CHARLIE Orr recalls a memorable day in Greenland.

His piece is in Things Not Seen: An Anthology of Contemporary Scottish Mountain Poetry, Edited by Stuart B Campbell; advisory editor Angus Dunn (Aberdeen Council Education and Recreation, 1999).

KAREN'S CLIMB

It started with a tentative low traverse

On the base camp buttress

After a storm-bound day on James Joyce

And heavy flat light.

Ground level was all I aspired to

But solid grey granite warmed

By the evening sun led me on

As ledge followed crack followed ledge.

Until, high above the glacier, a patch

Of green moss tinted red with lichen

Delighted my snow bright eye.

I name the climb for my daughter.

Base Camp,

Hekks Glacier,

Greenland,

May, 1996