Sujumut - 01.08.1937, Blaðsíða 2

47
S U J U M U T
ukiut 4*at Nr. 8
visit to Chief Fr. Høegh, during which a
helpful fjord wind sprang up, sailed on to
the foot of our mountain. Here in a sheltered
cove near the mouth of a small river the
huge Lynge family tent was speedily erected.
After eating we started to climb, accompanied
for awhile by three others. First we went
through tall willow serub which continued
in fair luxuriance to nearly 200 metres. Here
a plateau was reached with two lakes. The
vegetation on this plateau was heethy, with
small hillocks and large patches of thick
„moss“ which would make it a good winter
feeding ground for reindeer. Then another
climb of 350 metres up steep pasture, brought
us to a less hospitable region from which the
others returned, carrying a letter for the Ma*
nager ot Sletten with directions of how he
could join us the next day.
Hans Lynge and I continued over perennial
patches of snow and up rough rocky slopes
to 950 metres, at which altitude we pealised
that we would have to give up our first
provisional plan of going around behind the
nearest peak and over to the second, the
highest of all, by an easy southeasterly slope
which we had seen from the sea, For we
were now confronted by a steeply sloping
glacier about a kilometre*and*a*ha!f long,
with, beyond, a perpendicular wall of rock
some 200 metres high. For the former an
ice axe and for the latter a rope would be
essential, and we had neither. Hence we
were forced, reluctantly, to retreat to 800
metres, where after a meal of fine Greenland
reeper, canned by the Manager of Sletten,
we camped for the night. The weather was
perfeet and, there being scarcely a breath of
wind and very little frost, we slept between
rocks on pockets of moss without bothering
to erect our tent.
Being possesed, like almost all Greenlanders,
of both agility and stamina, Hans Lynge was
proving a very worthy mountaineer as well
as an excellent companion, so the next
morning being fine we decided to try another
route up the mountain. First we climbed
to a small peak at 1000 metres and there
left our packs. We were all the time in
brilliant sunshine but below a thick fog filled
the fjord, so we did not think the Manager
of Sletten could come. However after a time
the fog cleared a little and we saw him
climbing with another man, still far below
and at least two kilometres away. We made
a fire of moss and ling and hoped they
would see the smoke; but then the cloud
enveloped them again and, when at 12. 30
they had not reappéared, we continued on
our way as there did not seem to be any
chance they could join us now.
We had first to descend a little to cross a
ravine, and there I obtained two examples
af Antennaria compacta, a very rare plant
never before found in Greenland. Nearby
grew Potentilla nivea andDraba glabeU
la, neither of which have previously been
recorded from Southwest Greenland, besides
many other plants that seemed to be absent
from the lowland; so already I was well satis*
fied with my work!
The vegetation meanwhile became poorer
and poorer as we climbed higher. At 1000
metres although most areas were of glacier
or barren rock there were still some thick
patches of moss and even ling to be found
in favourable situations, and a few reeper
and snow'buntings. At 1200 metres these
had almost disappeared and we did not see
any ling or birds above 1300 metres — only
a large humble bee which buzzed overhead,
Crossing from one fjord to another over the
sharp ridge of rock on which we were
resting, and which feil away precipitously
for hundreds of metres on either side. Here
at 1300 metres the vegetation, in conformity
with the dimate, was of highmrctic type,
like that of Spitsbergen and Ellesmere,
consisting chiefly of mosses and lichens,
with occasional grass or sedge plants in the
small pockets of soil between the rocks,
and such „flowers" as Oxyria digyna,
Saxifraga caespitosa and Cardamine
bellidifolia. We continued up steep and
often difficult slopes of boulders and faces of
rock to about 1400 metres (4600 feet) rising
straight from the sea, on the northwest side of
the chief peak of AkuliaruserssuaK, to a point
at which it would have been unnecessarily
risky to proceed iwthout a rope and so, as
it was already getting late, retraced our steps.
In the evening, while Lynge examined some
interesting rocks and made some drawings
around the camp which we made where we
had left our packs, I climbed the small
mountain behind, which is known by the