Icy Elegance: A Journey to the Wonders of Greenland’s Polar Landscape

For the inuit or eskimo The mountains were born after the furious fight of two giants. In each attack, in each of the blows, mountains, valleys and, ultimately, the rugged geography of a frozen territory were created. Perhaps it could be the most legendary and charismatic beginning of this land that the Vikings called Greenland more than a thousand years ago for the green color of its coasts in summer. Today for our planet, for all of us, Greenland is one of the few safe passages we have left to contemplate the immensity of an indomitable and overwhelming nature. A huge island in North America (although belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark) with much of it unexplored, and capable of seducing those whose passion is measured in great adventures.

After living an extraordinary trip going out to look for the wonders of southern greenlandprecisely where the Vikings landed more than a thousand years ago under the leadership of the great Erik the Red, I found the best remedy for that disease called wanderlust. Spotting glaciers or chasing icebergs both on foot and by zodiak or kayak (and even by helicopter), I was able to relive those childhood dreams that made me the spontaneous explorer of a world yet to be discovered.

WONDERS OF GREENLAND: HEADING SOUTH

There is always a first time for everything, even Greenland. Because when you see that immense white island-shaped spot on any world map, only surpassed in size by Australia, you find yourself unable to answer the question of… What am I doing here? Where do I begin?

With an area of ​​more than 2 million square kilometers and barely 60,000 inhabitants, this Danish territory in America leaves everything or almost everything to do. Much of Greenland, in fact, is unexplored, with the kingdom of winter being the one in charge of governing about 80% of the island through snow and ice, both capable of burying mountains so high that in other countries they would be giants.

Ramón Larramendi and the spirit of Tierras Polares

Then those stories of sailors, Vikings, kayaking Inuit, explorers and pioneers emerge until one realizes that in Spain we are lucky to have the exploits of Ramón Larramendi, one of the best polar explorers of our time and who knows Greenland like very few. Or like nobody else. The man from Madrid, a character with an adventurous gene, traveled in 1990 from southern Greenland to Alaska by kayak, dog sled and on foot to complete a circumpolar route of no less than 3 years. Then came his Antarctic attacks, adding more than 30,000 kilometers in polar territories and inventing the wind sled, a clean and sustainable way of moving across the ice at high speed whose greatest benefit is precisely that it leaves no impact on nature.

Established in his wooden house in Qassiarsuk, the exact port where his Arctic adventure began more than 25 years ago (and coincidentally where Erik the Red settled a thousand years ago) he has helped make his beloved Greenland more accessible. With the motto “Spirit of exploration” he founded the Tierras Polares agency in 1999, that little right eye with which he can show the place he loves most in the world, instilling the values ​​of camaraderie, both individual and collective effort and the teaching that everyone We can handle “the sled of our life” no matter how inhospitable the territory in which we move.

Given that Tierras Polares was at that time the only Spanish company with its own infrastructure in Greenland, with also many years of experience in said territory, I decided to embark in the summer of 2017 with them, and with Ramón Larramendi and his pupils as cicerones, in a new adventure that would take me to fulfill one of my great wishes since I was a child when I was already beginning to suffer from world map hypnosis and I kept spinning around globes until I completely lost them. It would be the first time of many in Inuit territory.

WHAT WAS THE ROUTE TAKEN ON THE TRIP TO SOUTH GREENLAND?

This first trip to Greenland consisted of taking a little trip to the south, specifically to the least populated province of the large island, Kujalleq, which in turn has access to great natural landscapes and vibrant experiences. After flying to Narsarsuaq with Air Greenland From Copenhagen (it can also be done from Keflavík in Iceland) I had 3 bases from which to hike, kayak, circle large icebergs and learn about Inuit culture and Viking history. Or being able to walk on the frozen ground of an immense glacier with crampons as well as watching a majestic blue ice wall stretch just a few meters from the zodiak with which we moved from one place to the other (Have I already told you that There are no roads in Greenland?).

