Exploration HistoryThe World’s largest island is also one of the least explored areas in the World – a vast and remote wilderness still offering a sense of adventure seldom experienced on the Earth today. The earliest expeditions in Greenland took place in the 19th century, primarily science based but with increasing interest from the mountaineering community. The first recorded crossing of Greenland was achieved by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen in 1888. In 1921, Knud Rasmussen traveled from Greenland to Barrow, Alaska, retracing the early routes of the Inuit and became one of the most celebrates explorers amongst Greenlanders. The highest mountain in Greenland, Gunnbjorns Fjeld (3693m), was first climbed by Wager and Courtauld's Anglo-Danish party of 1935. The Watkins Mountains, of which it is part of, contains the 10 highest mountains in the entire Arctic.
Greenland crossings - east-west or west-east - have increased in recent years but vertical crossings are still very rare. In 1978 Japanese explorer Naomi Uemura solo dog-sledded a north-south crossing from Cape Morris Jesup, the northern tip of Greenland, to Narsarsuaq on the south coast with air resupplies. In 1992 Norwegian explorers Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen parachuted onto the southern tip of the icecap and paddled a kayak to within a day of Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland - heavy pack-ice preventing their actual reaching of the point. They arrived at Cape Morris Jesup after 86 days and 2928 km, the then longest unsupported ski trek in history and the only unsupported full south to north crossing of the country to date. |
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