Saturday, June 14, 2014

Getting closer

13-14/06, camp 48
Distance today : 118 km
Distance totale : 4849 km
Position : N61.899 W44.228, alt 2260 m
Moving time : 8 H

Good winds in the morning, but the dense cloud coverage and the sleet shower decrease the visibility. On top of that the surface condition and risk of finding big crevasses on the way make us decide to wait for better  conditions, which were planned for later in the day.

Around 6:30 pm we take off under a very low cloud, still waiting for the sky to clear up. We can see to our east hand side, from time to time, the massif Runde Keglefjeld and different ridges, about 2100m high, in the area of fjords Tingmiarmut and Morgens Helnesen.

Still progressing in a "terrasse" environment we get trapped into a valley, so we need to take out our "big gun" in order to get out of it...

And then, slowly, as the snow layer smoothens and becomes really comfortable, some katabatic wind joins forces with the wind we were travelling with so far. That clears up the sky, and finally we can start to get going properly.
Back to the Speed &à we find enough pressure to tack down wind, as the moon is beautifully rising.

Around kilometer 90, we can see 2 nunataks  on the horizon, to our south, south-east. The one to the south, like a rampart, peaks at about 2820m and is well above the glacier cap. We're heading towards the other one.

It's 2:30 am when we drop the kites ; daylight is now rising already. We can see like a ridge of nunataks to our east, peking between 2000 and 2300 km. We're not gonna go further in that direction.

Tomorrow we're gonna head westwards to go around the big glaciers sloping down towards the north side of Narsarsuaq.

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