Twenty-six days had passed without news from Marcin Tomaszewski and Pawel Haldas on their winter Greenland expedition. Finally, we received a text from them yesterday with a photo showing the line of a climbing route straight up a huge rock wall. Clearly, the guys had found the winter El Dorado they sought.
The new route opened Tomaszewski and Haldas.
Moving by snowmobile over the frozen ocean from the town of Ummaannaq to the nearby islands, they pick a huge vertical wall they described as Greenland’s El Capitan, and prepared to climb in -36ºC temperatures. Since then, there had been no further reports — just climbing.
Other than the new route map, there are no details yet. Tomaszewski only said that they were both okay and back in a warm place, presumably Ummaannaq. On social media, they promised to send a report soon. They included some amazing photos that tell a story of their own. Below, some examples.
Base Camp. The ‘wiggles’ in the snow are sastrugi — hard snow waves created by the wind. Photo: M. Tomaszewski
Base Camp from sea level. Photo: M. Tomaszewski
Rough weather. Photo: M. Tomaszewski
The views from the wall, showing dozens of icebergs frozen into the sea ice. Photo: M. Tomaszewski
