Travelogues: Quaanaaq 2012

In a kayak between Greenland and Canada

Written by Elke Grunwald and Markus Ziebell

Finally – after a half a year of planning and 19 hours of travelling we arrive in the far north of Greenland at a place called Quaanaq, it is the 25th of July. Ahead of us we expect 4 weeks of adventure, following the tracks of Robert E. Peary from Greenland to Canada and back.

Our boats and all our equipment started this journey already two months before us and are patiently awaiting our arrival at the warehouse of the Royal Arctic line which is directly located next to the harbour. The next morning we go to collect them and realize with great relief that neither boats nor equipment got damaged during their journey.

By early noon most of our equipment is stored in the right places and we are pushing our boats into the water. A strong tailwind pushes us into the direction of our frst camp which is 20 km from our get in. After the tent´s put up we test our self-made ice bear alarm and try to get used to a shotgun we borrowed of a Hotel owner for the journey. The further we are getting to the north the greater the chance to meet one of the white fury giants. From now on the shotgun is going to be continuous companion, accompanying us every time we set foot on land.

The next couple of days we paddle through a never-ending drizzle towards the frst marker of our trail: Cape Alexander – which is where we want to start our crossing over to Canada. The countryside despite being covered by mist almost takes our breath away. Jagged Rock alternates with soft hills and every now and then we pass glacier noses that calf little icebergs into the sea. We often pass through large areas that are covered in ice splinters – leftovers of an iceberg that broke into pieces sometimes ago. Fortunately for us the sky clears 4 days and 100 km of paddling later and visibility gets better. For the frst time we can see the snow covered mountains of Ellesmere Island in Canada. The next day we already see Cape Alexander and whilst we are looking forward to a day of paddling in the sun, all of a sudden a strong wind comes down from a nearby glacier and getting forward almost becomes impossible. Drudgingly we fight our way through the waves towards the shore so that we can paddle alongside the coastline in the slipstream, until we reach a bay near Cape Alexander.

At a wind protected site we put up camp. Our excitement rises: Will we manage the crossing? Are wind and current even allowing for crossing? Are we going to reach the Canadian coast at all considering the amount of ice offshore?
With the help of our satellite telephone we have a look at the up-to-date weather forecast as well as double checking with our contact in Bremen Germany how much ice is going to be coming our way. The ice map displays a covering of 3/10 however; the satellite pictures are covered in clouds so that it is not clear to us where the ice is going to be exactly. Equipped with our binoculars we climb up Cape Alexander and try to get a more precise impression of the situation at the 55 km distant coast. Unfortunately at this distance we can only make out a small strip of ice at the Canadian coast.

Due to the weather forecast having predicted ideal crossing conditions; the next day we start our Crossing of the Polar Sea towards Canada almost without any wind to blow us of our course. Our destination is Cape Isabella. After 20 km we begin paddling past the frst foating ice sheets when suddenly we can hear the noise of whales exhilarating. A group of 15 to 20 narwhales crosses our path so we are able to flm the elegant movements from close by. Rhythmical their bodies lift in and out of the water and we can make out the little spots, typical for narwhales, on their skin. Only a few km further on we see an ice bear swimming in through the thickening sheets of ice, luckily for us he is carrying his pray in his mouth; thick-billed murres- the penguins of the arctic have gathered on some ice and let us get close. Again and again we can make out walruses that have made themselves comfortable on the ice. A mild sun magically transforms the light, the sheets of ice glow in colours of turquoise, green and blue and for a short while, surrounded by the serene water we think ourselves in an out worldly land. We have to circumnavigate more often now and increasingly have to search for channels that will let us out of the ice to continue. More often we have to stop and step onto the ice now, so we can fnd our way out of this maze. 10 km ahead of Cape Isabella we are stuck. The channels around us are too small for us to paddle through. Having weighed up our options we decide to paddle the 45 km back.

On one of the foating ice sheets we stop and take out our chocolate, nuts and muesli bars from the hatches to store them in our buoyancy aids and the pockets of our dry suits. This should give us enough energy to paddle back. 6 hours later we reach open waters again and are glad about our decision as the wind is picking up. If we would still be between the sheets of ice the situation could have become life threatening. This way though we paddle another 20 km against a exhausting 4-5 Bft wind back to the Coast of Greenland. After 18 ½ hours and 90km of paddling we arrive at some barren ground at 6:30 a.m., we just about manage to put up our tent and fall asleep immediately. When we wake up at noon we are extremely thirsty as we hadn't had dinner the night before. Our decision is easy: spaghetti for breakfast! – followed by another couple of hours of sleep.

During the night our situation has worsened more ice from the Cane-Bassin has drifted into the Smith Sound in front of the coast of Greenland. As our muscles are still aching we decide to have a relaxing non paddling day and consider our options for the afternoon. Finally we hike up a 150 m high hill and we can see how the ice continues to make its way towards the coast of Greenland. At night the sheets of ice are so close by that one would think you can reach Canada by foot.

