Arctic Team Challenge Day 4/5 in Amasallik, Greenland
Team Cyanosis with Peter V, Arrie, and Philip S.
The final stage of the Arctic Team Challenge in Greenland was an
expedition race held over day 4 & 5. The race would start at the overnight
base camp at the abandoned hunting village of Ikkatteq, on a small island
off the west coast of Ammasalik Island and proceed over glaciers, along
coastlines and through the interior of the country before finishing back at
Tasiilaq on the south-east coast.
Overnight the weather had changed. A light low level cloud drifted over
the Atlantic Ocean some way out to sea whilst a moderate south-westerly
blowing in from the ocean added a good chill. The team pulled out their Palm
paddling jackets for the first leg, a paddle back to the main island.
Navigation on this first canoeing leg was simpler than the previous day's,
but a single mistake along the craggy coastline could end up costing a team
valuable placings on the early stages of the race.
Cyanosis, having built up a bit of a paddling reputation, went out hard
from the start on the 5km canoe and were first to arrive at CP1. Teams
poured in quickly and soon the beach appeared like a D-day invasion as teams
deflated and packed their canoes for later use. The route from here would
take teams back to a peak near the top of the Mittivakkat Glacier, which
Cyanosis had run down the previous day, before descending on another arm of
the glacier and returning to the coast. A 35km paddle would then take teams
up the west coast to the northern most point of the island, before a final
massive trek through the interior brought then out 3km from Tasiilaq for a
final paddle. On the interior trek check points 6 to 10 could be visited in
any order.
As per all the legs of the ATC, route choice was highly important in
crossing the broken and craggy terrain leading up to the Mittivakkat
Glacier. For 4km, the top 5 teams stayed within touching distance letting
teams Saab and Tscherning pick their way across the canyons, rivers and
hills whilst the others followed. On reaching the glacier, teams roped up
and quickly set off like a procession of worms for the 7km crossing to CP2
on a 931m mountain peak. The glacier allowed the teams to make this climb at
a steady rate and slowly the nature of the footing changed with altitude
from hard ice to refrozen snow and then loose snow. Every now and again,
when the glacier gradient dropped, a watery slush about ankle deep would
have to be crossed. Thankfully we were all wearing Sealskinz Waterblocker
socks that kept our feet dry and thus relatively warm.
Team Cyanosis inserted themselves into the procession in 3rd place just
behind Saab (GBR) and Tscherning (DEN) and just ahead of Greenlandic Team
Inu:IT. Peak Performance had dropped off the pace, good news for Cyanosis
who had to beat them by 48 minutes to make up the time deficit on them from
the first three stages to claim 4th place overall.
After only one crevass incident, where a Tscherning team member slipped up
to his waist into a hole, the four teams reached the top and crossed the
last few hundred metres of rocky outcrop to the 931m peak. Sprinting back to
the ice after checking in, the other 3 teams opened a gap on Cyanosis that
would begin to grow. The route down from the mountain involved descending
another arm of the glacier, this one to the north for another 5km or so to a
check point on some glacial morraine at its foot. Due to the chance of endin
g up in crevasses at any point, only when standing on firm rock again did
Team Cyanosis dare to unclip their Beal rope and Black Diamond harnesses.
Arriving at CP3 teams were surprised to be given updated instructions. The
light morning wind at the start had picked up and was now causing
significant waves on the fjord. The organisers decided that the long paddle
from CP4 to CP5 was thus too dangerous in an inflatable canoe and had
cancelled the paddling. Instead teams were requested to hike to CP5 on the
northern tip of Ammasalik via CP6, a small glacier in the central - northern
part of the island. From thereon teams could continue visiting the remaining
check points in the interior of the island in the order they had decided and
stated at the morning briefing.
The trek from CP3 to CP6 thus took the adventure racers through an
interior part of the island that the organisers had not planned apon. This
section was one of the most rugged of the entire race. Teams crossed rapids
and waterfall, kloofed up narrow gorges hewn out by spring floods and
scrambled across slopes of strewn boulders that were devoid of any
vegetation or even soil. The last part of the leg required teams to rope up
again to cross a small glacier to the check point at one end of a 40m high
ice wall overlooking a glacial lake.
