Camp Ice Cap: One Night on Ice Sheet of Greenland

 

The tour was amazing. We three felt so satisfied 🤩 I definitely will not forget the tour!

About Camp Ice Cap

Camp Ice Cap is the tour of Albatros Arctic Circle (AAC).

And Albatros Arctic Circle (AAC) is one of the traveling companies in Greenland. They have tours both in Kangerlussuaq and Ilulissat, and we visited both town, too. I attended 3 tours of AAC. Overall, I was satisfied!

The red tunnel tent for staying one night on the ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

According to AAC, there are only 2 places on Earth that have the ice sheets, Antarctica and Greenland!

And Kangerlussuaq, Greenland is the only place where people can just drive for 37 km and reach the margin of the ice sheet. Isn't it amazing?

The tour costs DKK2990 in 2023.

Schedule Arrangement for Camp Ice Cap

When I found Camp Ice Cap on the Internet, I couldn't believe it! What a dream tour! ✨

All of the sudden the tour became one of the focuses throughout the whole traveling.

The public tent for staying one night on the ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

We visited not just Greenland but also Iceland. First we flew from Denmark -> Kangerlussuaq -> Ilulissat -> Iceland.

When the beautiful red plane of Air Greenland landed on Kangerlussuaq, it was about 10:40 in the morning.

The small red plane of Air Greenland / Photo: Yun (Me)

And Camp Ice Cap was scheduled at 12:00.

I have to say the arrangement was tight, and we WERE exhausted on the second day. 

Yet this was the only way to make it work, because Camp Ice Cap was not an everyday tour. 

If I had missed the day, I would have had to wait 2 days later, and then it would have taken us too much time for staying in Kangerlussuaq.

Q&A: I'd like to visit Greenland and Iceland. How to arrange the route?

According to my comparison (in 2022), if you fly in and out Europe, then "first Greenland then Iceland" would be cheaper.

If you're going to both Kangerlussuaq and Ilulissat, too, since Kangerlussuaq is at South of Ilulissat, flying to Kangerlussuaq first then Ilulissat would be better. 

And I remember there are flights between Kangerlussuaq and Ilulissat everyday.

Map of west Greenland, including Kangerlussuaq and Ilulissat / Edition on Google Map

However, flight from Ilulissat to Iceland doesn't operate everyday, so I used flight of Ilulissat-Iceland as a pivot to shift the 3-week traveling.

And remember that Camp Ice Cap doesn't happen everyday, either. These are the limitation for the scheduling.

Q&A: "Camp Ice Cap" starts at 12:00, can flight arriving at 10:40 make it on time?

Yes, you can catch the tour based on my experience. BUT, since the weather in Greenland is unstable, there's still risk of delay.

As for how long would it delay? Can it make it at 12? 

I checked Flight Era almost everyday in the month. I even checked the history of the flight in Augusts (very worried).

In conclusion, I prepared plan B: If the flight had delayed and I had missed "Camp Ice Cap", I would have attended it 2 days later.

For the flight ticket from Kangerlussuaq to Ilulissat, I bought the more expensive plan to reserve the possibility of changing flight time (and the period in Ilulissat would have been squeezed if the delay had occurred.)

Luckily, everything went according to plan in the end!

Journal of Camp Ice Cap

Camp Ice Cap: Day 1

Polar Lodge, the hostel that we stayed in Kangerlussuaq and the meeting point of "Camp Ice Cap", was just steps away from the airport.

Polar Lodge, Kangerlussuaq / Photo: Yun (Me)

We waited at the picnic tables outside Polar Lodge for the tour.

There were other people waiting, too (they were for the half-day tour on the ice sheet.)

Our tour guide, Ann, arrived a little bit late in a small yellow AAC truck. We then found out that she was an experts of several outdoor activities, including tree climbing, skiing and kayaking.

It was until then we knew that we were the only 3 persons attending the tour! Such a small team! I considered it lucky!

Ann introduced us some gadgets before departure, including satellite phones, crampons, trekking poles and harnesses. I used my own poles in the end.

Some gadgets and stuff for the ice sheet hiking. / Photo: Yun (Me)

After the introduction and the adjustment of clothes and bags, we put our luggages in the storage room, bought lunch hastily (no time for restroom!) and got on the bus.

Tour bus of AAC / Photo: Yun (Me)

With "point 660" as our destination, the guide for the half-day tour, who was the driver at the same time, introduced Kangerlussuaq along the way.

We passed by Russell Glacier, which was a scenic spot, too.

I remember the sky adjoining Russell Glacier looked pink and beautiful. Pity that I sit on the opposite side in the bus so couldn't see clearer.

After we reached the margine of the ice sheet, we three ("one-night team") were given pairs of crampons (put inside bags), and a huge heavy black bag for each one of us. The bags were full of supplies. 

All of these, with the pulks (slides) -- had to be carried onto the ice sheet!

Before the ice sheet, we had to cross some hills with these huge bags on our shoulders. / Photo: Yun (Me)

I think this was the most exhausting part throughout the tour! It was challenging to carry these uneven and heavy bags on shoulders (instead of on back) to climb uphills!

I guaranteed my sister and CJ that the tour would be easy. I thought I might have fooled them. 

After we stepped on the ice sheet finally we could remove them from our shoulders to the pulks (slides)!

We then learned to wear crampons: adjust the size (length) first and then bind the stripe tightly.

We learned how to wear crampons on the ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

We spreaded all the bags onto the three slides (pulks), and started to pull the slides like husky dogs.

