18 May

The weather subsided a bit overnight and slowly improved during the day. There was even a chance that Benny's "... maybe tomorrow" could actually happen. The base personnel got the diggers and snowplough out and cleared the runway and access to the hangars and then cleared most of the snow away from around the accommodation block.

Most people went out that day, skiing somewhere. After an early lunch I went off on my own towards the hill we had tried to ski around a couple of days earlier. A couple of kilometres out I passed Gordon on his way back.

Gordon heading back towards the air base

The weather was much better now; clear with just a gentle breeze. There were three more people ahead of me also heading in the same direction I was. By the time I got to the narrow valley which separated the hill from the main massif they had started to climb up it.

Looking across the fjord to the Mail Box mountain. In the foreground you can see how the snow has been sculpted by with wind into scruge which makes skiing harder

Skiing downhill in skins is a bit strange to start with. Normally if you point skis down even the slightest of slopes, your off. Not with skins. You have to reach a critical angle before the skis will start sliding. If you lose too much momentum the skis will suddenly stop sliding and unless you are prepared for it you can fall over forwards. Also sometimes one ski will stop while the other continues and you get spun around. Having skins on while skiing downhill slows everything down. If, like me, you are not so good a skier and the conditions are not so good, it can help you get down without falling over. In this case there was nearly too much grip and I just parallel skied straight down the slope without a worry until I hit a stretch of ice and accelerated off and had to brake. Then it was back up the slope and down again. Ski lifts have their place at times, but not here in this relatively unspoiled country. The last time down I stripped the skins off and had to ski in big curves down the slope to control the speed. Of the three descents I fell over once, which I considered not bad and once more trying to pick up my sac!

Back at the accommodation block I found out that the plane was due in at five and we would be going north tomorrow morning. Hurrah! At last! One Twin Otter arrived around four o'clock full of freight for Scoresbysund. After unloading it departed again. We knew this was not our plane when it landed as it did not have skis on. The helicopter then made two trips moving the freight to Scoresbysund with it suspended below in a net.

The helicopter ferrying freight to Scoresbysund.

Looking across the runway at Constable Point airbase

Looking down the gravel runway

While I had been out a new gun had appeared on one of the tables. Apparently a policeman from Scoresbysund had come over on his snowmobile to deliver it along with some more rounds. The rounds looked new so we didn't expect a repeat of the stuck shell incident, but the rifle was anything but new. It was made in 1907 according to the stamp on the barrel! Really heavy and solid looking. It had probably been used in at least a couple of wars. At least the safety catch worked on this one.

Around 6pm our Twin Otter arrived with John Starbuck on board. This was our chance to find out what had really been going on down South.

The Twin Otter ski plane that would fly us north to Dronning Louise Land

John explained what had happened. The two Norwegians had wanted to climb the biggest peak in Greenland, but the weather had not been favourable. Instead they had done some other minor peaks. The main expedition had had the same problem. Once the weather cleared both groups headed towards the standard ascent route but found the glacier very badly crevassed. They decided it was too dangerous to cross so turned back. The groups split up again, the main expedition going back to a higher camp while the two Norwegians went down another glacier to set up a camp ready to attempt another peak. The next day they were skiing down a glacier unroped when the lead skier spotted a covered crevasse. He stopped, turned around and shouted to his nephew to stop. This nephew heard him and skied to a halt directly behind him. This put him directly on top of the crevasse and he had turned his skis in line with it. The snow bridge covering it collapsed with his weight on it and he fell in. Looking down all that could be seen was one ski pole. Shouting down he exchanged messages with his nephew. The nephew thought he was dying from internal injuries. After two hours he did not hear anything else and assumed he was dead. He then spent the next fourteen hours going back to his camp, packing up and then skiing up the glacier to the Tangent group. From there he used the satellite phone to contact next of kin etc.

A couple of days later a flight came in from Iceland with a rescue team. The flight took two of the Tangent expedition out, but left most of the group behind for the remainder of their planned expedition. The Icelandic rescue team like to place their camp in a big pit in the snow. They dug down seven feet and found a crevasse. Luckily no one went into this one but they had to move their camp site! The next day they skied down to where the accident happened. They roped off a work area and probed it to make sure it was safe from crevasses. Once they were happy it was safe they untied from the rope. Soon afterwards one of the rescue team fell into a crevasse. He fell 20ft, without injury, and the other members of the team quickly got him out. They then went down into the crevasse to recover the body. They found the ski pole and a hole in the floor of the crevasse. It was a false floor. They went down through this but the crevasse arched sideways and they found it impossible to get far enough into the crevasse to find the body. It was declared impossible to recover it. The team then skied back to their camp. The weather had deteriorated while this was happening and it was now too bad for the plane to come back and get them. The rescue team had only intended to be there a couple of days so had limited food. The weather remained bad for over a week. The tangent expedition group gave them some food but they were also over their allotted time now and were running out of food.

While this was happening the ice cap crossing team were waiting for rescue because one of their members was sick. They had been waiting for four or five days when the weather cleared a little and they set off an emergency beacon. We never found out if the sick person got worse or they just got impatient when the weather cleared a little. Whatever the reason, a plane went out but could not find a hole in the cloud to get down to them. The next day the weather was better and the plane could land and get them out.

John Starbuck was patiently waiting for his flight out reading etc. to kill time. He decided to have a sauna. To do this you collect a couple of rocks and put them on top of your stove inside your tent. You use the stove to heat them and then sprinkle water on them. Apparently it works well, so long as you don't die from oxygen starvation or carbon monoxide poisoning. While collecting his rocks he put one leg though into a crevasse. Luckily the other leg did not go through so he could get himself out. In the process he tore the ligaments in one of his knees. This was very painful for the next couple of days, while he waited for the weather to clear so they could fly out. The rest did do him good though, and he was only partially impeded during the time he was with us.

At the same time all this was going on another group popped up out of the woodwork. A team of research scientists from Cambridge University were scheduled to spend three months in South Greenland. They go there most years apparently. They had spent two months there already, of which one month had been bad weather, rain or high winds. They had decided to cut their losses and get out. This meant an extra delay for us while this team as well as everyone else was taken out once the weather had improved. There must of been something like four flights in one and a half days and then the plane was free for us.

The message from John was clear - watch out for crevasses.

We packed as much as possible and loaded it onto the plane before having an early night. Breakfast was at 7.30am the next morning and we planned to leave at 8.30am. Glen had his last 'last shower'.