Glacially smoothed and scoured surfaces in the foreground and on all more distant regions. Weathering has removed the glacial polish from most surfaces, but glacial striations still remain. Therefore, in general only a millimeter or two has been removed by post-glacial weathering. All but the highest peaks were covered during the last ice age. The sloping toe of Forbindelses Glacier can be seen at the top left. The outcrops here layered and crossbedded rock in the crossbedded belt, LZa, on Uttental Plateau. Several bodies of replacement anorthosite are visible above a large dark-brown trough to the lower left.

View to the north from the Homestead region toward Wagers Peak, the highest peak visible at 1277 m. From left to right there are three glacial snouts: Hænge Glacier on the left, Bjørneskinds Glacier in the middle, and Forbindelses Glacier the nearest on the right. As I understand it, all of the small valley glaciers in the Skaergaard region reached the water when the area was first studied by R.L. Wager in the late 1930's. Now, few reach the sea. The triple group is visible just below the summit of Wagers Peak.

This is one of the only views I had to the north of the Skaergaard pluton, toward the Greenland interior. The interior icecap is not visible, but you can see in the distance the merging of two large valley glacers that then empty into Watkins Fjord. Notice that the glacier calving face in the distance has blue ice exposed. The fjord surface is almost covered by icebergs and sea ice. The ice in the foreground are the Dobbelt Glaciers.

View from the flank of Basistoppen to the southwest across the toe of Basis Glacier, on the margin of Skaergaard Bay. Beyond the glacier toe is our ship and Kangerlussuaq Bay in the distance.

View south from the flank of Basistoppen, looking across Basis Glacier to a small glacial tributary coming down off of Sydtoppen (1058 m). Tinden (1044 m) is the peak to the right in the distance. Notice that some of the Basis Glacier surface still has relatively new snow and ice, whereas the darker surface has been ablated and has lots of rock dust discoloring the surface.

View east from the flank of Basistoppen to the head of Basis Glacier, above which is Basis Pass and the Douglas Plateau (an ice plateau). Our walk goes down to the glacier and then up and over the pass. The Basistoppen intrusive sheet is above the break in slope on the left, and occupies all of the wall on the right.

View to the southeast from Basis Pass, showing the upper part of the Douglas Plateau above the ice cliff. The rock cliff on the right is the Basistoppen sheet, in which some layering can be seen.

Looking northwest from the Douglas Plateau, with arcuate crevasses visible where the Douglas Plateau ice cascades down between Nunatak 1 (off the photo to the right) and Basistoppen (the steep slopes in the center and left) to Forbindelses Glacier. In the middle distance on the right is Pukugagryggen, and in the far distance are mountains on the other side of Watkins Fjord.

A small crevasse on the Douglas Plateau.

Looking northwest from the Douglas Plateau, with the Forbindelses Glacier far below. Pukugagryggen is on the right, Uttental Sund in center left, left of which is Kramer Island. The Uttental Plateau and the western contact of the Skaergaard intrusion is visible in the distance, almost exactly in the center of the image. Mountains on the other side of Watkins Fjord in the for distance. Excellent depiction of the barren landscape and relatively smooth, crunchy ice surface.

View to the west from Nunatak 1. Forbindelses Glacier is below, as is Uttental Sund, beyond which is Kramer Island. The western contact of the Skaergaard against Archean gneisses is visible just above and to the left of center.

View to the northeast from Nunatak 1, looking over the saddle at the top of Forbindelses Glacier. Beyond the saddle, the glacier spills down toward Mikis Fjord but does not come very close to the water (see photo below). The north end of Nunatak 2 is visible on the extreme right.

View to the west from Mikis Fjord with Forbindelses Glacier visible up toward the saddle. Notice the classic U-shape to this glacial valley. This is the northern end of Mikis Fjord, though it extends farther to the east behind the photographer. The small pile of stones in the near ground is a pre-Inuit house that was abandoned 3000 to 4000 years ago. Skins would have covered the stone foundation.

Looking west across the crevasse field where Douglas Plateau ice is cascading down to Forbindelses Glacier between Nunatak 1 (left) and Nunatak 2 (behind the photographer). Pukugagryggen is the slope on the right, and Kramer Island is most of the rock in the distance.

Looking north across the flat surface of Forbindelses Glacier toward Pukugagryggen. The surface of this glacier had few crevasses of any size. Because of the warm day and bright sunshine, the whole surface was melting. Small trickles and streams covered most of the crunchy ice surface.

View to the southeast from the top of Forbinelses Glacier toward Nunatak 2 in the midground and Kilen (931 m) in the distance.

View west down the rough, crunchy surface of Forbindelses Glacier across Kangerlussuaq Bay. The islands are at the entrance to Uttental Sund.

Meltwater stream on the surface of Forbindelses Glacier. The glacier surface had many such streams, though this is one of the largest at this elevation. View is to the east, with the rocks to the upper right being Nunatak 2.

Rushing meltwater stream coming down off the flank of Forbindelses Glacier, looking east toward Nunatak 2.

View to the east from the prominent medial/lateral moraine in the north side of Forbindelses Glacier. Pukugagryggen is on the left, with the MZ exposed on its base and the UZa above. The moraine material is composed of mud, sand, cobbles, and boulders that have been worn or fallen from rock at the margins of the ice, and that have fallen off the rock cliffs onto the ice. The light grayish-brown loose material to the left of the glacier against the red-brown rock is a lateral moraine produced when the glacial ice was somewhat thicker.

Rushing meltwater stream cutting through the medial moraine on the north side of Forbindelses Glacier. The cliff at the top left is Nunatak 1, the slopes to the right are Basistoppen, and between is the Douglas Plateau. Notice how the ice on the sides of the stream is relatively clean, suggesting that most of this debris fell onto the ice from above, not concentrated on the surface by melting of the surface ice.

Meltwater stream in the photo above plunges to the base of the glacier here, to exit the glacier at the outwash plain near Uttental Sound.

View to the south from the north side of the toe of Forbindelses Glacier. The subglacial meltwater stream in the photos above can be seen exiting from the glacier base at the bottom of the photo.

Another view looking from a higher elevation onto the toe of Forbindelses Glacier. Notice how dirty the glacial ice is. This is caused by the fact that, as the ice melts, much of the entrained rock, gravel, sand, and mud remain in place to accumulate on the surface. The meltwater stream exiting from the base of the glacier is more obvious here, as is the outwash delta on Uttental Sund. In the 1930's the outcrops below center were under glacial ice.

Looking east across Uttental Sund from Kramer Island toward Forbindelses Glacier. Nunataks 1 and 2 are the cliffs in the top-center, Basistoppen is the large mass to the upper right.

Photo from the Zodiac looking east up Basis Glacier toward Basis Pass and Douglas Plateau. Basistoppen is on the left and Brødretoppen is on the right. The larger ice fields on Basistoppen and Brødretoppen do flow and so are glaciers in their own right. This perspective gives some idea of the thickness of ice once needed to bury this entire glacial landscape. The current glaciers are grimy shadows of their former selves.

View to the northeast from the ship. From left to right are Basistoppen, Basis Glacier, Brødretoppen, Brødre Glacier, and Tinden. Both of the glaciers end above sea level in end moraines.