PADDLER 50
PADDLER 50
whale button . I ’ d seen only about three whales since leaving Qaqortoq , which was a lot less than expected – but rounding the corner after Aasiaat and paddling into Disko Bay proper and I saw them every single day – the feeling of insignificance , when a whale pops up , coating you in a whoosh of fishy spray whilst simultaneously scaring the crap out of you , is pretty damn incredible .
You ’ re just paddling along , but then everything changes , and there ’ s suddenly a 2-tonne whale 20m away gently going about its business . Whether it ’ s tagging along next to you on purpose or you ’ re both just by chance on the same route doesn ’ t matter . Although I ’ d say , it was for the interspecies companionship option every time .
DISKO BAY GLACIER
Disko Bay is home to the northern hemisphere ’ s most productive glacier as well – being a stone ’ s throw from the town of Ilulissat , it ’ s made this beautiful town of about 3500 people Greenland ’ s most popular tourist attraction . Paddling from the tiny settlement of Ilimanaq , which is on the glacier ’ s southern side , you have to cross the aftermath of 35 million tonnes of ice PER DAY calving from the glacier – depending on the weather , it can be a breeze with plenty of clear channels to navigate through , or it can be jam-packed with bergs and bergy bits like a giant slushy .
It was the latter for me , and it took four hours to travel the 18km through . But what great fun – pushing a way through could feel a little hairy at times , especially when trying to steer well clear of any big icebergs that , if they calve or spin over , would make life very difficult for an errant paddler . But the chunks of ice are generally small enough to enable you to create your channels .
DISORIENTING
It can get a little disorienting when all you can see is the whiteness of ice wherever you look , and the sound of hunters and tourist boats echo all around without you being able to pinpoint the craft . But I highly recommend it – if the ice is too dense to get through , you can head out further into the bay . The ice usually dampens down the waves , making the paddling often easier going on mirror-like waters . If and when you get to Ilulissat , walk out to the ice fjord from town – there are some tremendous marked trails , and the view will take your breath away .
The ice here in Ilulissat was really dramatic and astoundingly beautiful , but it amazed me how the mood of the ice can change – as explained before , the sea ice had been an issue in the south and had caused some problems already , and it always had the potential to become a bigger problem in the far north . The weather patterns in the last few years had varied wildly from their norm , and I was worried about not being able to complete the last leg of the journey between Upernavik and Qaanaaq .
I was in contact with several folks in the sparser settlements in the north who all told the same story : the ice wasn ’ t breaking up . I ’ d never paddled through serious sea ice before , but I tasted it in Upernavik Kujalleq – a small settlement a couple of days paddle from Upernavik itself . As I ’ d padded into Kujalleq , I ’ d seen in the distance the telltale white line on the horizon that meant sea ice lay ahead , but leaving the following day , it seemed to have blown away .
FOOTBALL FIELD-SIZED ICE CHUNKS
It was only after rounding a headland several km out that I realised it lay directly in front of me from the rocks on the coast stretching out as far as I could see . This sea ice was a different beast than the smaller chunks in the south . Some of these were football field-sized chunks that would weigh in at several thousand tonnes , and oddly , despite the sea being calm – a fortunate side effect of so much ice , it appeared that there were several strong currents at play .
Just sitting there with a sea fog rolling in to make it more interesting and observing the ice , it ’ s almost like hidden rivers were moving within the water , carrying these enormous pieces of flat ice in all directions . My previous ice paddling had involved plenty of brute strength on the smaller pieces , which generally behaved and could be moved out of the way to clear a way through . But there was no chance with these .
The Greenlanders love telling a story , and I ’ d heard plenty about the dangers of the big sea ice – it seemed everyone had an uncle who ’ d lost his legs after getting squashed between two opposing ice chunks . With this in mind , I paddled carefully for about an hour , going deeper into a maze of ice but keeping close to land . At this point , my Garmin had decided there were no satellites to use , and my position on the screen was a hundred or km south of where I knew I was .
WATER CHANNELS OPENED UP
Eventually , though , it became impassable – I knew from the locals and the satellite images that it didn ’ t stretch on forever , so I pressed on , this time on land , dragging Scorp over the footballsized rocks with the ice field directly to my left as I went north . After almost an hour of this and sweating from the exertion , channels opened up again . I launched into the sea , this time finding larger and wider channels until I suddenly broke into open water , and the ice was behind me .
I was heading north again at a good rate , and the geology had changed again – the landscape was still very dramatic , but instead of the occasional gentle slope with possible camping spots , it