A Dedalous labyrinth of bays, glaciers, ice pack, frozen peaks, and more of the same. Spectacular and mesmerising…
And I sure appreciate the closeness of my black rubber… aux tank
Kangerlussuaq is reporting some 10kt tailwind for runway 09, which all the traffic, mainly Air Greenland, are happy to accept. The ILS is also on 09.
My little bird and its tailwheel prefer headwinds for landing, so 27 it will be. The airport is the only one around with a control tower, most being staffed by AFISO. Air-air comm works out pretty good, as experienced in Greenland and Canada.
Approaching Kangerlussuaq
Once on the ground and refueled, the hunt for accomodation is launched. Nuuk and the other western coast airfields have been fogged in for a few days now, and as a result numerous flights have been cancelled. Of the 3 hotels, none has any room available… the owner of the only B&B is somewhere on vacation. Some 3 hours of waiting later, and about to get my camping gear outta YLL, Wiwi, the friendly FBO lady brings the news: there’s one room available at the best hotel, thanks to a no-show. Yupeee
I will stay 2 nites here, trying to breathe in some of the taste of Greenland, a place I’m really eager to discover
Day 5
No flying day (called “rest day” for others )
Today is excursions day… unfortunately the full day hike on the Ice Cap is sold out. I therefore take part in the “Tundra Safari – Meet the Wildlife”, and the “Excursion To The Ice Cap, Point 660 – The Wonders of the Ice World”.
In a nutshell, the omnipresent wildlife of today are… mosquitoes
Desolate summer conditions for sled dogs…
About to walk on the stupendous Ice Cap. Our Inuit guide details the changes that he observed over the years… describes and shows the very melt away of the massive ice shield. Frightening stuff. Well done mankind…
Just melting away…
The Ice Cap has no other choice but to recede… kinda reminds me of the glaciers in the Alps…
There’s more wildlife than mosquitoes in this pictures…
Who are we, why are we, does it make any sense at all. And who cares anyway
The icecap pictures are so otherworldly and alien feom what we are used to seeing that it’s (almost) impossible to make out sizes and distances.
I spent way too much time looking at ferry tank installation last night after reading these!
I knew your RV6.9 was fast, Dan, but those times on the sign look like they are more for a supersonic jet!
Day 6
BGSF Kangerlussuaq – BGJN Ilulissa
Had this one in my sights for a long time. Not just another POI, but The Iceberg Factory, better known under the name Ilulissat
How can anyone flying Greenland miss this one?
The more I think about it, the more I realize that this place was The Goal of the Tour. Can’t explain my fascination for the area. Maybe it’s the dying of the Ice Cap, pardon me, Mr Ice Cap. Higher Ts has it loose it’s strenght, thereby setting free the essence of its innards, the ice as in icebergs. Tragic. The life of an iceberg is the very opposite of its enemy the human: liberated from the glacier it is enormous, then gets smaller and smaller until it vanishes… ok, enough gibberish
Heading North after take-off, again in very good flight conditions. The scenery is just staggering. One glacier leads to another one, fjords, mountains, islands, and icebergs. Just awe-inspiring.
Tempted…
At some point my Garmin equipment has had enough fighting with the declination and the heading becomes track. No big deal, the only thing I now miss is the wind indication…
I’m now approaching the day’s destination Ilulissat, but will continue northbound before heading back…
The Iceberg Factory, and Ilulissat
This flight has been planned a few days earlier, easy. AirZafari, the scenic flight operator hosts a webpage listing all their flights.
I figured these guys must know what they are doing, so shamelessly copy/pasted their best and most expensive tour named Grand Master Uumannaq… and extended it to the North and West somewhat… Thanks for the help AirZafari