Greenland - 2026

The journey home went smoothly. Slight delay leaving Kanger, but we have a C-130 (only wheels, no landing on snow), so we could go all the way in on go. A short 6 1/2 hours later we were landing at the Air National Guard base in Scotia, NY (it helped that I slept a of the way).  quick customs check and then an Uber from the gates to the airport and I have in a car driving home. The drive was easy, but long. It took 5 1/2 hours driving time, but I made it home. Me and 27 of my closest friends. Lots of cargo, so a bit of a tight squeeze.

The bags have been taken, we get our passports scanned tonight and we should be flying back to New York tomorrow. Today we hiked up to Black Ridge and Tecan to look out over the wonder that is Kanger. The walk is great - not too much uphill, but you get wonderful views down the fjord and of the ice sheet. We even saw a few Cariboo and a Muskox. Tonight we are planning to go to the fancy restaurant up at Lake Ferguson (the RoKlub), but the immigration people want to scan our passports late, so we might be forced to miss it. Unclear what time we fly tomorrow, but maybe around 9 am. It is about 6 hours back to the USA - longer if we need to make a fuel stop in Goose Bay. The a hire car to get me home. Cariboo Kanger from Black Ridge

The surroundings of Kanger are beautiful. Delia and I decided to hike in the afternoon up the ridge behind the airport. The trails kept ending abruptly and there were lakes that were definitely not on the map, but it was a beautiful walk. Dinner again at the airport and then hanging around KISS (Kangerlussauq International Science Support) playing table football. Just killing time. I did get to see an LC130 come into land at the end of the hike though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sbf280JA-o

The plane came and we are now safely in Kanger. Yesterday I enjoyed a couple of beers and a pulled Muskox burger (tastes a bit like lamb). There was also some late night football. I think today we will do one of the hikes that goes above the town and then tomorrow will be a relaxed day with bag drag in the afternoon. Kanger is very much like I remember it. Lots more military in town that before, but they mostly keep to themselves. It is nice to breath easily again and to see water that isn't frozen. My ride out of here Me, Combs, Kunz, Eric, and Olivia Me, Pat, and Dana Kanger Evening beers outside KISS

After a 5 hour mechanical delay, a plane is on the way. Two planes were supposed to come up, but the first (designated for the passengers) had a maintenance issue that has involved removed a propeller. They change the cargo and now the other plane is coming to get all 24 of us (fingers crossed - it is wise not to tempt fate up here). 41 days up here this time. It has been a lot. It has been hard, fun, exhausting, and a one of a kind experience in equal measure. I will reflect more once I am home, but for now I am happy to leave and head back to sea level.

Today we ran. The running of the MuskOx - I considered walking, but instead decided to go for a nice slow pace up and down the ski-way (well, to halfway). I wasn't last of those who ran (a reasonable 42 minutes which I thought was good considering the altitude). It was fun - torture, but fun. I am going to ache tomorrow and my lungs still feel a little strange, but that seems to be common among all who ran. Then we did bag drag. This is a fun tradition that makes the life of the cargo team easier. Because so many of us are scheduled to leave tomorrow (25) and most people have two bags, cargo asks us to pack in advance so that can stick the bags to a pallet. Then we just keep out carry-on. Carry-on is itself a strange concept as we sit in the same compartment as all of the cargo, but I just work here........ Chill day for the most part. Fingers crossed for the weather. The RNO-G team saying farewell to the Europeans and Eric The start of the run. You can tell because I am close to p...

And just like that we are packed and ready to go. The Europeans left on an LC-130 yesterday as there is only one flight a week to Copenhagen, so they wanted two chances to get off the ice sheet. We fly tomorrow. That means we need to pack out bags so that they can be put on a pallet later today. Also today is the great tradition of the running of the MuskOx . A "race" that is held in Kanger and up at Summit to raise money for Kangerlussuaq's Qinnguata Atuarfia school. The plan is to run half way along the ski-way and back again. I say run - I may walk. You even get a T-shirt. So, a quiet day today and hopefully we get down to sea level tomorrow. Then two days in Kanger before heading back to the USA. Sunday's - the chefs have the day off so I have to make my own food..........sigh. The LC-130 with the Pisten Bully being loaded into the back Sunset A packed drill rig with a Pat in a Cat (while wearing a hat) moving some crates to the berm for winter storage. The wooden...

