Big ice and howling dogs
My first full day in Ilulissat started by waking up right around 8AM. Had the need to arise for the bathroom not struck, I’m sure I would have slept in for at least another hour - maybe more! I was suprised by the time, and figured it was still middle of the night!
I considered going back to bed, but I knew that breakfast hours at the hotel were limited, and I wanted to make the most of my first full day. 8AM is still “sleeping in” compared to my 5AM wakeup yesterday.
I began my day with a hike to the Icefiord. It was time to see the “big ice”.
When I told one of my taxi drivers in Nuuk that I was going to Ilulissat, he remarked that I was going to see the “big ice”. I don’t think I really understood what he meant at the time. After all, I saw some pretty big ice chunks off the coast of Nuuk. How much bigger could the icebergs in Ilulissat really be? I have seen plenty of pictures of massive icebergs before, and I had heard how big they could get, but that did not prepare me for witnessing it in person. My pictures do not do it justice.
I spent a fair bit of time marveling at the behemoths of ice before heading back to the hotel. On the way, I grabbed a sandwich and another Københavner from a bakery for lunch.
With lunch out of the way, I was ready for my next adventure: dog sledding!
There are a LOT of sled dogs in Ilulissat - estimates are around 3 thousand live in town. And they’re LOUD! Walking around, it is common to see and hear sled dogs howling and barking.
Generally, one should avoid interacting with the dogs. They are working animals and they are bred and trained specifically for the task of pulling sleds (this is an important form of transportation during the winter months when it is no longer possible to navigate boats through the sea ice1). They can be very territorial and potentially dangerous to anyone but their owner, so I try to keep my distance.
Although the season is still very early, I was lucky enough to find a guide2, Jørgen, who let me meet his ~40 dogs and go for a ride!
It was VERY bumpy. The snow was thin and only just enough to allow the ride, but I still had a wonderful time. Jørgen told me that he used to be able to reliably sled as early as October, but no longer. The rapidly changing climate in the Arctic has profound implications for those who live here. I could say more, but will leave that for some future posts. I expect to hear a lot on the topic next week when I attend Greenland Science Week in Nuuk.
To cap off my dog sledding experience, Jørgen let me tag along as he fed his dogs. We walked around with a big tub of fresh halibut filets that Jørgen tossed to the dogs. This evoked a flurry of activitiy from the dogs as the excitment of mealtime set in. As soon as we finished the rounds and the remaining filets were put away, silence filled the air. Fed dogs are happy, quiet dogs!
Halibut fishing is common in Ilulissat3, and seeing the dogs get this treat made me jealous. So for dinner, I got some for myself!
Now it is just after 9PM and I am winding down for the night and getting ready for bed. I look forward to another exciting day of adventures tomorrow!
Footnotes
when I was at the Mapping the Arctic conference in Nuuk in 2023, the commander of the Joint Arctic Command gave a talk in which he mentioned sled dogs being a matter of national security because sledding is one of the most effective ways of patrolling the Greenlandic coast during winter.↩︎
https://isfjordscentret.gl/en/greenland-halibut-fishing-intermediate-level/↩︎