Page 48 - 2019 AMA Winter

MISCARTICLE
WAKE UP MATE,
YOU’RE ON STAG
Also by Duncan Francis
An account of an expedition to the East Coast of Greenland. As yet still unpurchased by Donald Trump.
And with no golf courses.
The tent zip opened slightly to reveal Al’s unshaven yet grinning visage. “Wake up Mate, you’re on stag” he whispered, before disappearing again. Outside, it was still daylight, even though it was also the middle of the night.
None of this would have made any sense on a normal AT exped, but this one was a bit different. We were on the East Coast of Greenland, just below the Arctic Circle. With Summer coming to an end, the sun was actually disappearing for a few hours each night, but it was just below the horizon, so the daylight remained. Apart from the small settlements of Kulusuk and Tasiilak, two hours by boat to the South, there was no habitation for over 800km in any direction. None. Just nobody. Zip.
But there were Polar Bears. At least, there COULD be Polar Bears, and we didn’t want that; a hungry Polar Bear would be more than capable of pulling a man from his tent and eating him. Hence we had rifles, and a stag roster at night. Hence me being called at 0200hrs.
The interesting thing was that none of us minded. The scenery was just so jaw-droppingly stunning, the weather so wonderful, the silence and peace so over-whelming, apart from the occasional roar of a serac dropping into the sea, that it was actually a pleasure to be out there alone, watching the icebergs drifting down the sound, listening to the drag of the surf on the beach and waiting to see if our friend, the Arctic Fox, would come along while you were on and take a piece of salami or a biscuit from you.
It had all been Bruce’s idea. To be honest, I was never really sure it was going
to come off until I was on a
plane heading for Iceland. It
all seemed vaguely unlikely. I mean, who takes a unit AT trip to East Greenland? And not only that, we were meant to be running an AMF course; from a camp on the beach! But here we were. And East Greenland isn’t like anywhere else. The mountains around us weren’t that high; mostly not more than about 2000m at most; but they were glaciated. And there was a load of snow. And seracs, and icefalls, and moraines, and Alpine ridges, and big walls. And many of the glaciers, like the Karale up to our West,
Showing how remote East Greenland is. We were on the only map on over 1000km of coastline
Struli on an unclimbed peak while doing AMF...
Flying the flag on another first ascent
48 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER