| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 24/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 50 |
| Copyright: Other |
Greenland by Brian Richards
Follow the Inuit’s guide to hunting and fishing
Picking up brisk pace on the husky trail
The command to move was as crisp and clear as the ice-cold Greenland air.We were off and a dozen huskies fanned out before the sledge carrying its Inuit driver and myself. The temperature that mid-March morning at Ilulissat, halfway up Greenland’s west coast, barely reached -20C, cold enough to risk frostbite for those without the requisite sealskin jacket and over-trousers.
For 2hrs 30mins the dog trail followed the coast to the nearest hamlet of Rodebay, 10 miles away. The huskies hauled us over switchback terrain, bouncing the sledge over rocky outcrops and down to a wide frozen fjord. They maintained a brisk pace, uniformly breaking into a run and then, in step with the pack’s leader, reverting to a steady trot.
Dog sledding is an exhilarating way to travel, whether you are ploughing a lone furrow through a white-out of fine Greenland snow, or travelling with other dog teams.
Rodebay, home to 80 isolated souls, is typical of Greenland’s small coastal hamlets, its houses built mostly a century ago for a community that survives by hunting and fishing.
The sledges go out between December and May. When the snow melts and Greenland’s coastal fringe becomes truly green, Ilulissat’s 6,000 husky dogs take an enforced break and you go by boat.
The ice fjord is another attraction of the stark Disko Bay region, access to which is now year-round thanks to warmer weather patterns which have unfrozen the coast in winter. Some icebergs are vast – from a distance they look about the size of the Isle of Wight. The iceberg that sank the Titanic almost certainly came off the glacier breaking up in Disko Bay’s ice fjord.
For a view of the ice that covers 85% of Greenland and its glaciers, you can take a Greenlandair helicopter hop from Ilulissat that sets you down on the icecap.
To the east, the icecap spans the horizon; to the south, the corrugated glacier pushes down to the ice fjord. Fifty miles west are the pointed icebergs and Disko Island. The air gateway to Disko Bay is Kangerlussuaq, the former US air base in west Greenland known also by its Danish name Sondre Stromfjord. It has Greenland’s greatest wildlife concentration, including the musk ox, reindeer and arctic fox. Greenland’s capital Nuuk is home to a quarter of the country’s 55,000 population – a small, functional city that holds little appeal for most tourists.
Of more interest is the south. Nearer the UK and thus an easy extension to an Iceland holiday, south Greenland is characterised by small towns and spectacular scenery.
The gateway to the region is Narsarssuaq, another former US base. Nearby coastal towns dotted with brightly coloured houses and reached by helicopter include Narsaq, Qaqortoq and Nanortalik. The area’s stunning natural attractions include calving glaciers, icebergs, hot springs and deep fjords carved by glaciers dropping from the icecap.
There are Viking remains, too, among them Eric the Red’s farm at Brattahlid dating back more than 1,000 years. So impressed was Eric the Red by his discovery in AD985 that he called it ‘Green Land’.
Ice magic: from a distance some of the icebergs can appear to be the size of the Isle of Wight
factfile
greenland
Getting around: the only roads in Greenland are in the small towns. All travel is with the national carrier Greenlandair or by the Arctic Umiaq Line.
sample product
greenland
Arctic Experience: five-day Disko Bay Icebergs tour, with half-board at the Hotel Hvide Falk in Ilulissat and flights from Heathrow, costs from £1,558 or £1,537 from Glasgow, both via Reykjavik. Optional excursions include 3hr midnight cruise to the ice fjord, £38; and boat trip to Rodebay with lunch, £72.
Regent Holidays: nine-night south Greenland Grand Tour, with two nights each on half-board in Reykjavik, Narsarsuaq and Narsaq and three nights in Alluitsup Paa including flights from Heathrow costs £1,638 or £1,618 from Glasgow. Optional excursions include a 7hr Offshore Hunting Islands cruise, £73; and 3hr trip to Qoroq ice fjord, £43.