Arctic Mountains

G4 Expedition, Watkins Mountains, East Greenland

May 27 2004 - Point 2263m, Anita Fjeld, Brekruna, BC3

Torstein began the morning activities 04:00AM. After 10 minutes, we could hear a bird singing. I blamed him for waking up absolutely *everyone*.

It was a friendly joke. Torstein and Per Ove was heading back to Anita Fjeld, this time to reach the summit. The snow conditions on the mountain called for a very early start. The further plan was that Ståle would join them after the ascent, and they would all head up to Brekruna. Per Ove and Torstein brought along the VHF radio and they agreed to make the call 08:00AM.

They were leaving 05:00AM sharp. At this point, the name Anita Fjeld hadn't been assigned yet, and I launched the name "Wachiichi". Torstein gave me a confused look, and I explained that the name was native American inspired, and meant "White men on sharp ridge with shivering knees". Torstein had a good laugh. Another one of those silly jokes that worked well inside the tent.

There was only noise on the VHF radio 08:00AM, but 15 minutes later, we could see Torstein and Per Ove headed towards Brekruna. They had reached Anita Fjeld summit 06:55PM. Ståle left camp 08:35AM, and the rest of us got up. Petter Jan-Frode and I took a ski-trip across the plateau and then up to point 2263m, where we watched the other three make their way up to Brekruna. We left the camp 09:20AM.

After a short ski-trip, we arrived Point 2263m 10:10AM. The height is probably closer to 2255m, but as the hill had no height on the map, the height was interpolated between two 25m contours. This was a less prominent hill that marked the start of the ridge that would enclose the upper glacier we were heading to. Near the summit, we found a cairn, which was a bit worrying. So there had been people in this area before. Were they just passing through, only stopping by this hill for the views? When we saw that the other group closed in on Brekruna summit, we left the hill and returned to camp.

Torstein, Ståle and Per Ove returned from a successful ascent of Brekruna. All of them had run on skis down from the very summit. In addition, Per Ove and Torstein had successfuly ascended Anita Fjeld. They were pretty excited about the climb, the views and the run down on skis. While Petter and I had carefully manoeuvered around the crevasses on the way to Brekruna, the other guys of course had to run between them. I could tell from their faces that they had enjoyed every second of the day so far.

By 14:00PM, BC2 was down and we continued towards BC3. The first stretch was a long downhill to the "glacier junction". Going straight up would take us to BC3. Going to the right would take us to the pick-up point. That was the location we had given to the pilot. This was actually one glacier making a sharp bend, draining towards the ocean. We would be staying very near the top of the glacier.

Ståle and Petter were pulling the sledges. By 19:00PM, we had reached 2190m, and we decided to put up BC3 here. This would be our home for the next 3 days, and it seemed to be plenty of nice peaks around.

Torstein started to develop a serious neck problem. My back was getting worse and worse. I couldn't get straight up after sitting. It was a great relief to finally have reached the last BC. A comfortable sitting group was made, and Jan-Frode dug out the toilet. The fuel situation has not improved. We agreed to drop the hot water for the day trips. There would only be one bottle of warm water per tent for the morning porridge. Noone had any problems with this.


1. View from point 2263m (272KB) 2. View from point 2263m (362KB) 3. On the way to BC3 (180KB) 4. Passing a Sfinx-shaped mountain (193KB) 5. View towards Brekruna (195KB) 6. Sharp peaks nearby (214KB) 7. BC3 (211KB) 8. BC3 (293KB)

Anita Fjeld and Brekruna (Per Ove, Torstein, Ståle)

9. Per Ove on Anita Fjeld (144KB) 10. Torstein on Anita Fjeld (156KB) 11. Torstein descending Anita Fjeld (147KB) 12. BC2 seen from Anita Fjeld (159KB) 13. Staale joins the group (66KB) 14. Gunnbjorn Fjeld seen from Brekruna (156KB) 15. Interesting views from Brekruna (200KB) 16. Dome seen from Brekruna (177KB) 17. Torstein skiing down Brekruna (251KB) 18. Anita Fjeld seen from BC2 (139KB)

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