Amidst the icebergs
In my search for the sublime icescapes of the
Scandinavian Arctic my expeditions vary, sometimes on a
dog-sledge, sometimes on foot or cleaving through wild
Arctic seas in a fifty-foot boat, or on one occasion taking
a Zodiac up a 50-mile remote fjord, to find it was holed
in the bottom. Encounters with walrus, musk ox, polar
bears and other wildlife provided stunning insights into
animal behaviour and many on-the-spot sketches. The
walrus, with its battered and heavily-textured hide is a
most accommodating model, despite the accompanying
cacophony of rude noises. Abseiling into crevasses to sketch
ice bridges, camping on the Greenland ice-cap and exploring
ice canyons all inspired the paintbrush. At times the dog-
sledging route was so steep that the sledges ran out of
control down the mountainside, flattening a husky like a Tom
and Jerry cartoon. Hiking was not without its dangers: at the
edge of the Scoresbysund polynya the snow suddenly gave
way and I thought I was about to plunge straight through
into the icy sea, heavily laden with rucsack, sketchbooks
and rifle, but luckily the gods smiled on me that day and I
escaped.
Not all the trips produced constant hair-raising moments
though, and many were downright hilarious, such as when
my Danish colleague and I were invited for tea by an Inuit
photographer. In anticipation of some fresh scones we
found that afternoon tea Greenland style involves a cup of
tea accompanied by a raw turnip. This, however, is a great
privilege as vegetables are rather scarce in Greenland. Each
of the expeditions was quite different in character from the
others, and gave me some of the most treasured moments of
my life.
Read Roly Smith’s review of Arctic Light on page 6
Highly Commended
Andrew McCloy for
The Pennine Way
winter 2017 | Outdoor focus 17