Map of the route to southern Greenland

The trip lasted a week during the month of July (if I had gone from mid-August I would have been able to see the first northern lights of the season) and focused on the following wonders of Greenland (in this order):

(DEPARTURE) Madrid – Copenhagen – Narsarsuaq (START OF ROUTE) – Qassiarsuk – Narsaq – Qaleraliq (Halibut Camp) – Igaliku (landing in Itillaq) – Qooroq Fjord and Glacier (in Zodiak) – Qassiarsuk – Tasiusaq (kayaking between icebergs) – Narsarsuaq (helicopter flight) – Qassiarsuk – Tasiusak (kayaking among icebergs) – Narsarsuaq (END AND RETURN TO COPENHAGEN/MADRID)

Organization/scheme of days during the trip to Greenland

1st day: Departure from Madrid to Copenhagen. Night in the Danish capital.

2nd day: Flight from Copenhagen to Narsarsuaq with Air Greenland (duration 4 hours). Accommodation in Qassiarskuk (Leif Eriksson Hostel) and visit to Viking ruins listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

3rd day: Zodiak navigation between Qassiarskuk and Narsaq, the second most populated city in southern Greenland. Visit to Narsaq and departure through the fjord full of icebergs to the Halibut Camp in front of the great Qaleraliq glacier. Night in the camp dome (of 3 total in which we were happily isolated)

4th day: We approach the walls of the three tongues of the Qaleraliq glacier by zodiak. Disembarkation and trekking with crampons along the glacier. Return to the camp and night in the dome.

5th day: Walk on foot to the highest point in the area to admire other perspectives of Qaleraliq. Caribou watching and hiking (in the rain) of about 5 hours round trip through truly beautiful landscapes reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands. To shelter in the camp for the third consecutive night.

6th day: By zodiak from Halibut Camp to the port of Itillaq. Tour to Igaliku, considered by Lonely Planet to be the most beautiful town in Greenland. Return on foot (45 minutes). Boat trip through the ice as close as possible to the Qooroq glacier front. A place full of large icebergs. Overnight at the Leif Eriksson Hostel in Qassiarsuk.

7th day: Kayaking in Tasiusaq, a bay that bathes hundreds of icebergs just 7 km from Qassiarsuk (the trekking between both is fantastic). In the afternoon I flew over a glacier by helicopter (from Narsarsuaq airport).

8th day: Return to Tasiusaq to spend more hours kayaking. Night at the Tasiusaq hostel.

9th day: Flight to Copenhagen with Air Greenland. Night in the Danish capital.

10th day: Day in Copenhagen. Afternoon flight to Madrid.

The most extraordinary places, moments and experiences of the trip to southern Greenland

I keep wonderful places, moments and experiences from this Greenlandic journey. Pillars that supported the brunt of a trip to the great island. From following in the footsteps of Erik the Red to paddling in search of seals in Tasiusaq Iceberg Bay. Here are a few of the best glimpses of an adventure through southern Greenland:

Qassiarsuk’s Viking past

Erik the Red arrived around the year 985 on the South Greenland coasts until he settled on the shores of the Tunulliarfik fjord in what he called Brattahlíð, whose meaning was “steep side of a rock.” The current Qassiarsuk treasures remains of their first colonial establishment in Greenland, who remained there for more than 400 years. Here the first church in America would be founded (of which only the foundations remain) Þjóðhildarkirkja, named after Þjóðhildur, Erik’s wife, who converted to Christianity (something she failed to get her husband to do). His son, Leif Eriksson, was a great promoter of Christianity as well as being the first to arrive in America centuries before Christopher Columbus did. He came precisely from the old Brattahlíð. Currently, a few archaeological remains of houses and some reconstructions (church, Viking home and even Inuit English) survive, making it one of the marked places for those visiting southern Greenland.

Today it is a quiet town of just thirty houses and farms separated by a Narsarsuaq fjord (where one of the smallest international airports in the world is located) through which icebergs float brought by the winds from Qooroq. A statue of Leif Eriksson commemorates his exploits in the New World and below, along the shore, is the lodge that bears his name and is the great base of the Polar Lands in this part of Greenland. There is also a small supermarket next to the pier.

An idyllic town that, in my case, was love at first sight as soon as I arrived in Greenland. And every summer it is covered with an intense floral carpet.

