Berg

He, I think, got a word to you last night about our epic descent after a very rewarding peak climb the other day, and now we're sitting here. I did call Iceland this morning, and I've given them a couple updates. The pilots apparently have some information that indicates they might be able to fly today. So I'm giving them reports about the conditions in the sky here locally. At this point during the day, it doesn't look flyable, but it may change.

I woke up this morning and saw a beautiful set of tracks down the powder slope just opposite camp that Willi had put in some time after about 12:30 when I went to bed. I got up and started the coffee and slowly the group rolled out: Richard and Ursula, Skip, Stephen, and Sal. And you know I've talked a little about the scale of things in Greenland being bigger than one realizes, and that held true in our post-climb appetites this morning. I fed the five of those climbers a round of scrambled eggs with cheese, and omelet-type eggs, and reported to them when the five of them had finished that they had just consumed 40 eggs. And now I cooked some for myself. And as soon as we were finished with the eggs, we got the chocolate chip cookies out.

So we're enjoying being here in Base Camp knowing that we've had a rewarding climb, and you can eat all the omelets and chocolate chip cookies you want. And soon we'll probably be on our way back to Iceland. Or maybe we'll be sitting here in a storm, but we'll be happy either way because of the accomplishments we've had.

All five climbing members of this trip performed great, and we've had a really great trip. Richard and Ursula, they are great skiing and their new found climbing abilities. Stephen, who did the whole thing on borrowed equipment. Skip, who I'm going to have a tough time getting on the Twin Otter when it gets here—he just wants to stay and do some first ascents. And especially close, or important to me is Sal. Sal Pomponi and I have climbed all over the world together: Russia, Africa, Nepal, of course, and he and I both accomplished climbing the highest point above the Arctic Circle on this trip. Each of us having climbed the highest point below the Antarctic Circle in recent years as well.

Sal is 70, or as he told me, he's 70½, when we were sitting on the summit of Gunnbjornsfjeld the other day. He's been a mountaineer all his life, climbed in some of the best ranges of the world, and it was great to do this climb with Sal. It was great to do it with the entire group.

So we'll keep you posted about when we get flown out of here, but a great, rewarding climb and mountaineering trip for all seven of us here. Hope to be in touch with you with the good news that the plane's on the way soon.

— Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent

EXPEDITION DISPATCHES