Extreme hiking: glaciers
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to make it to northern Greenland on a “business trip” and while I was there I got to do a couple extreme hikes. The first hike was to the top of a 600-700 foot rock formation called “Dundas” that overlooks a small bay. The hike itself started off pretty easy but we quickly found ourselves ankle deep in shifting shale and sand. We were told there is an unofficial speed record for climbing Dundas that’s somewhere around 10 minutes - our hike took about 25 minutes.
The slope of Dundas is pretty consistent most of the way up (steep!) but the final 50 feet of elevation is nearly vertical and requires the use of fixed ropes to ascend. On top the views of the iceberg-filled bay were incredible and left me wondering what this place would look like in the dead of winter (dark and snow covered for sure!).
My favorite hike in Greenland was a short jaunt on one of the glaciers (or was it part of the snow cap?). We got onto the glacier using a gravel ramp built decades ago by a military expedition and saw a few abandoned sleds still on top of the ice. It was summer at the time and there were small creeks of icy blue water running over the top of the glacier. The ice underfoot crunched and upon closer inspection we realized the ice was actually dotted with small black particles (rock and dust) that caused ice around them to melt (see photo).
Just last week I watched Man vs. Wild and Bear Grylls was in the Yukon where he traversed a glacier like the one I hiked in Greenland. I honestly didn’t consider the danger of hiking on a glacier until I saw that episode and realized there can be deep crevaces lurking underfoot on glaciers - hikers beware! Luckily our group stayed safe but if I go back I will certainly be much more cautious.
Sometimes hiking isn’t about following a trail - it’s more about putting your feet on new ground. Glacier hiking in Greenland was certainly new ground for me - I can’t wait to get back to the Arctic!
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