Day 3 - May 8 2006

Street outside the KISS hotel


This morning we ate at the Polar Bear Inn. It was the only restaurant available for breakfast in Kangerlussuaq, and the meal was served buffet style. After breakfast we finished preparing pallets with provisions sufficient to last for the two-month scheduled duration of the field camp at Flade Isblink and then went back to the hotel to get our gear and check out. At mid-morning we once again assembled and drove to the airstrip to begin the next leg of our trip up the coast to Thule. The plane ride lasted two and a half hours and we arrived at Thule in the early afternoon. After deplaning and collecting our personal gear, we were driven to our accommodations at the North Star Inn.




Thule Air Base is a unique blend of approximately 750 US, Greenland and Danish personnel, although at its peak activity in the 1960's it housed nearly 10,000 people. Home of the US 21st Space Wing's global network of sensors, Thule Air Base provides missile early warning and space command to the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command. Situated 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle and less than 800 miles from the North Pole, Thule is the northernmost deep water port in the world. It is located in a coastal valley and is built on a broad, generally flat glacial floor between two ridges. The valley slopes gently upward to the east southeast about 10 miles before meeting the Great Land Glacier, a tongue of the ice cap. Both US dollars and Danish kroners are accepted there.


Discussing preparations in Kangerlussuaq (left to right: Simon Sheldon, JP Steffensen, Lars Berg Larson, Steffen Bo Hansen, Bruce Vaughn)



Discussing preparations in Kangerlussuaq (left to right: Simon Sheldon, JP Steffensen, Lars Berg Larson, Steffen Bo Hansen, Bruce Vaughn)



Arrival at Thule Air Base (left to right: Simon, Dennis, Steffan, Sverrir)