We learned to avoid being hit on foot when sliding downwards. This actually required some skills!

Pulling slides on Greenland ice sheet. / Photo: Yun (Me)

We walked through some dangerous routes, where we needed to be in line. If not, Ann said we might have fallen.

We saw some dirts (?) squeezed out by ice sheet. It looked like a pile of dirts.

Ann introduced the movement of Greenland ice sheet. / Photo: Yun (Me)

With crampons it took us more time to hike at first. We actually only hiked for a short distance.

After we arrived at the campsite, we started camping. 

There were several huge metal storage boxes. Some of the big stuff, such as natural gas, toilets and sleeping pads, were all at the camp.

We started camping for the tour "Camp Ice Cap". / Photo: Yun (Me)

We learned to drill ice stakes, and set up the tunnel tent for sleeping and the public tent for dining and chatting. We took out sponge pads, sleeping pads and (inner) sleeping bags (-18 degree), and passed stuff into the public tent.

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At first I thought why we would have to set up so many heavy and firm stuff, instead of some lighter things? We got natural gas, stove, camping beds, a huge pot and a hot water bottle.

Then when I had my dinner, I thought maybe this was the necessity of survival here, with some heavy and durable things.

The public tent of Camp Ice Cap / Photo: Yun (Me)

How about toilet on the ice sheet?

First, it depends on what you're about to do. Number one or number two? If it's no.2, yes, there was a exact toilet.

As for no.1, do so at the down stream. The opposite side from where we got water.

It was quite special to take off my pants and went number one...

After all the things were set up, we went for a little hike. 

The view was so stunning!

Hiking on Greenland ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

Ann said that the road to the ice sheet was developed by Volkswagen, because they used to test their cars here.

We even saw a pad made of tires. It was for controlling the explosion range when covered on the ice. 

Ann said the pad traveled with ice, which proved that the ice did move.

Volkswagen's ice explosion pad / Photo: Yun (Me)

Around 10 pm we finally went back to the campsite, exhausted! We hadn't rested since we got off the plane!

And we had dinner only right then. It was dried food. I had some spaghetti. Very salty!

My sister even said that she probably would not have made it the next day because she was so drained! 

Thankfully, she turned to be energetic the next day!

And I was even worried that we would not have had enough sleeping time (23:00 to 6:00).

Well, I just could not sleep well outdoors no matter how much time I had. Rather, the other two slept better than me... 

There was no aurora (northern light) at night.

Camp Ice Cap: Day 2

Yeah! Another hiking day! I was so exited!

We learned how to bake burgers on the ice. 

First we slice the bread with a knife. Then we put in some cheese and hams, and butter and grease the pan. 

When the bread was in the pan, move the pan onto the ice first to flip it over in case that the oil drip onto the stove.

(It was nothing about "on the ice", though 😊)

BTW, we did create some food residue on the floor (ice). I think AAC didn't promote LNT (leave no trace) well.

I'm not sure if actually like food residue was fine on the ice, or the ice sheet can handle these. 

In the end when we were decamping, I did found some metal cores or some plastic garbage.

Looks like garbage is just everywhere when human is around. 🤔

But then again, the burger was delicious. It worked well with hot cocoa or coffee, or some Greenlandic "Reva"? black berry juice (diluted).

The track of the second day of Camp Ice Cap / Map: Maps Me. Recording: Forest Pathway

We went hiking on the other side of the camp after breakfast.

We passed by many moulins, ice walls, ice gaps and river with running water. All of these were beautiful!

Hiking on the Greenland ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

But if you accidentally fall in the moulins, then bye bye, because it would probably take months (?) for you to get out.

We also learned to climb upwards and downwards in crampons. It was important to trust the crampons.

And it was very different to climb in crampons comparing to usual hiking. 

My wrong position (moving feet in advance of my body) almost worked on the ice in contrary.

Hiking on the Greenland ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

We stepped on some ice to have fun. It was like cracking a caramel pudding.

We even went "swimming" in the "swimming pool"! 

Well, it was only Ann. She got into the water and even let the water to reach her chest! Ouch! SO COLD!!!

Her colleague took a bet with her about whether Asians (we) could go into the water or not (oh oh .. ).

And that was why I decided to do so! WE CAN NOT LOSE! 

But I didn't swim. The water only reached the middle of my thighs and I just felt so cold on my feet!! 

I almost couldn't stand it when I was changing the swimming suit near the bank!

Still, I took some funny photos and then got out!

The so-called "swimming pool" on the Greenland ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

I think it was the moment I caught some little cold. Later that day when we were back to Polar Lodge, I was so exhausted and passed out immediately.

After the hiking, we decamped the tents and moved things out and back to the boxes.

Ice rings on the Greenland ice sheet / Photo: Yun (Me)

The ice turned into water gradually under the sun at noon. I slipped when I was without crampons. It felt like falling onto cement ground, rougher!

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In the end we pull the pulks (slides) and went back. 

Before leaving the ice sheet, Ann asked us to take a moment to look back the journey. I felt quite happy and touched. 

Lastly we carried the hug black bags back to the road.

Ann and us, Camp Ice Cap / Photo: Kiki

My thumb toe hurt so bad after we got on the bus. I took off my shoes to release the stress and fell asleep.

We were back to the town around 6 in the evening. Ann helped us to check in Polar Lodge. 

The room and space of Polar Lodge was quite small. I don't recommend this hostel.