A lunar camp in front of a large glacier

Once upon a time there was a domed camp in front of three of the visible glacial tongues of the Qaleraliq. Once upon a time there was the mythical Halibut Camp made in Polar Lands which can only be accessed by Zodiak and where the best secret, in addition to the views, is its complete isolation in the middle of nature. There we spent 3 nights listening to the roar of the seracs or large blocks of ice falling into the Qaleraliq glacier, hiking (with and without crampons) and feeling like miniature dolls in a grandiose environment like few others.

We covered the solitude of this “lunar” camp by sitting by the stove, preparing dinner at night, or simply by sitting on the mountain behind, next to the waterfall, to admire the wonderful 360-degree panoramic views. When we went to sleep it was the caribou, foxes and arctic hares who took over the camp. All in a summer without a closed night in which the colors of the sun were always glimpsed above the clouds.

I consider Halibut Camp an essential stage on this trip to southern Greenland. Because perhaps that was where I first felt the immensity of what is more than a territory, it is a polar planet.

Trekking with crampons on the Qaleraliq ice

One of the star activities while at Camp Halibut was trying to walk on the ice of a glacier, specifically the Qaleraliq, after approaching a clear front with the zodiak. The glacial retreat is evident in this area, although it still allows magnificent views of this great river of ice that falls into the three large tongues visible from the camp.

Walking with crampons, that is, using footwear with a sole covered in metal spikes that allows you to grip the frozen terrain well without slipping, turned out to be one of the most fun outdoor activities on the trip to Greenland for me. This type of trekking should not be done lightly, far from it, and it is advisable to always be accompanied by expert guides who have a greater knowledge of what it means to travel in these places. Along the way you pass large cracks, improvised blue rivers and weaker areas through which you have to “walk carefully” (pun intended).

First experience trekking with crampons… satisfactory. The moment of placing mats on the ice to have a picnic was truly memorable. I recommend trying it sometime!

Encounter with the caribou

Leaving the camp we went out to do another trek, this time not through frozen territory, but through landscapes reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands to climb to a more or less high altitude and observe how the Qaleraliq glacier disappears to the inlandsis, the great desert. white that covers a good part of Greenland. The most interesting part of the march was suddenly coming across a group of about thirty or forty caribou (the American family of the European reindeer, which we also saw in Alaska a couple of weeks before) on a large plain, who gave us an exceptional moment.

Along with seals, caribou are the favorite targets of Inuit hunters. They always took advantage of the caribou for everything. From the meat to eat in the igloo to the fur to make their thick clothing, through the antlers and bones to make tools, handles, crafts, etc. It is not very easy to see this species, and also at such a short distance, so doing so is always good news.

Collecting icebergs with the zodiak

As glaciers advance, they drop large masses of ice that float in seas, bays and fjords. Some are so large that they can take months (and even years) to get rid of. The entirety of Greenland is an open-air museum of icebergs and ice floes plying its waters. So during this trip to the south of this immense Arctic territory there was time not only to admire them but also to collect them in their different forms on the memory card of the camera. It was enough to cross almost any fjord to come across these entities that sail aimlessly and even see them break up or turn around on themselves to continue floating with their characteristic bluish outline.

In the area we moved through, the icebergs came mostly from Qooroq, also called Qorqup Sermia (visible in Qassiarsuk or Narsarsuaq) or from the immense (and hidden) Eqalorutsit Kangillit (visible in Narsaq, Tasiusaq, etc.). In fact, today, getting close to the glacial walls is impossible, and you can admire, especially the Qooroq, from a distance. In Qaleraliq there were also ice floes floating, but perhaps smaller than the previous ones.

There are authentic works of art. Right at the exit of the Qooroq fjord we were able to witness an iceberg with a huge circle at the top that was reminiscent of a rose window. A true cathedral of the ephemerality of these frozen masses, which collapsed hours later. But that’s what they have, they melt.

Having a drink chilled with ice cubes thousands of years old from an iceberg and toasting His Majesty the Qooroq was more than just a declaration of intent. Health!

Igaliku, a bucolic and charming town next to a fjord

It is true that there are no large cities (the largest is Qaqortoq with 3,500 locals, followed by Narsaq with just over 2,000), not even large towns, in Greenland. In fact, the southern francion has a population that barely exceeds 6,000 inhabitants. Sometimes under an appellation where one expects a major town there is only room for 3 or 4 farms, and a good number of sheep, goats and horses scattered across the landscape.

