Sep 13

Posted by: host
13/09/2010 09:58 

For 3 weeks in July, a team of 7, led by Matt Spenceley, explored the alpine range at the head of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier.

Our initial plan had been to travel further north by boat, but unusually thick pack ice put paid to that.  After some thought, we opted for the Knud Rasmussen Glacier as it offered some hope of getting right into the most exciting mountains further inland and, if we managed to travel far enough, even the chance to get to the area originally chosen.  

2 days of ferrying rucksacks, followed by another pulling sledges and we reached a brilliant basecamp location, perched on a vegetated rocky spur between two massive glaciers.  After all the effort of getting in, we had a worrying evening when Natalie badly scolded one of her legs with boiling water.  Thankfully, the team were able to cool the affected area quickly and after a couple of days basecamp-bound, Natalie was back in action.  Meanwhile, the rest of the team set about the local peaks, making a number of successful day-raids.  Of particular note this summer has been the really high temperatures we experienced up on the glaciers.  Ten years ago, we'd often set out at around 6AM.  This summer, a 1AM start proved to be essential and even then, the more involved mountain days ensured an uncomfortably hot ski back to basecamp.  Finding enough shade to sleep in the day also made for a challenge.

After climbing the most attractive peaks accessible from our camp, we packed 3 sledges and set out for the upper part of one of the glacier offshoots of the Knud Rasmussen.  From a great bivy site, we ascended 4 more summits, 3 of which made for classic snow climbs, and the 4th - the most technically difficult of the trip - a long and involved knife-edge arete.

One more bivy trip and 2 summits made whilst descending the Knud Rasmussen and we made it back to the shoreline and 2 nights spent punctuated by the collapse of ice from the calving face into the fjord.  A magical place, great mountaineering and a lovely team.  Thanks everyone for a great trip.

Matt

I'll upload more photos as they come in...

Basecamp looking out over the upper reaches of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier.  In the other direction, we could see the fjord.

Our first bivy site

Breakfast at 1am

A knife-edge arete to a tiny summit block with wild views

Matt heading back down.  We initially used the line of ascent to get down, then dropped low onto steep snowfields.

 
The site of our basecamp can be seen up and left of Matt; it's the little rock island lying on the glacier.