The route from CP6 to 5 gave teams two options of using parts of the
islands hiking routes. Here Cyanosis opted for the eastern one after
crossing back across the glacier, where the 3 leading teams had chosen the
western one leading directly down to the coast, but then traversing along
the coastline. Team Cyanosis' option was probably technically easier on the
downhills, but slightly longer by a kilometre. The "hiking routes" however
are exactly that: routes and not trails. Do not expect markers, footprints,
any signs of a path or even terrain slightly more traversable than in other
places. As far as we can work out, these trails were laid out by someone
flying over the terrain in a helicopter!
Cyanosis had purposefully left a food resupply with our paddling
equipment, so it was with much relief that the team arrived at CP5 where the
flotilla of tranport boats had been moved to since the cancellation of the
35km paddle. Unfortunately our resupply bag must have been mixed up with
others after the first short paddle and could not be found at that stage.
The team left quickly however, in part pushed out by the swarms of mozzies
inhabiting that part of the island (Peter had about 25 on his back at one
stage when retying his shoelaces).
The route from CP5 to CP7 on a 800m high mountain col once again involved
a glacial trek from the base of the glacier to the top. Given the rockiness
of surrounding terrain, the team was all too happy to once again rope up and
ready ice picks for the gradual ascent of about 6km. Evening was approaching
so the team forced the pace, intending to get to CP7 and off the glacier on
the other side before the melted ice started refreezing and becoming
slippery. Significant stretches of the glacier had slowly been transformed
into a freezing slush during the day that was extremely unpleasent to walk
in.
Cyanosis got to CP7 just before 10pm, just in time to watch the sun set,
but also in time to see thick cloud rolling in from the south. The team had
also got a glimpse of Team Inu:IT in 3rd place at the check point, a mere 35
minutes ahead. The team also took a quick break to change into warmer
clothing. For the first 4 days the team had been racing in their First
Ascent shorts, but the time on the glaciers during day 4 had paid its price
and the team had heavily sunburned legs from the reflected glare. Team Ice
Cap (CAN) would have even further problems as their lady developed
snowblindness despite wearing UV sunglasses the whole day. Quite a few other
racers have had swollen eyes for the next few days due to the peripheral
glare.
The trek from CP7 to CP8 was more down than up. The CP7 glacier was
descended off the southern tongue and it was interesting to see that the
lower edge was about 300m shorter than shown on the map which was less than
5 years old. From here the trek to CP8 started going down a series of fjord
valleys filled with deep mountain lakes. Trekking past these picuturesque
reservoirs was difficult due to the steepness of the mountain slopes next to
the banks. Many points along the shore required the teams to climb up and
down the mountain slopes to avoid cliffs that ended at the waters edge.
CP8 turned out to be a hiking hut and the team was welcomed by a marshal
serving soup and spaghetti. The team made full use of the welcome relief
before setting off for CP9 and 10 which could be taken in any order. These
check points were located on the west and east side of a large lake, with
the teams approaching from the north and leaving to the south. Careful map
reading and route choice was thus necessary in order to work out which side
of the shore was more preferable to trek to get to the two CPs and then
leave for CP11. Cyanosis got to this stage at about 2am and were feeling the
effect of 14 hours of racing, 13 of which had been on foot across very
uneven terrain. Even with the help of Montrail shoes, ankles were stiff from
proprioceptive bracing whilst knees were feeling the effect of constant
step-ups. The temperature hovered around 5 degrees.
The two-and-fro between CP9 and 10 allowed Cyanosis to get a few split
times on some of the other teams. Inu:IT were still third and still only 45
minutes ahead whilst Peak Performance in 5th was sighted for the first time
since the Mittivakkat Glacier - now 3 hours off Cyanosis' pace. With 4th
position practically secured, the team headed off for the last CP, number 11
and the start of the final 4km paddle to the finish in Tasiilaq. On the way
the team had to cross the whitewater river flowing out of the series of
lakes they had been following. A crossing point was finally found that
allowed the team to cross a swift flowing 15m wide channel at mid-thigh
level.
