Summit Station

For those of you who haven't yet cracked open an Atlas to take a closer look at Greenland, let me help you out. The bits of land you see to the left of the island are northern Canada, and that little bit of land poking into the frame on the lower right is Iceland. The vast majority of Greenland lies above the Arctic Circle and its native people are Inuit. Though in a lot of respects Greenland acts as an independent country and would (as I understand it) prefer to be so, it is technically a department of Denmark, which is why you won't find it on a list of the countries of the world. Kangerlussuaq, the town I first flew into, is labeled on this map, about 1/4 of the way up the west coast of the island. And Summit Station, where I am now working until late June, is located at the red dot marked just above the L in the word Greenland.

We flew from Kanger to Summit South-Pole-style, in an LC-130 (Herc) piloted by the Air National Guard.

It was fun to be in one of these super-uncomfortable cargo planes again for the first time since I last left Pole, 2.5 years ago. Part of the cargo on our ride were two new snowmobiles for Summit--very exciting.

It wasn't too long into the flight when we said goodbye to the thawing coast and headed out over the ice sheet, no dirt to be seen again until we descend back to Kanger in June.

And after a quick, two-hour trip, we arrived. Summit is at 72-degrees latitude--definitely the furthest north I've been on the planet. Pictured here is the main building of the station, dubbed "The Big House."

The landscape looks pretty much exactly like it does at South Pole. Flat. White. Endless. :)

So that's where we are, now! You can read a lot more about the camp at this website. And I'll start telling more about various aspects of life here in coming posts. Till then!