Receiving BMC and Alpine Club expedition awards, Chris Larvin, Jonny Phillips, Rob Porter and Dominic Southgate, forming the Imperial College East Greenland Expedition, made several ascents in a previously unvisited area of North West Ren Land.
The team flew via Iceland to Constable Pynt (Nerlerit Inaat) on Greenland's East Coast, where they hoped to collect food and equipment previously freighted by sea via Copenhagen.
After much investigation, they discovered the gear had not yet left Demark: the carrier quickly admitted fault and agreed to air freight it. However, it would be another week before the valuable equipment arrived.
In the meantime, having been donated a week's food by two Norwegian girls, who were just leaving the area, they rented two tents and trekked to Lillefjord in Liverpool Land, where they climbed Trefoden (1,100m), as well as seeing musk ox and arctic hare.
When the equipment finally arrived, they chartered a boat for a 250km journey up Scoresby Sund, the longest and one of the deepest fjord systems in the World. A base camp was established just 30 minutes from the shore in North West Ren Land.
Ren Land is part of the East Coast mainland, though separated from it by a deep valley. It has relatively little climbing history and huge scope for technical first ascents, notably on large rock walls and spires.
The potential for first ascents at all standards became well-known after a 2007 invasion by 50 West Lancashire County Scouts, who operated from the Edward Bailey Glacier in the south east, and had a whale of a time making first ascents of 32 individual peaks in largely glorious weather.
The Imperial College quartet climbed three main peaks and reached a subsidiary summit of a fourth.
Although difficulties were, in general, not high (snow and ice to PD and rock to V Diff, though reaching the subsidiary summit involved a pitch of Scottish 4), the routes were very long, often requiring two days and elevation gains up to c1,600m.
The weather was mostly fine throughout their stay, though a drop in snow level after a bad spell forced a retreat from a fifth objective short of the summit ridge. Members also carried out geological and flora studies.
A final highlight on the return was seeing a polar bear at Constable Pynt airport, albeit through binoculars at a suitably safe distance. Having been obliged to carry a rifle throughout the expedition (Ren Land is within the National Park), they were glad not to have the need to use it.
The photo shows Pt 1,636m from the east. The line taken on the first ascent climbed the large rightward diagonal weakness from the glacier (800m), dropped down to the base of the obvious, rounded, rocky ridge slanting up left, and then climbed the right flank of this ridge for 900m to hit the left end of the summit plateau.
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