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Grundtvigskirchen, history and clarification of name.
By Lindsay Griffin, Mountain INFO
Looking north from Milne Land across the waters of Ofjord to peaks on Ren Land and the prominent Grundvigskirchen. Tony Higgins
The Swiss team had obtained a copy of map sheet 7102, printed in 2003, on which the peak they climbed is named Grundtvigskirchen. However, some contributors to their blog suggested this was incorrect, and should be Tsavagattaq. To settle the matter, they contacted the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), a by-product of which was an interesting discussion involving Tony Higgins, a Senior Research Geologist with GEUS, now retired but still working part time for the organization, Bengt Flygel Nilsfor, and Micke Sundberg, the last two being members of the 1998 and 1999 Norwegian-Swedish teams that climbed the south ridge of Pt. 1,977m all the way from the fjord.
According to existing maps in the 1990s, and local Inuit, Pt. 1,977m did not have a name, and after lengthy discussion with local Boas Madsen and friends about different hunting tools, the Norwegian-Swedish team decided to call it Tsavagattaq, which is the tip of a handheld harpoon. Madsen, who was born in Scoresbysund and speaks Danish, was in total agreement that Grundvigskirchen was the triple-summited 1,882m peak four kilometers to the southwest, as marked on the maps. He used a small bay and good campsite immediately below this peak, while guiding kayakers on a circumnavigation of Milne Land. Sundberg notes that they had no great desire to name any of the mountains but felt the East Greenland word Tsavagattaq far more appropriate, Grundvigskirchen sounding too colonial. The peak was named after the famous Grundvig Church in Copenhagen.
Higgins was able to point out that the 2003 map is actually correct. (This map is copyright GEUS/KMS, where GEUS is the Geological Survey and KMS includes the former Geodetic Institute. Both are Danish state institutes and can only put authorised place names on their maps).
Grundtvigskirchen was given its name during Lauge Koch’s 1931-34 three-year expedition, which conducted major geological and topographical mapping. At that time only the tower of Grundvig Church had been built. A photograph of Pt. 1,977m, reproduced at the time, referred to the peak as Ofjord’s Landmark. In 1936 the Place Name Committee for Greenland approved the name Grundtvigskirchen for this peak. From 1968 to 1972 the Geological Survey of Greenland mapped this region, and were never in any doubt which mountain was Grundtvigskirken, as they sailed by it almost once a week (although Nilsfor notes that while an aerial view of Pt 1,977m strongly resembles Grundvig Church, from sea level Pt 1,882m looks more like a cathedral).
When the first edition of map 7102 was published in 1972 the Geological Survey was astonished to find that the name had been wrongly attributed to Pt. 1,882m: technicians who plotted the map had never been to the region and simply employed guesswork from limited information. It was suggested to the Place Name Committee that the name be moved to the correct mountain, but this proposal was refused on the grounds that it had been placed “according to the best information available”. Fast forward to 1986 when an article was published setting out the argument for moving the name to the correct peak. This was picked up by a journalist and exposed by a Danish newspaper. The Committee was publicly forced to admit they had made a mistake, but later announced that while it had now corrected the records, it would probably be many years before a new edition of the map was printed. No one dreamed it would be 31 years.
In 1998 the Norwegian-Swedish team attempted the east face of their Tsavagattaq (the same line as the Swiss-Italian team in 2010), but gave up due to heavy rock and icefall. They returned in 1999 and climbed the south ridge. Until half-height the team found signs of a previous attempt. The high point was a nut and karabiner in a crack, 10m above a good stance with an equipped (pegs) rappel anchor. From the age and type of gear, they estimated this to have been left in the late ’70s. [in 1978 a British Army Mountaineering Association expedition led by P. Breadmore claimed 16 first ascents in this region. One climber injured his ankle in a fall, and was flown out to Mestersvig, where he met Tony Higgins. Higgins's memory is that the climber fell while attempting Grundtvigskirchen]. After reaching the summit, Nilsfor scrambled over to the northern top, in order to take a photo looking back toward the fjord. There, he was surprised to find slings forming a rappel anchor to the snow line on the west flank. These appeared to be relatively recent. The Swedish team that climbed the straightforward north ridge of Pt 1,882m to the main summit in 1999, also believe that they were following a route climbed previously in the 1980s. This peak now needs a name, and perhaps the first ascensionists could make an acceptable proposal.
