{"id":448,"date":"2026-11-13T11:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T11:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/?p=448"},"modified":"2026-11-13T12:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T12:40:34","slug":"2026-annual-gathering-and-supper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/?p=448","title":{"rendered":"2026 Annual Gathering and Supper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last weekend the Scottish Arctic Club held their annual Gathering and AGM. Huge thanks to the team at the Nethy Bridge Hotel<\/a> who made us all feel very welcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gathering presentations were kicked off by new members Jane Nimmo and Sue Stockdale, recounting their experiences founding and participating in the Arctic Call<\/a> – an initiative to inspire positive climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentations followed from Scottish Arctic Expedition Fund grant awardees. First up was Katherine Low, a recent graduate from the Royal Conservatoire, who travelled to the Republic of Sakha, in the North-east of the Russian Federation. Kathy\u2019s journey was thought-provoking, as she sought to discover and document the effects of thawing permafrost on indigenous communities, as well as explore her own Sakha heritage by visiting relatives and the village where her grandparents lived. We are looking forward to seeing her film – once the long process of editing footage is complete! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SAEF Award winner Katherine Low filming in the Sakha Republic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next, four members of the six-person crew of Kingfisher<\/a> regaled us with their tale of sailing to East Greenland and climbing new routes in the little-explored Graahs Fjord. Their spectacular photos of sea, ice and rock were potent reminders of past trips for many in the audience. The team faced challenges along the way, with engine problems, fog, and summits that turned out to be not quite as achievable as they first appeared (more reminders of past trips!) Nonetheless, the expedition was highly successful with 5 new routes climbed in Graahs Fjord ranging from VS 4b to E2 5c, and a happy team racing back across the Atlantic ahead of autumn storms. In honour of their impressively adventurous expedition the Kingfisher crew were awarded the Hugh and Myrtle Simpson Award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myrtle (age 96) expressed her delight that the young people of today continue to undertake daring adventures in the same vein as she and her husband in their younger days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of the Kingfisher’s route from Scotland to Greenland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SAC past-President Douglas Anderson provided an update following his summer in Tasiilaq, sharing photos taken over the past few decades which showed a shocking decline in sea ice. The area was almost entirely ice free this summer, which was unthinkable only a few decades ago. On a brighter note and probably connected, large cod had returned to the waters which was a boon to local people. He also noted changes to flights to Kulusuk which will adversely impact accessibility for local people travelling for work and medical reasons, as well as expedition teams and general tourists.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another SAEF award winner, Emma Cameron<\/a>, also reported on her summer in the Tasiilaq area as Science Leader with the Polar Academy. The organisation provides life changing experiences for young Scots. Emma is a PhD student at St Andrews, and alongside her own research, has spent the past two years developing the Polar Academy\u2019s Science Programme. She trained the young people in scientific fieldwork techniques at the university prior to their expedition. With Emma\u2019s facilitation the young people measured the temperature, salinity and clarity profile of the fjord as they travelled by boat to the north end of Ammassalik Island. They developed a hypothesis that the failure of the fishing team to catch any fish was due to the murkiness and low salinity of the water due to glacial run-off, rather than any lack of skill. This was borne out later in the trip when clearer and saltier waters correlated with an excellent catch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emma Cameron and members of the summer 2026 Polar Academy team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By coincidence, Emma had met our guest speaker Trine Dahl-Jensen<\/a> while in Greenland. Trine gave us a whistle stop tour of selected highlights of her long career as a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). Her research has taken her all over Greenland, and she has a special love for the very far north. Trine brought the process of scientific discovery to life, with her plots of the thickness of the earth\u2019s crust complemented by photos of flora and fauna, as well as endless anecdotes: mostly involving digging. She was careful to point out to the younger members of the audience that applying their strong young muscles to digging tasks is well worthwhile – one of her former PhD students, photographed wielding a spade, head deep in a snow hole, had just been appointed a Director of GEUS (not solely for his digging expertise, one assumes). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trine Dahl-Jensen of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following the talks and AGM, around 60 members and guests enjoyed dinner, followed by \u2018Guess the Whisky\u2019 and a raffle. So many raffle prizes had been donated that the draw was by necessity a quick fire process, with past President Stella Spratley assisted by two junior members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the AGM, thanks were given to Sue Fenton, who stood down after ten years at the helm of the Scottish Arctic Expedition Fund. Sue took on a dual Secretary\/Treasurer role when the fund hived off from the club and was set up as a separate charity. During Sue\u2019s tenure, the charity has made 48 awards and enabled over 70 young people to achieve their Arctic dreams. In addition to funding, Sue\u2019s behind-the-scenes support has helped connect the young people with experienced Arctic hands for travel tips and contacts, as well as provide advice from her own Arctic experiences. She will be much missed and is a very hard act to follow! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sue Fenton (seated) at the Skottehytta, on a 1985 Brathay expedition to Svalbard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday members enjoyed the autumnal sunshine and colours of Strathspey before heading their separate ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, we learnt that SAC member Phil Gribbon sadly died while we were enjoying the Gathering talks. Phil was one of our longest-standing members and a Polar Medallist. He inspired many students at St Andrew’s University to pursue climbing and exploration, not just in Scotland but in Greenland as well, where he led several expeditions to both East and West Greenland.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The application window for the 2027 Expedition Fund awards is now open and will close on 31st January 2027. Further information and application form can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend the Scottish Arctic Club held their annual Gathering and AGM. Huge thanks to the team at the Nethy Bridge Hotel who made us all feel very welcome.  The Gathering presentations were kicked off by new members Jane Nimmo and Sue Stockdale, recounting their experiences founding and participating in the Arctic Call – an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticclub.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}