2004 Trip Report

Iceland Air Ticket Counter - we’re on our way!

Friday - The 2004 Geo-Adventure tour really started in Iceland. We all met up at the international airport (KEF) after flying from various departure points in the USA. We took a bus ride to Reykjavik (domestic airport) for the flight to Greenland. Planes leave every Tues and Fri for Narsarsuak, Greenland. It’s a long wait but gave us the opportunity to get acquainted, make plans, and generally be airport bums.

The flight from BWI to Iceland takes about 6 3/4 hours, with a 7 hour layover at the airport. It is then a 2 hour flight to Greenland, followed by a 2 hour boat ride to Narsaq. Optionally you can take a helicopter (to Narsaq) and take in some wonderful views.

Friday - Arrival in Narsarsuak Greenland.
After an uneventful plane ride we got all our gear and loaded into two boats for the trip to Narsaq. 7 people complete with camping supplies makes for quite a load. (The 2nd boat is not in the picture).

Loading the boats for the trip to Narsaq (Yes - that’s an iceberg up against the boat dock)

This is when everyone gets their first taste of the majestic and vast mountains and fjords.  It’s a 90 minute boat ride to Narsaq, much of it through the very complex we have come to explore.

The weather was exactly as expected - bright, sunny, and warm. Temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s promised a wonderful time camping in the mountains with hours spent exploring at night!

One man tents surrounding a large community tent - Taseq Valley

Saturday - my camera battery died and my spare batteries were in town. I did not get new batteries until Monday or Tuesday, so will have to rely on others to supply pictures for these beautiful sunny days.

The first night we set up camp in the valley between Kvanefjeld and the Taseq Slopes. We then proceeded to explore Taseq East. All came down with full backpacks. Exhausted after two days of travel and a trip up the mountains we retired for the evening - warm and comfy in our tents. Little did we know what was in store.

First day’s haul off Taseq East!

On Saturday we had a free day to roam around the valley area, search for sorensenite, and explore the lower Taseq Slopes. Later in the day we returned to the higher elevations on Taseq Slopes for more serious hunting.

Sunday everyone (save one) ascended Kvanefjeld to the famous tugtupite mines. A couple of people actually went skinny dipping in the lake, while others actually looked for tugtupite (and found it!). Three people stayed atop Kvanefjeld that night for night lamping with outstanding finds.

A major highlight this year was a huge specimen of tugtupite with amazing presentation. This piece came in two pieces, one a which fits perfectly on the larger 20lb+ mother boulder. I hand carried the smaller specimen (pictured to the right) and the larger piece is being shipped back by boat. This specimen is most likely the wrold’s finest (and largest) collector specimen of tugtupite ever recovered from the mines on Kvanefjeld.

View larger pics of this world-class specimen...

River crossing with hip waders

Monday we decided to attack a cloud shrouded Taseq west.  We weren’t sure how long the weather would hold. It had been misting off and on and the river was high, requiring hip waders to cross. The top of Taseq was covered in snow and many of our favorite spots were snow bound. None the less, we made some spectacular finds and all were very happy. I even found a couple of caches I had left up there last year, along with our 20 lb sledge hammer.

The descent was made easier by the snow pack. Several simply hopped on the snow and slid down, rocks in tow. What a site - snow sliding on the 4th of July!

A River Runs Through.... The rain took its toll and several tents were flooded. Note the blue tent (the webmaster’s) - careful damming and canal construction averted a disaster and I slept there for most of the trip (comforted by the gurgling water right next to my head!)

Lee M. cracking rock atop Taseq, the valley shrouded in clouds below. This very spot is where I camped last year. The snow covered the areas I hunted last year so this year we had to find new material - and did so with great success.

We returned to camp late in the day and went to sleep. the next morning we all awoke to a minor disaster. The rain - although only a mist most of the time, had “flooded” our campsite. Several were fortunate enough <sarcasm> that they pitched their tents directly in the path of the drain rivers. Only two tents remained dry enough to be usable, mine and Lee’s. The rest decided that the hotel would be a better place to stay until it stopped raining (it didn’t). My tent barely escaped the torrent, mostly due to some skillful dam building and canal excavation (light blue tent at left).

Tuesday it was decided to make a day trip to a couple of new areas on the Tunulliarfik Fjord. After spending some time at one barren spot we moved up the fjord to “sodalite beach”. Here tremendous boulders of gem quality sodalite can be seen where they have broken off the cliffs above.

One boulder was particularly noticeable. It had a vein of the greenest sodalite I’ve seen. We call it Pea-Green sodalite, some say it is close to grass green, others emerald. Whatever the color - it is bright green. And under UV it glows the BRIGHTEST orange of any sodalite from the complex. 

One piece recovered (right) consisted of a coarse grained boulder with a gemmy green vein running straight through it. I cracked it and miraculously it split right down the middle of the vein. The two halves fit together perfectly, and each was covered with a thick vein of some of the gemmiest (and prettiest) sodalite I’ve seen.

Narsaq from the water located below its mountain landmark - eternally in the fog.
 Ilimaussaq Complex is to the left

(Right) Tugtup agatakorfia - Boat landing, the only way to access this remote area in the Tunuliarfik fjord. The cliffs above contain excellent specimens of gemmey sodalite and ussingite.

