 |
DYE 4: East Hike
Click on the photos for a larger view
 |
Here's my hiking buddy, Console Operator & wandering
adventurer Ron Storer, formerly of Texas. Ron and I formed
a great friendship at DYE 4. We explored photography and Kulusuk
Island with equal fervor. Our two expeditions took place at shift
changes, the only break in long schedules when we could find extra
hours, since we never had a day off. A weeklong shift that
ended daily at 5 p.m. might yield to a new shift that started each
day at 12 Noon. It wasn’t much, but it gave us all the time
we needed. Ron served at DYE 1 (on Greenland’s beautiful
west coast) and icecap station DYE 2. In 1977, when our employer,
Felec Services Inc., (FSI), replaced Console Operators in Greenland
with radar & communications technicians called ‘Radicians’,
Ron decided to try facilities maintenance and powerhouse work.
He stayed in Greenland, mostly at DYE 4, till 1984, when he departed
for a successful DEW Line career in Alaska. Ron later worked
for the City of Barrow, Alaska, and later still, for Federal Electric
Corp. on Midway and Hawaii. Since about 1995, Ron has worked
in the Utilities Dept. for the City of Colorado Springs, CO.
His house offers a nice view of Pike's Peak. Ron & I were
out of touch from 1977 till May 2005, when his neice, Amanda Storer,
found this site & gave me his contact information. The
rest of Ron's fascinating but heartwarming story is too involved
to describe here. Let's just say it's amazing! |
 |
Daredevil Ron climbs down a cliff to get a close
look at an intriguing flower. This trip took us away from the Station
to the west, which was full of cliffs, old landslides and spectacular
views of distant mountains that fringe the inland icecap. |
 |
Here he is again, showing how easy cliff
climbing can be (not)! |
 |
We really liked this iceberg, which we dubbed ‘the
peach in the bowl’, for obvious reasons. |
 |
A long-lens close up of icebergs floating about 700
feet below. |
 |
The aforementioned cliffs. |
 |
Rock that shows the effects of glacial scarring.
Ron & I couldn’t imagine how big the glaciers had to be
to scar rock atop a cliff 20 miles away and some 700 feet above
sea level. Think about that. |
 |
Anyone who thinks the arctic is a lifeless wasteland
never saw a beautiful summertime flower like this, and others. |
|
