I see that Polyesco and Iceflower in particular has covered this visit very well.
So I though I'd focus on what QMII was up to when visiting the Sirius Patrol prior to the official visit.
She talks about that in an interview with BB's Trine Larsen.
She flew with an airforce Challenger (*) to the weather station, Station Nord before going to the Sirius base at Daneborg (**) in western Greenland. But once there it wasn't possible to land, so they had to fly to Reykavik in Iceland and stay there for the night.
"Well, I've just come aboard Danneborg, because I'm flying in from Thule (***). That is, I started by flying to Reykjavik (in Iceland) in order to fly to Station Nord in north eastern Greenland. And we did just that... we made it as far as Station Nord, but we couldn't touch down, so we returned and flew back to Reykjavik.
And then I stayed that night in a hotel in Reykjavik. The next day the trip went to Mestersvig (an outpost further south) with the Challenger and there I changed to another plane in order to go to Scoresbysund (small town).
In Scoresbysund I went around for a couple of hours and saw a commune for elderly and kindergarten with a lot of lovely kids. They had had three weeks with uninterrupted sunshine (24 hours a day), so all the children looked like little raccoons. They were all dark brown in the face and with a little white figure of eight around the eyes, because they had all been wearing sunglasses. They looked utterly wonderful.
But it was amusing to fly to Daneborg. We flew there with a Twin Otter to Daneborg which is the headquarters of the Sirius Patrol.
I have visited them several times before but this time I had the opportunity to stay the night, and that very convenient. And they are such nice chaps/lads/guys, the young people there. They are very busy this time of the year, because now they change teams. (****) That is, before they change they need to clear up after the winter and prepare for the next winter. But they hadn't gotten that far yet, because the ice hadn't retreated, up the sound past Daneborg yet, so things were reasonable calm and that was perhaps fortunate".
Q: Then perhaps you had greetings to take back home to the Crown Prince?
QMII: "You bet I did. There were a lot of greetings up there, there sure was".
Q: Were you driving on a dog sleigh?
QMII: "On gravel? - The snow is gone, there is gravel all around, but I did greet the doggies - that was three sort of half-grown puppies who ran around and who were pretty gorgeous".
(*) The Danish Challengers routinely fly to Greenland (and Canada) where they land a gravel strips.
http://forsvaret.dk/atw/nytogpresse/PublishingImages/Havmilj%C3%B8%20Challenger.jpg
(**) Actually she was supposed to land at the weather station, Station Nord, and then go by boat to Daneborg. But probably the weather didn't permit that so she touched down further south and flew up north.
This is Daneborg seen from the sound as it looks at this time of year:
http://www.denstoredanske.dk/@api/deki/files/6164/=35266619.jpg
There used to be a weather station there, but that is now located further south, Station Nord. At Station Nord (north) there is also a landing strip long enough for a Challenger to land.
(***) Thule is an American base in north eastern Greenland. It used to be a key NORAD Early Warning station.
(****) The patrols work in two-man teams for two years deployment. A seasoned man with a rookie as partner. The rookie will then the next year have a rookie as a new partner.
A Twin Otter:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Kangerlussuaq-airport-air-greenland-dhc6.jpg
- Notice the fence. Used to keep moscus oxen out.
Thule Air Base:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Thule_Air_Base_aerial_view.jpg
The very isolated weather station, Station Nord:
http://www.helimek.dk/nord1.jpg Population: six-eight.
The outpost of Mestersvig:
http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/77/Mestersvig_airport.jpg
The town of Scoresbysund:
http://www.profil-rejser.dk/~/media...d/Oestgroenland/Scoresbysund-udsigt.ashx?.jpg
BTW I am now in Aarhus and am pleasantly surprised with lack of the flying scourges here!
