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I finally got to go to the mecca of Greenlandic tourism: Ilulissat. This town is everything you imagine Greenland to be – dog sleds (6000 of them!) and icebergs. But it truly is stunning. Trivia is this: Ilulissat is home to Ilulissat Kangerlua, the northern hemispheres’ most prolific tidewater glacier. The Icefjord here produces 20 million tons of ice per day – that’s equal to the volume of water used by NYC in an entire year (thanks Lonely Planet, but I did double check that stat).
My obsession with Danish Reality TV shows continues with All Stars – more so since Mads Lumholt from our office is a contestant! Check out the blog post that I wrote for www.greenland.com here
At the ACR base camp, every so often a game of Greenlandic Football would break out. No one was able to completely explain the rules, but it seemed to resemble rugby more than football, except that the ball was a seal.
There are a few hardcore adventure events that happen every year in Greenland: The Nuuk Marathon, the Polar Circle Marathon, and the Arctic Circle Race (ACR). Initially, ACR was conceived to be a cross-country ski race from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut – a route of 160km. But the inaugural year, there wasn’t enough snow and it had to be canceled. The following year, for fear of a similar mishap, the organizers carved out a challenging 160km route around Sisimiut – where it has been held ever since.
The lovely Miss Billman at the top of the Camp
This year was the 14th year the race has been running, powered by an army of volunteers, contestants ski for three days and sleep in tents at a base camp. They cook their own food at night and must carry packs of at least 5kilos at the start and 3 kilos at the end of the race. The pack has to contain a list of specific life saving equipment, like first aid kits, extra clothes, chocolate, water etc.
When I spoke to the founder of the race, he explained that it was envisioned to be a Greenlandic event, which brought skiiers into direct contact with the harsh nature and climate that is Greenland – and with that mission he has succeeded. The race is hard. But really hard. The highest peak was around 600m (on cross country skis!) but the views were amazing. I was lucky enough to get to see it all from the back of a snowmobile (which are SO fun by the way).
Larseraq, the founder of ACR
They are also really serious about sustainability, if you are caught littering you are disqualified from the race. And on the last day, the entire camp is packed and snowmobiles follow the very last contestant to the finish line pulling in all the tents, toilets, kitchen etc. Pack in- Pack out.
This year, the Greenlandic guy who has been winning for ages (and incidentally was a member of the Danish Olympic team) came in second behind a Russian guy. The top three females were all Greenlandic.
The office has embarked on a new mini-mission, this website: www.stuckingreenland.com
Although we are mostly unaffected by the volcano here in Greenland (beautiful sunny skies here today!) – it has resulted in the closure of Greenlandic airspace one day, and Danish airspace the next, so the whole Copenhagen office is stuck here (which I think is pretty fun) …so check out the new project.
www.stuckingreenland.com
Rugbrød (pronounced roo-pull) is Rye Bread. On several occasions, I have been asked if we have rye bread in the States – which of course, we do – but its not taken quite as seriously as it is here – land of open faced rye bread sandwiches. These are called Smørrebrød (smur-brol) – direct translation: bread and butter.
Everyday for lunch, this is what many people have (including our office). But you can’t just put anything on your rugbrød, there are rules – which I’m slowly figuring out. Also, apparently, some things can not be eaten without rugbrød – for example, the other day I offered a friend a can of mackrel for a snack (he was very hungry, and that was all I had) but despite his hunger, his response was “But, you don’t have any rugbrød.”
So, the Rules of Rugbrød – as I have figured out so far are as follows:
1. One piece of bread, on the bottom.
2. Thinly sliced, not toasted.
3. Butter, always.
4. No more than three toppings.
5. Toppings have specific combinations. Some favorites are:
- liver pate (LOTS of it) and pickled beats
- saucisson and remoulade
- mackrel in tomato sauce, mayo and possibly onion flakes
- smoked salmon and cucumber
- shrimp and hard boiled eggs
6. Eat with a knife and fork (despite the fact it is a sandwich)
PS: Excellent, and accurate quote from the Wikipedia entry on rugbrød: “While highly praised among Danes and also sometimes found in northern Germany, rugbrød has found little acceptance in other cultures.”