Some time ago Lonely Planet highlighted the tiny village of Igaliku as the most beautiful town in Greenland. That’s nothing! After disembarking in the tiny port of Itillaq and covering the distance (45 minutes on foot) with this one, I couldn’t say if it is the most beautiful, but I can say that it is an unbeatable location. Igaliku is surrounded by mountains and a fjord reaches it. There are no more than 40 or 50 wooden houses scattered about, not too large. It only has one hotel, as well as a hostel, making it an ideal place to disconnect from the world completely.

Furthermore, Igaliku has an intense Viking past. For several centuries it was called Gardar (reads Gardar) and was the seat of an independent bishopric with its own cathedral consecrated to Saint Nicholas. Today there are hardly any remains of the foundations of this building and some stables from the time. It is worth remembering that in the 15th century the Vikings abandoned Greenland due to a mini-glaciation that made it more difficult to survive in this land as well as to be able to make sea voyages with Norway and Iceland. Thus the Inuit became the only settlers who stayed and never left Greenland.

A glacier from a helicopter view

They call glaciers “rivers of ice.” Something that is understood, above all, when seen from a bird’s eye view. Or, in my case, a helicopter view. Because from Narsarsuaq in a helicopter that is usually used to transport scientists or measure the retreat of the ice, I was lucky enough to embark on an unforgettable scenic flight over the frozen mass of the Qooroq glacier (Qorqup) to practically glimpse the inlandsis with enormous half-buried mountains in the snow for thousands of kilometers.

Kayaking (and looking for seals) in Iceberg Bay

If I have to take away one thing from this trip to the wonders of southern Greenland, it has been discovering kayaking and its entire world. I had never practiced kayaking and I don’t think I could have waited for a more dazzling setting to do it. Just 7 kilometers from Qassiarsuk is Tasiusaq, a semi-enclosed bay on which hundreds of icebergs float, some of them large. It is an ideal place to paddle the kayak, not only because of the splendor of the location but also because its waters are calm and, except for a windy storm, it is rare for there to be too much waves.

I spent two days dedicated to kayaking. In the company of the documentary filmmaker Manu Hernández and the guides (possibly better) Álvaro Hurtazo and Raúl Plaza Calvo. They were more than patient with us, helping us spot seals (and photograph them, even more complicated) and reach a point from which we could see an endless panorama of icebergs. Tasiusaq, both the bay and the small hostel (with an ideal lounge to chat by the fire and observe the northern lights through the window starting in mid-August) where we stayed was the best ending to this trip.

I’m considering returning to Greenland to try kayaking more often. Everything will work out, but I am convinced that we will see each other again. And it will be aboard a kayak.

THIS IS WHAT A MINUTE LOOKS LIKE IN SOUTHERN GREENLAND

What if you see all this that I have told you reduced to just one minute? Don’t miss this video in which I participate with Étnica Produciones (with Manuel Fernández as cameraman) in which sixty seconds are enough to immerse us again in the unusual Greenland.

GREENLAND, NATURE AND SILENCE

We have become increasingly accustomed to looking at nature from the sidelines and with a certain disdain, relegating it to small islands or patches of wildlife, mere parentheses of what is not considered pure humanity. It seems as if it were a world to which many do not believe they belong. But in reality there is no greater ignominy than not assuming that we are also animals that are part of a living entity and denying that without that compendium of rivers, mountains, glaciers and white deserts the human being would not have been, would be or will be absolutely nothing. . Perhaps traveling to see the wonders of Greenland can be the medicine that serves to cure that self-imposed blindness and enjoy that beautiful madness called Planet Earth.

THANKS

I would like to close this report by thanking Ramón Larramendi, Getse and the entire Tierras Polares team for the treatment received and for helping me discover the wonders of Greenland that have awaited me throughout the trip. The guides Francesco, Álvaro, Raúl, Lucía or Gabriel and the super coordination of Andrea. To Pablo for being great with me and to Rafa for her delicious dinners at Qassiarsuk.

Of course, I couldn’t forget my companions at the “Halibut Camp” Julia (thanks for your photos), Orsola, Livia, Simone and father. A special section on this podium is the documentary filmmaker Manu Fernández, who suffered me every day from beginning to end and with whom joint projects are coming up that I will tell you about (or, at least, I hope so).