At that time Greenland was a Danish possession operating more or less independently except for international relationships. Travel was to Copenhagen and then back to Greenland via regular jet flights into an American air force base at Sondrestrom Fjiord. From Sondrestrom one took a helicopter North to minesite at Marmorilik. (Helicopters were used for all flights in Greenland due to lack of airfields.)
The flight to Copenhagen was uneventful, or at least I don't remember any details from that leg. Once in Copenhagen I took a taxi to the Hotel Dan, near the airport to stay until my next flight the following day. This was my first time outside of Canada other than a couple of forays into the USA, and it was an eye opener for a young man used to a steady diet of world affairs from the Canadian perspective. There was no TV in my room, so to watch TV I went to the lobby where a group of visitors were gathered in a lounge area watching of all things...a hockey game! I tried to watch but jet lag got the better of me so I went back to my room and went to bed. It was a nice bed, single sized but without blankets. Instead it had a large down filled comforter that quickly warmed to my body temperature as I fell asleep. The following morning I awoke and went to the dining lounge for some breakfast. It was continental style, but they also offered North American style, so I had bacon and eggs with toast. After breakfast I checked out and went to find a cab back to the airport.
Outside the hotel I met two British businessmen also heading to the airport and asked them if I could go with them. They agreed and we all got into a taxi for what we believed would be a short ride. One of the Brits said "airport" to the driver and off we went. It quickly became obvious to all of us that the driver wasn't taking us back along the route we had followed the previous day when we went the opposite way. One of the Brits began commenting on how the driver we really taking us for a ride, but it had no apparent effect on the driver. After about a half hour of driving on busy streets we arrived at the train station instead of the airport. The driver looked at us to pay the fare, but we told him (in Engish) we wanted to go to the AIRPORT. "Ahh!" he said..."Lufthaven!" "Yes!" we said...and off we went back the way we came. Eventually we arrived at the airport where we paid the fare to the train station, but not the amount required to get us back to the airport.
The flight to Greenland was almost as long as the flight to Copenhagen. We left at mid morning for Sondrestrom Airbase, now known as Kangerlussuaq but arrived around lunch time due to time zone changes. It was an uneventful flight. The plane was only half full so there were plenty of seats to stretch out and snooze if desired. Upon arrival I checked into the only hotel with a very small room that held a shower, toilet and bed. Once again I had a down filled comforter instead of blankets...this must have been typical Danish bedclothes back then. The photo below shows the hotel concierge.
There was no entertainment at the hotel, but the American air base was across the runway and the NCO club accepted visitors if you could find someone to sign you in. I did, and I spent an evening talking to American servicemen who taught me some essential rules to follow in Greenland. The main one was to avoid calling the natives Eskimos, which is what we called them in Canada. They preferred to be called Greenlanders because the term Eskimo was pejorative to them. So Greenlander it was, and still is when I talk about my time there. One of the servicemen had received his orders to return to the USA to a place he called Salt Ste Mary, of which he knew nothing. He really meant Sault Ste Marie, so I proceeded to tell him what I knew about the border city that was about to become his new home. After a few drinks and some entertainment from the band I headed back to my hotel.
Flights in Greenland are almost entirely by helicopter and back then at least, only when visibility was good. Our flight was in a Sikorski SY58, a large twenty something passenger chopper loaded with mail and men for the trip to the mine. We waited one day in Sondrestrom for weather to clear, which was a normal waiting period. Some trips were delayed for as much as a week, with little to do to pass time, but those were the rules. We took off at daylight. The mine was 450 km, which was beyond the range of a helicopter, so we had to refuel at a place called Jakobshavn, also known as Ilulissat, well known to tourists as the home of the Ilulissat Glacier, one of the most spectacular calving glaciers in all the world. City sized icebergs regularly calve off into the ocean in chilling demonstrations of raw power. But my stop here was just for refuelling, so no chance to see the glacier in action. After about an hour on the ground we took off again heading North along the coast to our destination, flying barely above the sheer 2,000 ft high cliffs rising out of the ocean. Finally we arrived at the mine where men and mail were quickly unloaded and the helicopter was refuelled for the return trip.
In Part 2 I will describe what it was like to work at the Black Angel.
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