Activities - by Locale

We cannot provide a detailed daily plan of activities as the day is not planned until the night before! Greenland is a beautiful land, but rugged and unpredictable. The weather rules, and our plans revolve around the weather. Many of the locales we will visit are accessible only by boat and we must take advantage of the calm windless days to do our boat travel. Other areas will be reached by hiking and will be explored on those days that it is too windy to travel by boat.

Locale

Description

Travel by

Kvanefjeld

Travel by 4-wheel drive up an old mine access road followed by a hike up about 250m to the old uranium mine. Climb a relatively steep trail 200m to the top of Kvanefjeld (altitude 700m). Spend a least a day prospecting the tugtupite mines for tugtupite, chkalovite, sorensenite, and other varieties. Camping atop Kvanfjeld a pleasure for those that wish to. Swim in the glacier fed lake (warm by Greenland standards).

Taseq East

Travel by 4-wheel drive up an old mine access road, ford a river (using hip waders) - or optionally cross a footbridge much further away, then hike up a gentle slope to the 500m level. Find yellow sodalite, tugtupite, ussingite, and many others. Camping recommended if desired. Some may want to return to this spot several times as it is quite productive and easy to reach. Numerous finds of tugtupite crystals have been made in this area.

Taseq West

Same access as Taseq East but opposite direction once the stream has been crossed. Perhaps one of the most productive areas in the complex, but also the furthest hike (1.7km from the bridge). Prospect around the snow patches, camp if desired - fantastic combination pieces from this area, heavy in beryllium minerals. If you have any intention to camp out, this is the area you should focus on. If not for the rocks you will find, simply for the uninterrupted solitude and beauty of this area. 

Tunuliarfik

Travel by boat to the base of the cliffs along the Tunuliarfik Fjord. There will be several landings at different areas - “Sodalite Beach”, the “Cliffs” where mind-boggling ussingite specimens are found, and of course homage to Tugtup Akatoforia - the type locale for tugtupite. Camping is nice here, but a little rugged. Access is a rather steep climb from the water up the sloping cliffs. (A 20 - 30 minute boat ride from Narsaq). The cliffs offer an awesome view of the icebergs slowly making their way down the fjord, against the deep blue waters.

Kangerlussaq

Travel by boat to the end of the Kangerlussaq Fjord, landing at a “beach” with easy access to a flat sloping plain. Easy place to spend a day searching for beautiful tugtupite/polylithionite pieces as well as fantastic specimens of eudialyte, arfvedsonite, and other rare minerals. Hours can be spent exploring the flat areas, or poking around the nearby cliffs and tallus slopes.  A one hour boat ride form Narsaq.