Things are in crates, crates are on pallets or on the drill sled, rifles are with cargo, stuff to be sent back to the USA has been moved. It's a lot. It is amazing how much you can spread out when you spend 6 weeks almost completely isolated into a Pisten Bully and a drill rig, but we have tracked most of it down. It was a day of Delia trawling through crates making sure we can find everything and me wondering if I was strong enough to move a box. Fortunately, Bill came to the rescue once again. With true precision, the crates have been stacked ready to be put on the berm over winter and the drill sled is packed to the rafters. The European science team members are hoping to get back to Kanger tomorrow, but the LC-130s are in odd places due to a medical emergency in Kanger. It should be OK, but who knows when it come to the Air National Guard. Another beautiful morning Getting there with the packing

Fog everywhere this morning. Could barely see anything and it was cold. But we must pack and so pack we will. We got a lot done. Removed things, put them in crates, got some good natured abuse from Bill (one of the heavy machine operators I met in 2024). We even managed to service the generator right at the end of the day. Deadline is Saturday, so one real day of packing to go for things that we want to make the plane. The weather in the afternoon was lovely. Cold, but sunny and clear. Only one plane (the other decided to go to another site called Raven), but we had steak for dinner (and a spectacular peach cobbler), played some hacky-sac outside, and then I had a shower. Not a bad day at all (and Nat's birthday - one of the graduate students from University of Chicago). Delia hammering those pesky pins Toni on a water run - all of our water comes from melting snow We are at max population, but it still feel pretty quiet at night

Delia and her fancy camera this composite of the eclipse  The moon and the sun did their thing and we celebrated by drinking whiskey on top of the S'Mobile (the carpenter shop) to celebrate Eric's birthday and watch the sun almost vanish. It was a great vibe and a lot of fun. Party on the S'Mobile We also continued packing. The drill has been disassembled and put into boxes, most things have been sorted into what gets kept here and put onto the berm, what needs to go into the mechanics shop so that is doesn't freeze, and what needs to be sent home. We are getting close. Herc Sun with a rainbow Mostly assembled drill rig Pat driving a track loader to help us move our winch to a crate

Today was the big day in breaking the drill apart. In the morning Delia has to rescue some personal effects from the outhouse (some glasses - they were in a case), so I kept myself busy unwiring the electronics (lots of cables, wrapping ropes onto winches, removing batteries - all the methodical, but not too tricky stuff). It's nice to see things get cleared away. We also removed the control boxes and put them in their crates ready to be shipped. They came the afternoon (after beef tacos for lunch). Separating the barrel, auger, motor, and anti-torque. This is always impossible as the fit between the components is really tight and the grease only lasts so long. So we borrowed some massive crowbars from the carpenters and put our weight into it. Delia is strong, but I am double her weight so just have a naturally better lifting capacity. This was called upon many times to help shore up our operation. It took all afternoon, but 5 hours later the drill was in separate pieces. That...

Packing began in earnest - well, Delia learnt how to drive an Arctic Truck and I shoveled snow of the rig, but packing!!! We needed to measure some things, so we needed to raise the tower. Simple, we have done it a million times, but when we tried to lower it, it just sat on its hinges. No tent weight to pull it down. We tried a few things to get the tower going, but they all felt a little sketchy, so we re-pinned the tower and Delia climbed to hang a pulley. We managed to get it down. Note to self - tie the pulley on before pulling up the tower. We then put the drill disassembly table under the drill. Lots of trying to figure out how it works, but the drill is now fully supported and ready to be separated. We also took the winch wire off the drill tower and spooled it ready for shipping and organized our retro crate (things we are shipping back to Madison). The stuck tower used up most of our day, but such is life. Two planes attempted to land. The first one started running out of fue...

A slower start today, especially after the festivities for Mackie's birthday (one of our field coordinators). We decided that the wind was low enough that we may as well take the tent off the drill. Lots of screws and fabric later, and the drill was left naked. A big thanks to David (an Arctic truck instructor) and the science team for helping us get it folded. David also taught us some fun tricks for rolling ratchet straps for storage. A good day in the sunshine. Nice and warm, and we have made a good start on the packing. It is Sunday, so the Summit crew have the day off and they are spending it skiing the ski-way. The un-tented drill parked next to the Mobile Science Facility (MSF)

Well, that didn't go as planned. We left station at 6 am with grand plans to finish out final hole (hole 10 of the season). It had been de0iced and left out of the hole for the storm (that wasn't actually that bad), so we put the drill in the hole and started cutting. Nice long cuts - drill was very happy. Then it got stuck. On the way up from 40 meters, it hit the wall of the hole at 21 m and just stopped moving. Cue Delia to take control and use every trick available to ease the drill from the hole. Panic over, we took a breather and discussed options. I was in favor of counting our losses and calling it done, but the boss said we should continue. The drill didn't get stuck again, but we did experiment with shoes. Interestingly, everything we tried made the drill behave worse - even going back to the original setup. We were at 80 m, with the drill taking painfully small cuts we the drill came out of the hole making a terrible grinding sound. Some inspection showed that th...