Greenland: Qutdleq And The Old Loran Station

When we had anchored at Skoldungen, we thought we would be clever and run the stern line back to the boat so we wouldn't have to fetch it with the dinghy when we left. However, our 200ft of stern line did not want to run freely around the rusty metal post. Instead of giving up and putting the dinghy back in the water to retrieve the line, we shortened our anchor chain and put Snow Dragon in slow forward to put enough force on the line to slide it around the post. Eventually we managed to pull all 200ft of line back on board without the dinghy.

On our way out of the sound, we past Sea Explorer, a small cruise ship headed for Skoldungen. Seeing the numerous passengers on deck waving and photographing us, made us realize how special it was to have had the sound to ourselves for 4 days. We exchanged ice information with Sea Explorer. At first they told us that it was open water to the south but then said it was 1/10-2/10 ice.

There were still enough icebergs around that we had to change our course frequently and opted to slow our speed down that night. We had thought about stopping at Timmiarmiut (Uvtorsiutit Island), but didn't make it near the island until it was too dark to safely get into the marginally charted anchorage at the former radio station. We were still close enough to the island at sunrise to change our mind and stop but decided to use the good sailing winds to push on to Qutdleq.

We were more than ready for a full nights sleep by the time we reached Qutdleq. An iceberg appeared to be sitting in the official anchor spot and it took a bit of time to find anchoring depth that wasn't too deep and gave the iceberg room. Initially Snow Dragon's anchor did not want to set in the rocky bottom and it took 45 minutes of setting it in different directions before it took hold. Though the iceberg didn't appear to be moving from its corner of the anchorage, Snow Dragon was favoring hanging towards it. This time, we had to run night checks to make sure Snow Dragon was not harassing the iceberg.

In the morning, we went to shore to have a look at the old Loran station. Krystina had thought about wearing trail shoes instead of hiking boots but Frances thought we would be walking on gravel and snow. To our surprise, there was a proper asphalt road all the way to the Loran station 3 ½ miles away. Our hiking boots were overkill and Krystina thought about coming back to shore the following morning for a run in normal running shoes. Frances kindly offered to be her armed escort so she wouldn't have to figure out how to run with the rifle.

The road wound its way up to the top of bubbly granite island before making its way down to the Loran station on the east side. It was a warm summer day but thankfully there was enough wind to keep the mosquitoes from chewing on us. From the top of the island there were stunning views of the icecap, complex mountains and icebergs.

We were surprised by the fact that the station was closed in 1977 when Loran navigation was still widely used. From the extensive infrastructure and number of large buildings it looked as if the site was used for more than just a loran station. We planned on sending an email to our friend Jens who knows the area, asking about the station's history. Before we got the chance, Jens had already sent an email summarizing its history. He had seen our tweet that we were checking out the Loran station and knew we would be curious. It turned out the station was put there by NATO in 1950s when they were establishing Loran A coverage of the North Atlantic. However, this particular station ended up not being necessary for the system to work. Apparently the road we walked up was never really used, as a cable way from the anchorage on the west side supported the station

Krystina's planned run at Qutdleq got cancelled when we woke up to rain and will have to wait until the next time we sail East Greenland. That should give us enough time to train running with the riffle up hill so that we can run the full 7 mile round trip.