Starting to get busy

It's been a busy few days lately, we have been to the village, Ittoqqortoormiit, and bought some milk, some bullets and a dustpan and brush. The route had changed from last year due to the sea ice and we had to go a long way inland which was actually quite an easy route. We saw the locals race past us on their dog sledges.

Our own airport dogs are very nice, but do pee all over our stuff, so we try and keep them away from camp.

Yesterday we got our first big group into the mountains in an are of North Liverpool Land called Himmerland. We knew we could get up Klitdal, but not the actual route into Himmerland. It was along a river bed to a col and then down to to a fjord on the east coast. Following river beds in gorges is always bad news as windtails (big snow drifts) often block the whole valley. I chose the high ground above the gorge to the north, but the wind had scoured the slopes and we had to make many detours round valley heads, scoured slopes and make lots of stops to scout the route ahead on foot. We eventually got to the col before the descent down to the fjord, but were stopped just a few kms short, by a wind tail and rocks in a gully blocking progress. Our group, 10 French millitary guys on a three week expedition, were more than happy and skied the last bit to the coast. It was a big carry with 10 people and kit - two people carriers, 4 skidoos and three sledges - two sledges in tandem, but we made it without getting stuck anywhere.

The Siglin sledges are standing up well, but their towing eyes are wearing out the tow hooks and causing some concern about the rate of wear. We will have to make some modifications soon.

Tomorrow we start our big 2 day recce round the bottom Jameson Land to the south to try and get over to the Ren Land area,