June 8, 2018
Day 29: Not Yet
With both our flight to Iceland and our helicopter shuttle to Kulusuk cancelled, our hearts once again, sank. So close to home, and yet so far... but surprisingly not totally beaten. If we could just get to Kulusuk, we reasoned, we would at least be in position to catch the flight to Iceland if it arrived tomorrow. Only 10 minutes apart by helicopter but stuck in Tasiilaq, we would be dealing with two separate wrench-throwing weather systems (one in each village) blocking our way home.
We had also heard that boat passage was now possible between the two towns and we were told that several boats had been back and forth that very day. Two days prior, boats had gotten stranded in the pack ice off shore, but now the currents and wind had changed and it was a relatively easy passage. We asked the manager at Red House, Axel, if he could help us arrange a boat to ferry us the Kulusuk.
And so with 100 % confidence, we loaded up all our Granite Gear duffels, big Madshus ski bag and drove down to the marina. There, we shuffled everything down a dock to an small boat with an older Inuit driver. We smiled to each other satisfied that we were handing off our fate to such a competent navigator. In just a half an hour, we congratulated one another, we would be that much closer to home.
As we pushed away from the dock, Axel yelled to us, 'there's a chance you may not be able to get through.'
Wait, what? We looked at each other confusedly. Just an hour before he had told us the channel was totally free of ice. Now, he offered a prophetic afterthought that totally caught us off guard. We laughed nervously, replaying the perfectly-timed scene. Axel had been just far enough away for us to be completely incapable of changing our decision.
For the next two hours, we wound slowly around huge ice bergs, bergy bits, pancake ice and broken up sea ice. Pushing and shoving ice aside, our driver deftly navigated the shifting ice floes. However, the ice became too dense and after an hour we watched the sun circle around toward the bow as we turned back toward Tasiilaq.
Several times as conditions changed on our ice cap traverse, I talked to Dean, Diogo and Kat about the importance of adapting while finding new solutions to problems. Too often dangerous and life-threatening situations arise on expeditions when people simply ignore (or try to overpower) a changing environment. Equally hard is giving up on a temporary fix because it doesn't work. While I don't recommend sticking with a strategy with a no-matter-what philosophy, sometimes those initial trials are important stepping stones and proving grounds for a workable solution late comes later. Either way, it is important to try.
Now we are back where we started, but really finished (our ice cap traverse). Just like on our expedition, we are not done trying. And just like our expedition, Greenland has, once again, decided to not give us any breaks!
Image: Iceberg off the port bow
We had also heard that boat passage was now possible between the two towns and we were told that several boats had been back and forth that very day. Two days prior, boats had gotten stranded in the pack ice off shore, but now the currents and wind had changed and it was a relatively easy passage. We asked the manager at Red House, Axel, if he could help us arrange a boat to ferry us the Kulusuk.
And so with 100 % confidence, we loaded up all our Granite Gear duffels, big Madshus ski bag and drove down to the marina. There, we shuffled everything down a dock to an small boat with an older Inuit driver. We smiled to each other satisfied that we were handing off our fate to such a competent navigator. In just a half an hour, we congratulated one another, we would be that much closer to home.
As we pushed away from the dock, Axel yelled to us, 'there's a chance you may not be able to get through.'
Wait, what? We looked at each other confusedly. Just an hour before he had told us the channel was totally free of ice. Now, he offered a prophetic afterthought that totally caught us off guard. We laughed nervously, replaying the perfectly-timed scene. Axel had been just far enough away for us to be completely incapable of changing our decision.
For the next two hours, we wound slowly around huge ice bergs, bergy bits, pancake ice and broken up sea ice. Pushing and shoving ice aside, our driver deftly navigated the shifting ice floes. However, the ice became too dense and after an hour we watched the sun circle around toward the bow as we turned back toward Tasiilaq.
Several times as conditions changed on our ice cap traverse, I talked to Dean, Diogo and Kat about the importance of adapting while finding new solutions to problems. Too often dangerous and life-threatening situations arise on expeditions when people simply ignore (or try to overpower) a changing environment. Equally hard is giving up on a temporary fix because it doesn't work. While I don't recommend sticking with a strategy with a no-matter-what philosophy, sometimes those initial trials are important stepping stones and proving grounds for a workable solution late comes later. Either way, it is important to try.
Now we are back where we started, but really finished (our ice cap traverse). Just like on our expedition, we are not done trying. And just like our expedition, Greenland has, once again, decided to not give us any breaks!
Image: Iceberg off the port bow