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YLL on Tour...

Day 44
CYFB Iqaluit – BGSF Kangerlussuaq – BGKK Kulusuk – BIRK Reykjavik

The weather outlook for the crossing to Greenland looks, on the Gramet as well as on Windy, quite ok… flight time will be 3:48

The walk to the airport, as well as rejoining with YLL are now familiar and easy. I take-off, then make a slight adjustment of my heading to fly northeast, heading towards my next POI

And soon afterwards the heading reverts to track, as was expected

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

The outside world looks very imposing, once more…

Pack ice appears again, and though I’m wearing my survival suit, a refresher read of my ditching checklist increases my state of readiness…

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Enroute now lies Pangnirtung, which is one my only enroute alternate. The fog has partially cleared as the runway is visible next to the shore…

The flight now enters the mountainous area that extends to the northeast coast

The clouds ahead spread the doubt in my mind… will my POI be visible, or hidden like it was a little more than a month ago?

No, there it is, straight ahead, no doubt! I feel elation and exitement as this was one of the important POI

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Mount Thor

From the net:
Where is the Earth’s greatest vertical drop?
Mount Thor (Thor Peak) is a mountain in Auyuittuq National Park. You’ll find it on Baffin Island, in Nunavut. The mountain is the earth’s greatest vertical drop at 1,250 metres with an average angle of 105 degrees.

No other word than awesome

After a couple of orbits later I’m still subdued, but have to resume my route. The blue track shows how closed I passed when heading into Iqaluit first time, and Mount Thor was hiding in the clouds

Last Edited by Dan at 08 Sep 06:57
Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

As I continue through the daunting landscape, weather takes a turn for the worse. Ground fog mixes with higher clouds, and the ground all but disappears…


Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

I’m now over the Davis Strait. Light icing. Looking up I can make up the sun.
I start yet another climb that puts me in between layers… the seas below don’t look too inviting


A while later I catch glimpse of land between the clouds. Greenland is still here

As I approach my destination, Mr Ice Cap becomes once visible on the horizon

And nice weather greats me in Kangerlussuaq

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

After landing YLL is refuelled…

The Gramet, TAFs and Metars, Windy, all concur and predict good conditions for the overflight to Kulusuk, and Mr Ice Cap… the problem is that Mr Ice Cap is pretty high and peaks at around 11’000ft. This altitude means freezing in any kind of clouds, and descent into warmer is not really possible…

Climbing eastbound

The latest observation at Kulusuk shows good weather, but right here there is some turbulence

Mr Ice Cap. Blue lakes and creeks forming on its surface, the giant is stricken and melts away…

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

And just below me, almost missed, this magnificent jewel! I once more can’t resist but dive for it and loiter in the area for a while

Hey look, another one… and another… and…

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Your composition skills are awesome, Dan

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

In the cruise @ 13’000ft, whilst the autopilot regains the preset (and takes pictures at the same time…)

Mr Ice Cap is now partly covered with floating fog banks, eerie landscape, whiteout, the outside world is fuzzy

But soon Mr Ice Cap recedes, giving way to the stupefying East coast of Greenland


Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland
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