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"Alone", but employed, in Greenland?
I'll be slowly posting pictures here as I find time/energy.
East Coast of Labrador (maybe Quebec?): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 West Coast of Greenland: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Eclipse maximum, viewed through welding glass taped to my lens hood: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 This was my setup. The eagle-eyed among you may spy a canister of bear spray. Polar bear tracks were spotted not too far away not too long ago, so we are required to carry bear spray and a satellite phone (though I get cell reception just fine...) with us on our solo quarantine walks (which can only be to Lake Ferguson). https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Eclipse maximum, over Lake Ferguson, viewed through welding glass clumsily held in front of my crappy cell phone phone camera (other people with fancier phones couldn't get this shot because their phones were trying to too much magic): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Ok, none of those were urban. That comes next. For now, here is Kangerlussaq from a wide angle from the hill near Lake Ferguson. .Kangerlussuaq, (formerly Sondre Stromfjord), home of Greenland's main international airport (only civilian airport with a long runway, though it's former US military and still is the training site of the 109th ANG, who fly the LC-130's with skis that the US on-ice Antarctic and Arctic bases rely on). https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 It's a small town, but with solo walks as our only allowed activity, I've already taken far too many pictures of buildings. Many of these, along with commentary, to come later, in the unspecified future. |
Looks nice! How's the weather out there?
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It's pretty perfect light jacket weather (40s-50s). Roughly halfway between where I was doing my first stage quarantine (suburban Albany, which was insufferably hot with high humidity and temperatures in 80s-90s F) and my final destination at the apex of the ice sheet (which seems to currently be hovering between -10-10 F). They told us that mosquito season had begun, which in my recollection from 6 years ago was brutal, but it did not seem TOO bad. Continuing, in addition to mosquitos and polar bears, local hazards include quicksand: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Turgid rivers from spring snowmelt: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 (Though based on the bridge design it can get much worse) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 and missing your bus: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 (the barebones schedule, though not bad for a community of 500) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Oppressive buildings are also a dire threat to health: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 as are strange fusion restaurants: (not allowed to go to this restaurant during our quarantine, but 6 years ago I had some passable musk ox pizza and thai food from this place): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 But, a telephoto lens can find some quaintness as well: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 |
Nice!
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Greenland! Is this a SSP photo first? Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.
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how interesting.
i take you went there for more than just a partial eclipse?? did you see any polar bears or whales? |
Cool pics!
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That is so bad ass! Please keep sharing more pics if you get the time and energy!
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This is a work trip (it's not clear to me that it's possible to visit Greenland as a tourist at the moment anyway). I'm quarantining in Kangerlussuaq for another 2 days, then flying onto the ice for 5 weeks to deploy an experiment. While there are flights from Copenhagen (and then to the myriad small villages of Greenland), I came on a C-130 from Scotia NY, after quarantining in a hotel in a mall for far too long. If you've never been on one, a C-130 definitely has both advantages (more room to walk around) and disadvantages (no food service, crappy bathroom with a curtain, few windows, have to wear ear plugs) compared to a commercial flight: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Here is the toilet (there's also a urinal in the front with a curtain, although that was out of service this flight..). Conveniently placed next to the pallet of our checked bags (fortunately with a plastic cover...). https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 I will be traveling in one of these skiers (aka LC-130, or C-130s with skis). They were doing some sort of test flights (I think changing propellers, based on the skiers with missing propellers I saw when I landed). These are the very same skiers that we take to get to the South Pole (or from CHC to MCM when only Willy Field is open). They are extremely old and always have mechanical trouble. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 As for polar bears and wolves, Polar bears were spotted about 10 miles away a little while ago, but fortunately I have not seen one. We are required to carry bear spray and sat phones on our solo walks. Since they're solo walks, the bear spray is not super useful except as flavoring for the polar bear. Evidently, the best way to use bear spray against a polar bear is to spray your companion. Arctic wolves I think don't live in this part of Greenland. Instead, I present you a picture of the Polar Bear Inn https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 However, I am not completely devoid of large land mammals. I saw a caribou today! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 I kept scanning the hills with my telephoto for musk ox (which are delicious, by the way). But did not see any. I was told that about a week ago there was a herd here (and hey, there's even a sign!) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Well I didn't see any... live musk ox. This guy did drive by at some point... I've heard of a car having an aux port, but not a musk ox port. :runaway: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Does anybody know what this facility might be? Can't tell if it's live or not. Might bring my SDR up tomorrow, though I suspect it might be way out of range if it's live. I'm not sure if it's some cold war relic or some sort of point to point communication system with Sisimut or something. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 And here's a faraway shot of what I assume is the Kangerlussuaq Church: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 |
No door at the bus stop in case of bears?
And I'm disheartened to hear that even Greenland has mosquitos. I was hoping there was some place I could get away from them. :( Very cool photos. It's pretty epic seeing a solar eclipse in Greenland, though, I guess for some of the people there they've seen more than one of them. |
And today, I spotted a musk ox (ummimak)!
(cropped from full telephoto zoom... also took a video but super shaky since hand held). https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 |
this is a very unique opportunity for us to see and hear about greenland — wow thanks & keep’em coming.
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Such a neat thread; keep it going!
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nice thread.
you didnt mention here at least the amount of daylight. Whats it like seeing a midnight sun? https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/greenland/kangerlussuaq |
Great thread! I always pictured Greenland having glaciers everywhere. Are they further from the coast?
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It's close enough to the Solstice that I won't be seeing any darkness until I get back to Chicago on July 22. |
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Found more Musk Ox today! Way up on the hill, but telephoto lens for the win.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 We had our COVID tests today, for which we went to their test facility and got a chance to see a few new sights around town: The Museum (which I've never been to): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 The pitch (with Air Greenland hangar in the background) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 3 skiers, apparently all in working condition! One will fly us to the ice tomorrow. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Enhanced: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 "Traffic" https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Those trailers say Royal Arctic Line. I spotted the vessel a few days ago: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 In the foreground, is the town dump. More of it here: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 A zoom in of the "downtown" (where we're currently not allowed). That big building is the Kangerlussuaq Hotel, an actual hotel with a restaurantand stuff. There's also a souvenir store there, and when I was here 6 years ago outdoor vendors from whom you could buy whale meat (I did not dare). The terminal is also there. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 This place on the lake has seen better days. Maybe used to be a bar? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0 Alright, tomorrow I should be on the ice, where I will quickly run out of things to photograph, but we'll see! |
Very interesting photos!
I assume the cars there are all Euro-spec? However I do see what looks like a Ford van with its lights on, and it looks like it has the amber parking lamps that double as turn signals, which are allowed in the US and Canada, but not allowed on Euro-spec cars---which require white only parking lamps... |
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