The 1992 Beerenberg Expedition

Beerenberg is the main eyecatcher of Jan Mayen and when you are resting at the station and give it a glance, it seems to be quite easy to get to the top of the volcano. A roumour had been told that it was not that easy, in fact it could be a quite tough trip. So when I discovered the list at Speaker's Corner asking for participants, I kept a low profile. Once in a while I had to check if anybody had been mad enough to put themselves up. As the days went by I realized that some names started to show up.. the pressure increased - and suddenly I realized that I was standing there writing my own name at the list... using a pen not a pencil! To late to worry, no way to bail out.

Then one day the weather looked promising and we had to prepare for the big expedition. We had been briefed on how to use the equipment that was neccessary when crossing the glacier so in the evening at 0900 PM we had a meeting and it was decided that if the weather looked right, we should leave at 0300 AM. There were some nerve and exciety in the saloon and dining room as the participants started to prepare themselves.

Food was arranged from the kitchen, lots of good stuff and the kiosk 'Krambua' was opened for us to buy the neccessities like clothes, sun cream, chockolade and lots of film. Nothing should go wrong, we made huge packets of sandwiches and softdrinks in plastic bottles were prepared. Just before I went to bed I could hear the leader of the 'weather girls and boys' talking in the phone with some meteorological offices for a prediction on the weather, he got positive response. So... I could just as well prepare my rucksack and prepare my clothes. The boots were already standing newly polished by the door. Everything was ready.

At 0230 AM I was woken by the phone. Odd Tore, our guide was brief, 'we leave at 0300 AM!' I stumbled to the window and looked out. FOG! BUt, I wanted to be able to enjoy the view, I thought. Well, well maybe the fog will disappear later... I jumped into my clothes and went to the dining room, where 2 girls and 12 men gathered for some early breakfast.

At 0315 AM we left Olonkin City by car and as we approached the site where we should start the long walk, the fog disappeared and a blue sky showed up. As did Beerenberg... Well I got a little worried, in a way it looked larger or even huge now. Egg Island looked quite tiny, beeing only 217 meter high. We entered Ekroll Valley, emptied the cars and dressed in ropes, cameras and rucksacks. At 0420 AM we were on our way, the weather made our life a little less demanding than we could fear. If I managed to avoid looking towards the top, everything was really nice.

We had prepared for the trip in different ways. Per Ivar Moi and Terje Fadnes had brought skis and so had Vidar Lie, except he had chosen mini-skis in plastic. Some had tiny rucksacks while others, like me had chosen the full-size version. Just a short time after the start Ernst started to loose speed. He had been complaining from pain in his stomack. Eventually he had to stop and return so he got a radiotransmitter and went to be picked up by Jan in one of the Mercedes Benz Geländewagen's. By the way, the car's name is 'Edna'.

The next part of the trip went in quite nice terrain, but the hill was steep. Some of us were in a hurry and put up high speed. Odd Tore suggested to keep together as a group this making it possible for everybody to get some rest one in a while, but he spoke in vain. The group streched out and at times the distance between the leader and the tail were several kilometers.  

Having arrived at the foot of the glacier the view was marvellous. Towards south, Southern Jan streched out in perfect weather. Some wind was distubing, but the sun did its best to keep up the spirit. The Nunatak seemed to be quite close, the snow at the glacier was perfect for walking due to the sub-zero temperature so early in the morning. I had brought a skiing pole to give me some support if I got tired, wise choise. When you get tired it is good to rest toward, and you'll get tired. I got tired.

Over the glacier the walk went fine. The speed was nice and we had a view towards the Nunatak. The sun were terrific and some protection cream had to be applied. The wind persisted and the headover had to be put on to protect my ears. Walking and talking with the others in a sensible tempo was nice. Up front, far away we could see the Express Group, those that wanted to get it over with. Behind us came the last ones, the group were broken up. Well there were no reason to worry, we should rendezvous at The Nunatak. Tormod were perfectly relaxed it seemed like he was walking from bed to bathroom, but he had speed and style. He tossed the ice axe around, were discussing the Relativity Theory with Tord - or played an act for the video cameras. He was enjoying every minute of the trip, I think.