The next morning our new plan has accumulated. We will continue to paddle up north alongside the coast of Greenland, to once more try and cross over to the Canadian coast. As the ice is now travelling past us very closely in a southern direction we hope that once we have reached the north lying Cane – Bassin it will be cleared of it. Accompanied by sunshine and a light southern wind we paddle through a small ice free channel alongside the coast towards a place of great historical importance: Etah. It is here that the frst people came from North America to Greenland and colonized the land. A look up the hill quickly gives away how people at the time sustained themselves – a herd of muskox graze on the steep hill. We prowl upon them quietly as they are very shy and extremely rare. In the wide valley next to a glacial river we can see the last remains of an early settlement. Directly behind a modern day hunting lodge we fnd the signs of a so called blackhouse, a sort of concave bank that used to be cladded in stone and was covered through animal skins. The remains of the old blackhouses are slowly rotting away. Still – we prefer, regardless of the strong wind to sleep in our tent as the hunting lodge is full of the leftovers of a hunt that seems to have taken place quite a while ago.

Over the next two weeks the stronger becoming winds make it more and more diffcult to make progress. The temperature drops extremely and in the morning there is a thick crust of ice on the water. Now we often have to wait for a day or two for the weather to get better so that we can continue our journey. At one cape there is such a strong and icy wind that we have to stop and look for shelter in the next bay and this after only having paddled a few kilometers. The next morning we discover a thick layer of ice in our bay. The weather forecast that arrives daily via text message on our satellite phone warns us that the next three days a storm with southerly winds as fast as 8Bft will surround us. We have to move our camp further south. The masses of ice that go past us destroy our last hope of a crossing to Canada and we begin to calculate the time it will take us to go back. We realize we will have to use every opportunity we get to paddle if the weather permits as we have to try to get back to catch our fight in time.
Therefore from 18:00 o´clock onwards we sit in our boats and continue to paddle through the never-ending rain as the weather forecast promised some weaker winds during the night. On the harsh cliffs a frightening breaking of waves is taking place which we have to pass. After approximately 20 km having just paddled around the top of one cape looking for a campsite
we suddenly see an ice bear. He discovers us and curiosity driven comes to the beach to have a closer look at us. We decide to continue for another 20km. During the night rain changes to snow and our feet are now feeling the intense cold. When we fnally reach a bay we fnd ourselves surrounded by thick fog. On the lookout for a place to dock we paddle through thick broken ice sheets and new ones already begin to build. Great relief overcomes us when we are fnally are able to warm up in our sleeping bags. The next morning the sun wakes us and it's already midday however we are unable to carry on as the wind is too strong again. We decide to carry out some repairs on our equipment and go for a long walk alongside the beach.

The weather forecast gives us hope and we get up at 4 am to use the predicted low winds to continue our way back. Through almost no wind at all we manage to quickly get forward passed the next few capes and begin to look forward to the remaining 20 km to Siorapaluk where we will come across civilization again. We cheered up to quickly then suddenly there are big gusts of wind. Initially we think it's the Cape effect and continue to hold against it but the wind gets so strong that we fnally give up. The waves become bigger and bigger and we realize we are in the middle of a storm. Tucked together we let the water carry us in to safety and drift into a fjord. On the beach we can still measure 8 Bft on the sea further out we discover cyclones.

After we somewhat managed to get through the surf and landed on gravel beach we yet again look for a campsite. No such things as an even surface we manage to fnd a platz with two channels that let most of the water escape. In the meantime the wind has become a little less. Nevertheless we decide to secure our tent with big stones and the weight of our boats and anything else we have on offer as the barometer shows the return of the storm. To be able to cook we have to build a windbreaker so we put up some big stones otherwise the wind will take away our cooker and pots. During the night the storm reaches its climax! Our tent bends and buckles goes up and down stays in place! We manage to get a little sleep in.

The next day the wind has settled and so has our barometer. We pack up our camp and with the help of some breaking waves have a strong start. A few km onwards we are treated to sunshine and discover a left settlement which we aim at for our night camp. A perfect campsite expects us: The ground is even and the grass is soft and lovely, on top of that we have sunshine and there is almost no wind. Considering the last couple of days and our other campsites we can fnally breathe out and enjoy camp life. Later we walk through the campsite and next to some well preserved graves and black houses also discover some newly build hut that seem to be used occasionally. They aren't locked and as we curiously look in to them we discover next to wash pans, tins of food and toothpaste everything you would need for a longer hut stay. Directly next to the hut we fnd a harpoon. Tradition and Modernity meet one another. The next day we start on our last paddle trip to Siorapaluk the most northern settlement in the world. When we arrive at the harbor some fshermen great us who are currently busy letting their motorboats on to the water. A short time later we have rented a small hut where sort out our equipment and enjoy the comfort of a small kitchen. Our landlord invites us to a typical Greenland dinner: dried salmon and rotten birds. The salmon is delicious but the birds still look gruesome and are still covered in blood so we don´t manage to get a bite down. We however gratefully accept the invitation to use his shower in his new hut as the old hut we are sleeping isn't kitted out with so much luxury. Our communication is all but hand and feet and a few pieces of broken English and Greenlandic. Our fight date moves closer and as we don't want to risk to miss it we organize some motorboats to take our boats back to Qaanaaq. The distance that took us two days of paddling fies past us in only a few hours – only this time the sun is shining. Back at our hotel we meet a Greenlandic team of geologists which we meet at the beginning of our journey. After having told them of our adventure they confrm our storm experience. Even by Greenland standards the storm was unusually strong. They believed it to be a consequence of the extremely stormy and cold summer. Well, the weather has crossed our plans to cross over to Canada - however we had some unforgettable moments in this cool and lonely but beautiful country. Not at last the meeting of narwhales, ice bears and musk ox let us forget our troubles.

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