When asked what is the most impressive thing about Greenland experts will say the ice sheet, which covers 660,000 sq miles, roughly 80% of Greenland. It is the 2nd largest body of ice in the world, only Antarctica is larger. It is almost 2900 km (1800 miles) long and 1100 km (680 miles) at its widest point. It’s average thickness is 1.9 km (0.9 mi) and 3 km (1.9 mi) at its maximum. It is one big ice cube! Here is a scary thought: if the ice sheet were to melt it would raise the level of the sea by 24 feet! Only the extreme southern coast and part of the west coast have land not covered by the ice sheet.

Our destination today was to fly to the ice sheet and actually spend some time walking on it with the expedition staff. As the helicopters (2 on board) hold a maximum of 7 passengers it will be a monumental task to get the 153 of us to and from the ice. Hopefully the weather (wind, cloud cover) will cooperate.

It took quite a while for the scouting team to venture forth and select a safe landing zone for both the copters and us. Once they established that we were gradually airlifted to the location. Normally they like to actually land on the ice but today they could not find a suitable safe, i.e., non-slippery spot on the edge of the sheet which did have a slope to it. They ultimately created a spot on the rocks near the sheet and had to physically move some of the larger rocks to make it safe zone for the copters.

This was to be our first ride so we had to review the elaborate procedure they use to weigh us and our backpacks and then place us in proper seats to balance the aircraft. There are then procedures on how to respond to hand signals by the staff that tell us where to go and how to properly board the helicopter as the noise level prevented talking. It was a well disciplined process.

I really love flying in helicopters! You are low enough to really appreciate the scenery around you and yet being in the air gives you a totally different perspective of the world around you. Our flight to the edge of the ice sheet was unfortunately brief but exhilarating. We reversed the process when disembarking and proceeded to gingerly walk across the rocky moraine left by the receding ice that seemed to go on forever. Ship guides showed us the safe ways to actually get on the ice sheet where we were allowed to wander freely, taking it all in. A ship glaciologist was there to explain what we were seeing, why it was the way it was and answered any questions we might have.

We had about 1.5 hours  to take it all in before having to reboard the copter for a quick ride home. This all day activity was quite a challenge for the helicopter staff, considering everyone on the ship was offered the opportunity to experience the ice sheet. Considering there are about 150 passengers on the ship and each helicopter can take 7 per trip, doing the math says they had to make at least 22 round trip flights during the day. By the way, there are 3 pilots on board, sharing time flying the 2 copters that are on the ship. The pilots are all from the UK and are ex-military pilots so we felt we were in good hands at all times.

Once back on the ship we had the opportunity to watch a marvelous, but scary documentary movie called “Chasing Ice”, by photographer James Belong released in 2012. It is available on Amazon Prime and I recommend you watch it, especially if you do not believe in global warming.

The evening briefing included trying (unsuccessfully for me) to learn some more local language. We also heard about the first expedition that crossed Greenland in 1888 by Fridtjof Nansen. We were also learned that tomorrow’s destination was a visit to a local village where the highlight is expected to be a soccer match between ship passengers and the locals. It should be quite a spectacle and Steve was ready to participate. Being wiser, I will watch from the sidelines and be videographer for the event.

We had another good dinner which was interrupted by the sighting of a whale near our ship.