Terje Fadnes had been at the top earlier as some of the others had too, he were saving his strength and was laughing from us who insisted that we were getting much closer to the top by now. In fact there were several more hours to go befor we could enjoy the top view. Berit and Trude were keeping up. Thank God for that, I refused to return when the girls managed to walk on. Berit had lots of strength, in fact she had been to the top of Kilimanjaro not so long before she came to Jan Mayen. Trude was not that strong, but in a good mood and she wanted to get to the top. The tail was covered by Arne, the Chef de la Cuisine. Odd Tore reduced his speed to control the field.

The glacier was veeeeeery long! We walked. And walked and walked and walked! Vidar Teigen and I was walking and talking and the short breaks came more and more often, the speed came down as time went by. That damned Nunatak didn't come any closer! At small dots we could see the front group far, far away. They had to be close to the Nunatak? But no, they didn't come any closer they either.

Finally, the front group had arrived at the Nunatak and it had to be our turn soon. At 0930 AM we arrived and settled in a place soon to be named Base Camp. Here we had a real nice lunchbreak, rested and changed to dry clothes. The luggage had to be reorganized, too. Mostly all of us left the rucksacks there, all the neccessary gear for the next step had to be put on. We were going to walk up a very steep glacier and there could be possibilities to fall through. So we divided into to separate parties. Each party had rope between the members. Arne was not feeling well so he decided to return. He was in serious doubt whether he would manage to the top and should he have to give up during the next phase, his party would have to return with him to the Nunatak.

Sitting there in the sun and feel how my body started to relax from the first part of the trip was great! Even if pain raged through the body and my feet threatened to go into a coma while I was preparing for the next step. Nevertheless, when the clock had passed 1130 AM we had to keep on. We were 1570 meter above sealevel (where we had started) and had to climb up to 2270 meter above sea. We had an angle of 40 degrees in front of us. Walking with a rope between us went quite well as soon as we had learnt to walk in a nice smooth speed, giving the rope some slack. Up we went, trying to save strength. Odd Tore had the lead position, and he controlled the speed. Those who wanted to run for the top had to calm down. Walking was not so difficult even if it was steep, due to the studs under our shoes. But when we rested we had to anchor up using the ice axes.

Halfway up we had a little extended break in a crack in the glacier. Of some reason it got the name 'The Pissoir'. Tormod enjoyed the nice colors from the ice so much that he started getting of the rope to take a closer look, but Odd Tore refused to give a permission to that.

We kept on walking and we managed to have radio contact with Olonkin City. Edel, the only female at Loran C was on the radio too. She reported that she could see us from her car. She was on her way to the cottage Ulla to change batteries in the seismological registrator there. Someone asked her if she could tell us how far we were from the top... she answered a couple of hours. No comfort to get from her! Half an hour later vi were at the top, the historical correct moment was at 0113 PM.

Looking over the edge and into the crater of Beerenberg was GREAT. From the distant end of the crater were smoke and steam raising, the volcano was not sleeping heavily, it was merely slumbering. The wind disappeared suddenly and the view was far beyond description. We didn't see Greenland. Someone had presented the theory that we should be able to do that. Maybe it was due to the thin layer of mist in the horizon?

Like Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen we had kept up the best of Norwegian tradition and brought our Norwegian Flag. This was certainly put up to manifest that Jan Mayen is Norwegian territory;-) 

Well, as soon as the cameras done their important job, and all the proud smiles had been put on film we went over to a better resting area. Here Odd Tore opened the Champagne bottle that were brought for the spesial occasion. Drinking Champagne out of papercups works very well. Most of the champagne went into the snow as soon as the bottle was opened, but we didn't need more than to wet our lips.

Having rested for an hour we started on the return. No problem at all. At 0400 PM we were back in the Base Camp. Sat down in the sun and changed to dry clothes, got something to drink and rested for a while. Those that had brouht their skis were restless and wanted to get along. The snow had started to soften so we pedestrians couldn't rest too long either. Per Ivar had left his skis just below The Nunatak, he belived so he set off to get them and leave too. He searched and searched and couldn't understand how they could have disappeared. They were found halfway down the glacier. It is very easy to misjudge distances there.

The main party left B ase Camp by 0520 PM, I had left a little earlier. The temperature was so high that I were jogging in my fieldshirt but after a while I had to take of that too and were continuing in my T-shirt. Fantastic!!!! The snow were so soft that I went through to well above my ankles.

By 0800 PM everyone was gathered together in the Ekeroll Valley and shortly after we were picked up by the Cavalry and brought back to the station where we arrived a quarter to Pub Evening.