Greenland climbing and sailing completed

Posted: Aug 25, 2014 09:14 am EDT

(By Correne Coetzer) Ralph Villiger and Harald Fichtinger started their sailing and climbing expedition along the Greenland coast on August 9 when they set sail from Iceland.

On August 12 they sent a short message from 68°45'N 23°11’W: “Tacked to avoid east Greenland current with icebergs.” Three days later they reported from Kirken, Liverpool Land, Greenland, that they have made their first ascent at UTC 18:30, whereafter they returned to their boat, Ntombifuti, "Safe. Exhausted. Hungry. Happy.”

Ralph and Harald used a sailboat and reported several windless days, but added "luckily" they were not in a race, so they cruised under engine.

On August 20 the men were back in Seydisfjordur Iceland, from where Ralph set off single-handed to the Faroe Islands and yesterday arrived in Thorshavn, after “great sailing”.

In 2013 Ralph and Harald also sailed to the East coast of Greenland. First Ralph sailed single-handedly from Newport to Nanortalik, Greenland. Harald joined him there and together they sailed through Prins Christian Sund and then north along Greenland's remote east coast. A bit further north than Tingmiarmit they also managed to do a first ascent of a mountain, climbing a 13-pitch route.

Currently they will head more to the North. Again they will use Ralph's aluminium boat, Ntombifuti, as a mobile base camp for their climbs. This way they can access regions that are difficult to get to with normal transportation, Ralph told ExplorerWeb, especially along the inaccessible shore of Liverpool Land in Eastern Greenland.

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Ralph Villiger and Harald Fichtinger to sail and climb Greenland

Ralph’s Website: www.ralphvilliger.com

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