Sailing and ski touring in Greenland’s fjords: a trip report.

Ten days aboard the Louise, setting off from Nuuk to explore Greenland’s fjords by ski and sail… and settle into a different rhythm. The rhythm of long days, when it’s still bright daylight at 11 pm and we struggle to find a good reason to put down our drinks. The rhythm of sharing life on a small sailing boat, where everyone finds their place, settles into a routine, takes their turn in the shower and learns to live by the rules on board.

Then there’s the rhythm of our ski tours, surrounded by the vastness of the fjords. The Zodiac takes us ashore, and our skis carry us up into the mountains while the Louise waits below, or on the other side of the mountain. Our eyes wander across landscapes that seem to have no end. In this wild world of raw beauty, we feel a long way from everything.

On the descent, we find another rhythm, shaped by the snow: lively, bouncing turns in powder, then longer, flowing turns on smooth spring snow as we approach the shore. All under the unhurried gaze of the ptarmigan, for whom we’ll soon be no more than a very, very distant memory.

So much laughter and so many magical moments on a trip that, in many ways, lived up to its promises and went beyond them! There was the journey we had imagined and planned before leaving, and then there was the one we actually lived, which no itinerary could have predicted. That mix of the unknown, surprise and wonder is what makes travel so rewarding—and already has us wanting to set off again.