfalls. Mike Tracy Olly and John headed off to explore an old sledging route for the afternoon Wile Karl & Gringo set about filling water containers and topping up the tanks on Umiak. The Sun was out, not a breath of wind, another place of paradise to spend the night.
On the 20th after jostling with Ice through the night and a short show from the Northern lights. We raised the anchor and set off around to the objective we had spied the day before. At 8am Gringo dropped Karl Tracy John and Olly off at the foot of an easy angled broken rock face with many ramps ledges and terraces.
The team made steady progress weaving upwards until the snow line was reached at 11am. At this point the team switched to crampons roped up and made good progress up a 35 degree snow and ice slope with the most incredible back drop behind. Stretching far to the East mountains and ridges dominated the horizon and directly below bathed in sun light the ice chocked Fjords with Umiak in the distance the size of a match head motionless with not a breath of wind. After a further 2 hours and at a height of 1273m the broad summit was reached opening up views of the Greenland Icecap stretching off into the distance.
