Watkins Mountains, Various Ascents. It was reported that a French ...

Watkins Mountains, Various Ascents. It was reported that a French expedition organized jointly by Pierre Grossm an and Dane Hans C hristian Florian traveled to the W atkins M ountains with five objectives: to clim b G unnbj0rns Fjeld (3753 meters, the highest mountain in G reenland), Cone, Dome, tw o unclim bed peaks and to make altitude readings o f four o f the five highest sum mits in G reenland with advanced GPS equipm ent in collaboration with the Danish N ational Survey and Cadastre. A fter establishing camp on June 7, the eight-m an team climbed G unnbj0rn Fjeld via the south ridge on June 8. On June 10, they travelled up an unnam ed glac­ ier east o f G unnbjørn Fjeld and on the 12th skied to the top of a peak they named Qaqqaq Paul Emile Victor (3669 m). Two attem pts were necessary to clim b a peak five kilom eters to the south o f Paul Emile Victor, but on June 15 Florian, Bernard G illet and Bernard M üller were successful. The expedition succeeded on Dome (3742 m) and Cone (3729 m) on June 18 and 19th. On June 21 the seven French were airlifted out. N orwegians Engebret Fekene, Erling Kagge and Sjur M 0rde took their place, and with them Florian made another ascent of G unnbj0rn Fjeld on June 23. On June 26 the new team made a first ascent o f a ca. 2500-m eter snow dome 10 kilom eters east o f base camp. The N orwegians were airlifted out on June 30, to be replaced by a British team led by Derek Fordham , which made the third ascent o f G unnbjørn Fjeld that season. (High M ountain Sports 171)