Avanarsuasua, Exploration. Our exploration of extreme north Greenland continued in July. Our interests were once again broadly based. Dr. Ko deKorte and Peter Baldwin completed their study of the region’s bird populations. Dr. Lawrence Hacquebord observed for archeological sites (discounting the Skafte site for the 1998 expedition). Our major mountaineering objective was the twin-peaked summit (1300-1400m) above the polar trunk glacier at the bend of the Ulvehojene Valley. Dr. Miki Rifkin, Cindy Liebeck, Dr. Frank Landsberger, Jerry Weidler, Chuck Stielau and Vic Bradford and I circumnavigated the three-kilometer terminal face of the glacier to its west side and five of us proceeded up the north face to a partially ice- free plateau at 1100 meters. Vic Bradford and I climbed further west, unroped up the exposed ridge, traversing class IV rock steps and pinnacles and steep ice to the north summit. The higher (south) summit required body belays on its final exposed pinnacle. We returned to our Advance Base Camp after 22 hours of climbing. The week to follow brought us to what we determined to be one of the two most northerly lakes in the world, which lies above a coastal canyon ten kilometers west of Kap Jesup. It is unmapped. From this lake, Vic Bradford and Chuck Sielau climbed to Hammaken Point and Ikiorti, the world’s most northerly summits, by new routes on the north side.

Concerning the Skafte site (see 1999 AAJ, pp. 288-289), arctic small-tool culture sites are already proven to exist in Independence Fjord. Eigel Knut’s discoveries include the north side of Frederick Hyde Fjord. The Skafte site, if valid, would only prove a migration route around the north coast.

Dennis Schmitt