Spending the night on the Greenland Ice Sheet, where the sun never sets and the ice never stops moving, is an adventure unlike any other.
My crampons scratched and clawed at the ice as I hauled an equipment-laden sledge up ridge after icy ridge. The whiteness extended far ahead of me to the distant horizon. Panting from exertion, I followed our group to a dip in the ice that offered rare shelter from the wind and unforgiving terrain. Carl, our guide, announced that we’d arrived at our camping spot and we quickly got to work screwing in the ice pegs that would stop our tents blowing away. As I paused to soak in the Arctic landscape of the Greenland Ice Sheet, I knew that this overnight camping trip would be unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
There aren’t many places that are still almost unknown, but the Greenland Ice Sheet is one of them. Covering 80% of the world’s largest island, it’s one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Yet, as Greenland starts to open to tourism, with new flights linking the Danish-administered island to the world, a few adventurous visitors like me are venturing onto the ice.
The easiest access is from Kangerlussuaq, a small town in western Greenland. In 1999, to test their cars in the harshest winter conditions, Volkswagen built a 35km long dirt road leading from the town to the very edge of the ice sheet. Now, however, the ice has retreated so much you need to walk around 1km from the end of the road to get to the sheet. The transition from soft tundra to mud and ice shards and then the ice sheet proper is fast and dramatic.
The scale of the Greenland Ice Sheet – which is the second biggest in the world after Antarctica – is mind boggling. It is up to 3km thick and spans 1.7 million sq km. Its mass, measured in the trillions of tonnes, is so heavy it has pressed much of Greenland’s bedrock below sea level. Scientists have dated some basal ice and sediments to more than two million years old – older than our species itself.
Due to the scale of the ice sheet, the ferocity of the climate and the harshness of the terrain, travellers can only visit with a qualified and registered guide. Most trips are day or half-day excursions; just one company, Albatros Arctic Circle offers overnight camping tours. Before heading out, our group of six was briefed and and our gear checked. Nerves gave way to awe as our we stood on the edge, staring into a meltwater river cutting deep through the ice.
Human beings first arrived in Greenland around 2500 BCE; since then, they have generally stuck to the habitable coasts. It wasn’t until 1888 that Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen led the first recorded crossing of the ice sheet. Nobody lives here permanently, but remote scientific bases monitor the ice and its rapid changes due to climate change.
We had no fixed schedule, hiking to the rhythm of the slowest member of the group. Walking here was dangerous due to the maze of crevices. But Carl kept us safe, roping us together when necessary. A highlight was visiting the many shallow melt lakes that glowed turquoise under the summer sun. My group dared each other to swim. Moments later I was gasping in water cold as liquid glass.
Supplies had to be pulled onto the ice sheet on a pulk, a sledge loaded with food, tents and gear. Everyone was expected to help haul the load, set up the tents and prepare the meals. Pulling the pulk turned out to be much harder than it looked. Every time I went down a slope it either flipped over or knocked me off my feet. On the bright side, the effort required did at least keep me warm in the bitter temperatures.
Late in the evening, Carl screwed anchors into the ice and invited us to rappel into a moulin – a shaft formed by meltwater. Harnessed and clipped in, I edged down, staring into the blue throat of the ice. Scientists believe moulins funnel water to the bedrock, lubricating the ice’s movement. As a vertigo sufferer. I found this to be the most challenging part of the trip.
Camping trips only run between April and September, when the ice is navigable. In June and early July, the sun never sets. Sleeping in a tent in non-stop daylight isn’t easy (bring an eye mask), but it meant we could hike late into the night. At midnight, the light was soft and the ice took on a shimmering golden glow. Time blurred; I thought it was evening when it was almost 01:00.
Staring out to a white horizon, it is tempting to believe the ice is eternal. But, as scientists have long warned, that’s far from the case. Formed during the Pleistocene Epoch, about 2.6 million years ago, the Greenland Ice Sheet has grown and shrunk with Earth’s climate – and scientists warn it is now retreating once more.
Today, thanks to human-caused climate change, the Greenland Ice Sheet is melting faster than ever, losing an astounding 30 million tonnes of ice per hour. At this rate scientists fear that the ice sheet could disappear within 1,000 years, which would raise sea levels around the world by more than 7m. Those numbers are hard to fathom, but from my viewpoint I could clearly see how far the ice has retreated in just a few decades. It was a sobering reminder of its fragility.
Sourse: BBC
