South Greenland, Ice Cap first ascents. Scottish mountaineers, Douglas Campbell and Malcolm Thorburn, had visited the ice cap northeast of Narssarssuaq in 1997 and 1999. In order to save the additional costs and hassle of bringing pulks into the region for subsequent expeditions, the pair has stashed them securely on the edge of the ice cap at the end of each trip. In the summer of 2003 the pair was again flown to this site by helicopter and after checking that the equipment was in full working order after four years in the elements, they set out on a 150km journey. They had an initial ambitious plan to reach four previously unvisited areas, with potential for up to 15 first ascents of previously unclimbed peaks up to 2,820m. However, last year the generally good weather that they had experienced on previous trips was missing and they were faced with difficult skiing conditions, rendering distances of no more than three to five km to be traveled each day. At one stage they were forced to sit out bad weather in their tent for six days. This meant that they were unable to reach their intended objectives, but they still managed to make ascents of five peaks on their committing journey, three of these being previously unclimbed. Peaks in this region are generally of the non-technical nunatak variety but well over 2,000m in altitude.

Lindsay Griffin, High Mountain INFO