Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Greenland

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I mentioned the slab avalanches that we had looked across the glacier and observed and our concern about that yesterday due to the fact that the one in that basin was actually right on the slope we descended before. [We] got over there and found that the situation was a little different than I perceived. It was not a slab avalanche in a new snow layer as I had expected. Rather, it was a slide that had been precipitated by icefall—big blocks of glacial ice that had come down from a steep slope above. Why that occurred at the same aspect on a basin adjacent to this one is anyone's guess, but this was both a relief and a humbling experience. Because when you get these kind of occurrences, to me anyway, they're much more arbitrary than even trying to figure out what a layer of new snow is going to do.

So it was good news in that we were less concerned about the overall instability of the new snow that had been falling, but it was once again a humbling experience 'cause you're reminded in big mountains like this—these are not very big mountains in terms of elevation, but still, at this latitude, this is a very serious place, and you're just reminded how small you are and about the big [unintelligible] around you.

But at any rate, we did as intended. We intended to climb up the debris, which was quite safe and fast. It was hard, well-packed snow which we kicked steps in. And then we continued the rest of our route: a very aesthetic, varied sort of a route climbing up a series of ramps and ridges to a really pretty summit ridge.

I figure it's [unintelligible] conditions, 'cause in our last ascent, we thought we were breaking trail, and we were kicking through maybe ankle to mid-calf length depth snow for much of the lower part of the climb. Well, we were talking above the knee, mid-thigh, for most of the way, including the summit ridge where we could not even put on our crampons as we kicked through a great accumulation of the new snow that had been falling over this period of time. All the same, as I said, a very beautiful day.

Once again, we saw different weather conditions in Greenland—less than ideal, but certainly nothing that kept us from climbing. Yesterday was hot. You wouldn't have believed how hot it was. And I don't mean because we had sun. In fact, it was moderate cloud cover on the whole....[Transmission fails]

[Editor's Note: transmission resumed at 11:10am] ...Yeah, so we feel, all of us: myself and Willi as guides, Ursula and Richard, Skip, and Steve, we all feel like we're right where we want to be—and of course, Sal—trying to get everybody listed here. All seven of us feel like we're right where we want to be because it's only our third full day out here and we've already climbed a peak. This group seems very strong, and, as I've described to you, the day before yesterday we went through a lot of skills review.

The weather is still unsettled, but it's weather we can do something with. Right now, it's about 10 o'clock in the morning, and we've got our coffee on and we're waking up to a well-deserved rest in these near-solstice nights in Greenland, as you can imagine, we've got all night available to us. Last night, it was about 1am before we actually shut the stoves down, had our last hot drink after a huge pasta and soup meal after an 11 hour day climbing on the peak and it felt great. Everyone slept really well.

Sal and I had followed through on a vow we made to one another a couple years ago, to get up a peak together because we had to turn back on Elbrus. And then when Sal went on to Kilimanjaro, I had stayed at the crater rim with some clients who were having a little bit of a hard time. So Sal Pomponi and I stood on a peak together yesterday for the first time after having been on a few expeditions together, including Everest in '93.

So it was a great day as you can tell with me rambling on. We're all very happy with where we are. We'll continue to keep you posted about further adventures in this next week we have out here on the ice in Greenland. I'll talk to you pretty soon.

— Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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