In the meantime the weather had further deteriorated and a light but cold
drizzle had set in. Arriving at CP11, Cyanosis were surprised to find Team
Inu:IT still pumping up their inflatable canoe. With a new target in sight
the team feverously set about inflating their own canoe and packing their
equipment back for transport to the end of the leg. Cyanosis put into the
water 4 minutes after Inu:IT and were soon chasing them down across the bay.
The sprint race was keenly watched by packs of huskies that are kenneled on
various islands in the bay who howled their support. Entering the harbour
region, Inu:IT still had about a 50m lead but Cyanosis took the opportunity
to portage early onto a breakwater and run the boat slightly further. The
last 200m to the finish line also involved a moderate uphill but the team's
speed in exiting the boat had served them well enough. Team Cyanosis crossed
the finish line to finish 3rd on the expedition race in 42 hours, 46
minutes, about 1 minute
ahead of Inu:IT. Over all five days, Cyanosis placed 4th.
The race was long and extremely technical. Unfortuantely the cancellation
of the main paddling leg made the race predominantly mountain trekking, but
the importance of glacier trekking as a separate discipline should not be
undermined. In total I estimate that glacier trekking accounted for 35km
during the race and as such knowledge and experience on glaciers played an
important part for some teams, particularly when breaking new ground.
Although teams were required to carry a GPS with them, Cyanosis managed to
complete the whole race without using it. Although some teams used the GPS
when paddling to help them locate the island where teams finished at the end
of day 3, when on foot the mountainous terrain made navigation by map quite
easy as the surrounding mountains and lakes were easy and realiable features
in determining your position on the map. What a GPS would not have done for
teams in all cases is helped them to follow route choices, and this was the
real navigational
challenge on the Arctic Team Challenge.
Cyanosis are thrilled to have been able to take up the opportunity to race
in Greenland in the Arctic Team Challenge. It has definitely been the most
amazing experience. The team has gained a wealth of knowledge in a short
time. From a technical view point the team now has experience in glacial
traversing, descending and roping, the decent of scree slopes, bouldering,
mountaineering and paddling in canadian style canoes. At the same time the
team was able to observe some of the best teams from around the world:
Tscherning, Saab-Solomon, Inu:IT and Peak Performance all showed us what
sort of fitness levels and technical experience are needed to compete with
the best. The scenery: wow. no words or even photos can describe what it is
like to stand on top of a glacier and look out over the ice pack drifting in
the Atlantic, icebergs drifting in the fjords, the Greenland Ice Cap to the
north-west that simply dwarves mountains that rise 1500m out of the sea. Nor
can we describe what it is
like to drift beside towering icebergs in an inflatable canoe, to be woken
at night in your tent to the thunder of an iceberg breaking apart or to
traverse a barren, rocky wasteland of ice and rock that looks like it
belongs on Mars.
For making this all possible we must thank our sponsors First Ascent, RAM
Mountaineering, Adventure Inc, Scavanger and Robbie Herreveld's Canoe &
Kayak World. At short notice they helped us kit out with vital equipment
with brand names such as First Ascent, Montrail, Black Diamond, Palm
paddling gear, Backpacker, Beal ropes, Buff, HB climbing equipment,
Sealskinz and WXTex. Our thanks also go to WAI - First Aid Training for
financial support. On a personal level the team would like to thanks Jacque
Marais, Lisa de Speville and
www.ar.co.za, the organisers of the ATC
(Anders, Hans and their band of eager marshals) for all their effort and
then our many supporters and well-wishers back in South Africa.
1st = Tscherning DEN
2nd = SAAB Salomon GBR
3rd = Inu:IT GRL
4th = Cyanosis (Total time 44:32:34)
5th = Peak Performance DEN