.

Wednesday started out as a beautiful day. We decided to hop in the boats and make a foray to Tunuliarfik - Tugtup Aktoforia. After a quick 20 minute boat ride we were there.

The group was off-loaded at the base of the cliffs and immediately starting to explore the original discovery of tugtupite. Located at the base of what appears to be a rockslide in progress, only a faint reminder remains of this wonderful discovery. At Howie’s urging, we left this alone so that others may also enjoy the beautiful mineral “in-situ”.

Tugtupite in-situ at Tugtup agatakorfia - the type locale. The mica mineral is epistolite.

We ascended the cliffs of Tunuliarfik for a day (and night for some) of wonderful collecting. Fantastic specimens of tugtupite/polylithionite and ussingite were among the finds. One member found a cropping of very rare tundrite (non FL). 4 people spent the night on Tunuliarfik - sans tent or sleeping bag (a story I’ll let someone else tell).

Night collecting on the cliffs of Tunuliarfik

Ussingite in-situ on the cliffs of Tunuliarfik

Saturday we moved our tents to Kangerlussaq. The rain had slowed to intermittant drops and the day actually turned out to be quite satisfactory. 

People are often surprised by the vastness of the locales. The picture above was taken from one of the cliffs above Kangerlussaq showing our campsite in the valley (invisible white dots).

View of our Kangerlussaq campsite from the surrounding cliffs

 Kakorkotite layering - one of the famous geological
 features of the ilimaussaq Complex

We night lamped with varying degress of success and spent the next day exploring. At the end of the day I was ready to take Kangerlussaq off the list of places to visit (folks had much better luck at other locales) when Herb Y. made an outstanding discovery. Using his excellent detective skills he located a vein of very unusual (and extremely bright) tugtupite combo pieces. These pieces are filled with a myriad of unknown FL minerals, and may possibly be some of the nicest material from the complex. It was too late in the day on Sunday to start mining it so plans were made to go back and excavate later in the week (after the tour was over). Monday was reserved for packing our finds and preparing for departure early Tuesday am.

Mining
New equipment helped us bust into massive veins and boulders this year. A 1kw generator, hammer drill and blast charges made short work of many veins. Some tremendous material was mined that was not accessible to us before.

 View a movie showing our blaster in operation

 

Food - always the best when you’re exhausted! But combine exhaustion with simply awesome cooking and look at the results!!!!!

We had a couple of relaxing days spent exploring Narsaq and were invited to a couple of dinners. Upon arrival Peter had a complete barbecue of lamb, reindeer, and seal - what a wonderful welcome! In the middle of the week we were invited to a Confirmation party where I ate the absolute best seafood chowder I ever tasted. 

The evening of our departure we dined at the local (bunch of stars) restaurant and were served world class dishes such as fresh crab salad, broiled lamb (a Narsaq standard) and dessert that would any Frenchman to shame. What a follow-up to our MREs!

On the 4th of July Judithe and Yvonne (Peter’s wife and daughter) brought several pies out to the campsite decorated with American flags, and Ulrich (Peter’s son) brought some firecrackers. Their way of making these crazy Americans feel at home - what a wonderful touch! (Thanks Storm for being the official food photographer!)

10 days on intense rock collecting, with 4 night forays resulted in some tremendous finds. The highlights of the trip included some fantastic tugtupite finds on Kvanefjeld, wonderful multi-color specimens from Tunuliarfik, and a vein of entirely new material from Kangerlussaq. Taseq offered up more of the material that was completely sold out at the first show of last year.

In spite of lousy weather (by Greenland standards) everyone expressed their delight with the tour, and all went home significantly overweight (luggage), and with more rocks coming by slow boat. Speaking of weight - I lost 15 lbs, and I understand others also experienced some significant weight drops! We’re thinking of marketing the tours as a “Weight Reduction Program”.

Friendships

One seldom has the opportunity to spend 10 days in the remote wilderness with such a diverse group of individuals, each gifted with the ability to recognize rare minerals, and all gifted with a wonderful sense of humor and patience. It was a safe, fun filled trip - and I hope all will consider a return. It seems that friendships forged in the mountains of Greenland are among those that will be long remembered.

Until 2005.....

Wrap up

A couple of days were rained out - but provided a much needed break for many. Rock collecting in Greenland is not for the timid, and many were simply exhausted. But even those days provided some great fun. Some went collecting in the river beds for glacial boulders from the complex. One night we were invited to a Confirmation Dinner with about 70 guests, and some of the best food I’ve had. The museums and rockshop were kept busy with visitors, and folks generally got a chance to recuperate on these off days.

Tuesday morning after a day of packing on Monday (rocks and gear) we loaded up the boats for the return trip to the airport at Narsarsuak. Streams were everywhere draining the hard mountain ground from 7 days of rain/mist - a wonderful chance for pictures. Of course, the sun was breaking out and it looked like the typical sunny Greenland summertime weather had returned. Peter confirmed this - after we left it was nothing but blue skies and warm weather <sigh>.

Blue icebergs - massive and beautiful

Icebergs dumping into one of the fjords by Narsarsuak on our departure