Why are the houses in Greenland all different colors? I recently found out. In the past, different trades had their own colors – and they owned houses for their employees, and so by association their houses were that color too. For example, the hospital was yellow and so were the houses of doctors and nurses, the shops were blue as were the shopkeepers houses, the utlities (water, gas etc) were green and the administration houses were red. Although this isn’t the rule anymore, most hospitals are still yellow (except for Ilulissat – only red hospital in the country), shops are still blue etc. I live in a blue house.
The pack ice around South Greenland makes it nearly impossible to sail in the winter. The ice is so heavy that only the most reinforced ships can make it through.
In the 1950s, before regular flights to Greenland, boats sailed only in the summer. But the Frederikshavns Værft company built the best boat that was unsinkable. The ship made it from Copenhagen to Qaqortoq on its maiden voyage in record time, however on its return trip, on January 30th, 1959, it collided with an iceberg and sank. There were 44 crew and 50, mainly Greenlanderic, passengers on board, who all perished. They have never found the wreckage – the only thing they have ever recovered has been this life preserve that washed up on the shore and is now housed in the museum in Qaqortoq.
My second stop was Qaqortoq (which, I think, is pronounced Kar-ore-tock).
View from the helicopter (Sikorsky)
The town appears to be growing up, amphitheatre style from the harbor.
Busy Port
The town boomed in the thirties from the cod trade and is now an educational center and regional hub. It has a tiny town square with Greenland’s first fountain.
The university here has a tourism program, and I spend some time with the 7 students studying tourism, who by the way are doing super cool internships this summer, including guiding dog sled trips in Svalbard and kayaking in Maine.
I also got a tour of the Great Greenland company – Greenland’s only tannery. In the summer, tours of the factory go everyday, but I got a personal tour from the manager who explained to me the process of preparing seal skins, and also the tragic decrease in demand which has a detrimental effect on the traditional lifestyles of hunters and consequently Greenlandic culture.
According to Preben, the manager who gave me the tour, there are 2,500 hunters in Greenland whose income relies solely on selling seal skins (others use it to subsidize their income). The hunters send the skins down to Qaqortoq by boat, the frequency of shipments they are able to send depends on where they are. Hunters from Qanaaq in the very north can only send skins once a year, and those in the East only twice a year. For a skin to be accepted by the tannery in cannot have more than two (bullet) holes in it. The two major export markets for seal products are China and Russia. Although the EU allows Greenlanders to import seal products the demands has considerably decreased. To illustrate the drop in production, Preben told me that three years ago they would dispose of about 3 tons of waste a week, and this year only 1 one a week.
To look at the dozen or so haphazard building in Narsarsuaq, its incredible to imagine that at one time it was the largest settlement in Greenland with 12,000 people. It’s because it was a massive American base, the ruins of which totally betray its original size.
In 1941, Denmark was occupied by the Nazis and the US was put in charge of Greenland’s security. This included building the base in Narsarsuaq which was called Delta Bluie West One. Somewhat creepily, the only remainder of this massive base is a lone chimney and a crammed museum.
From google - it was covered in snow when i was there
The base was used through WWII, and at the beginning of the Cold War – most suspiciously during the Korean War. There are conspiracy theories surrounding the base’s hospital. The rumors say that it was used to treat the most terribly and terminally wounded soldiers from the Korean War, men who were so badly mutilated that it was feared returning them to the US would negatively affect support for the war. Men who were nicknamed “basket babies,” because they had lost all their limbs. The story goes that they were transported from Korea to Greenland where they lived out their last days. Eventually, bottles of ashes were returned to their families, saying they were killed in action.
The museum in Narsarsuaq contains letters from American doctors insisting that nothing of the sort ever took place, but the rumors persist because despite the records about the base having since been declassified anything related to the hospital remains a secret.
US Doctors say nothing of the sort ever happened
The hospital burnt down in the seventies and the famous chimney is all that remained, but the lovely, picturesque valley behind it is still called Hospital Valley (sounds like a horror movie to me, and when I had to walk back from dinner along this dark path to the youth hostel, where I was the only guest, I was pretty terrified).
Some “artifacts” from the musuem:
They drank Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Marlene Dietrich once visited the base
