It was a perfectly clear day and the wind was completely still, a beautiful Monday. I had seen the weather report the day before and asked my boss for half a day off and in return work half a day the following Saturday, which was no problem. There was no way I could let such a perfect day pass without any hiking.
I left my apartment at 8 AM, when I’d usually be at the museum, but instead headed to the other end of Tasiilaq towards Mt. Aammangaaq (‘Præstefjeldet’, ‘the Priest’s Mountain’). I followed a long gravel road out of the town, past the many sled dogs and out into nature. This gravel road is called Paatsaasivimmut (‘Sermilikvejen’, ‘the Sermilik road’), and seemingly leads to nowhere, apart from a few large lakes. I didn’t exactly know where the trailhead started, so I just kept following Paatsaasivimmut until I was close to the mountain. I got to the first big lake, and then remembered that my boss had told me to hike up the mountain from the coast. I was nowhere near the coast…
I could walk back and down to the coast to start from there, but I was already so high up in the landscape that it seemed meaningless to hike down to hike up again. So I decided to find my own way up instead. I peeped up at the steep mountain and found what I thought looked like a perfectly manageable passageway through the first steep ridge.
I started walking up at 9.40 AM. It was steep, but not too steep and I managed to get up quite well. It was lucky that I’d spotted that passageway as everywhere else would’ve been impossible from this side of the mountain, but it turned out just fine and not even as difficult as expected. I just had to mind not to get too close to the edges.
Once I was over that first steep ridge, the climb got much easier and I could actually walk upright. There were many more ridges to climb, some more treacherous than others, but I managed them all without problems, and gained more and more energy as the day went. When I finally got to the top of the last ridge before the summit, I took a well-deserved break to study the landscapes above me, beneath me and beyond me. Several planes flew over me while I sat there, and I wondered if the passengers could also see the beauty of East Greenland that I was admiring at that moment.
The weather was still perfect. There was still no wind, even this high up, and despite the almost zero degrees temperature, the sun was warming me so much that I could’ve stayed there for much longer. I had even taken off my jacket – and this is Greenland we’re talking about!
From my resting place, I had the best view of Tasiilaq that I’d found so far, and I could see the Kulusuk Island and the vast sunlit ocean in the distance.
The summit ascend was very steep, maybe even too steep as I’d stupidly decided to blindly follow a pair of footsteps which lead me astray. I eventually ditched them and found my way to the actual path.
I finally reached the summit at 11.35 AM, just under two hours after I’d started hiking up the mountain. But just as I thought I was done, I looked to my left and saw that there was another higher point. It was close by and not that much higher, but getting there involved walking along a treacherous narrow path between two seemingly endless gorges.
Careful as ever, I walked the path and climbed up the actual summit with the most incredible views I’ve had so far in East Greenland! I could see forever, past several azure and emerald lakes, past mountains upon mountains and right to the Sermilik Ice Fjord. The view was mesmerizing. I stayed up there for a while taking pictures (yay for self timer!) and enjoying the views and brilliant weather, before going back to the lower end of the summit where the view of the village is incredible. There, I sat to enjoy a few snacks in the sun before heading back down the mountain at 12.15 PM.
I walked back down following the actual trail to the coast, which was easy to follow and got me down by 1.10 PM, less than an hour after leaving the summit.
I crossed a river and walked onto the path leading back to Tasiilaq. This path was easy without any ascends or descends and just one small waterfall to cross. Then I came to the sled dogs – oh how they howled at me, as if to say “welcome back, Melissa, you did it!”. One dog followed me all the way back to the museum, where I got to half an hour after getting down the mountain. The entire hike had taken me 5 hours and 40 minutes and had thus been the longest hike so far in East Greenland, and the most beautiful.
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