Northwest Passage – Day 4 on the ship – Ilulissat

The dogs aren’t friendly, they smell and they have fleas, but despite that they serve a very important purpose in Ilulissat, a ‘city’ (it is quite small) 350 km north of the Arctic Circle.

The Huskies are working dogs. They pull the sledges, which form an important means of transport for the Inuits who live here. Ilulissat is the first community above the Arctic Circle to have working dogs – only those living within the Arctic Circle are allowed them. Why, you might ask. Because of what they eat – fish. It smells before they consume it and afterwards. Basically, they smell from both ends. The reason people must not pet or feed the dogs is because they may then become friendly with humans and, we were told, will not be effective as a working dog becoming more domesticated. If they are not effective, they are no longer of use and, without putting too finer point, their days are numbered.

Don’t feed the dogs they are not fluffy pets

The dogs live outside in all weathers. There used to be more dogs in Ilulissat than humans, but this has now changed. The population of 4,500 people is, today, favouring other means of (fuelled) transport, plus their diet can now be supplemented with imported – rather than solely hunted – food.

Ilulissat is the third largest city behind Nuuk and Sisimiut. It was founded as a trading post in 1741. Today it is known for its shrimp fishing industry in which many of its community are involved. The shrimps are distributed worldwide, including to the UK. A famous name from this town is Knud Rasmussen, polar explorer and anthropologist. The house in which he was born in 1879 is now a small museum dedicated to his achievements.

Due to re-routing because of ice, it was our first port of call today. Unfortunately, it was all too familiar for John who had visited on business many times over the past 30 years, and I had visited once previously.

Undeterred, we took off for a bracing walk along the conveniently-placed boardwalk to the Illulissat Icefjord, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. My leg muscles were certainly pleased that clambering over rocks was not a requirement. The boardwalk was a great idea. As well as it making the walking easier, it meant that the delicate vegetation that fights hard to survive in these cold, icy, conditions, was not trampled on. Some plants in the Arctic have a growing season of only a couple of weeks and they have to root in shallow depths because of the permafrost – a permanently frozen, hard, layer of soil, gravel, sand and ice a few inches beneath. They also have to face strong winds. Consequently, the vegetation seen in the Arctic is predominately shallow-growing, with few leaves. A willow, for example, may be spreading just a few inches above ground, but in other climates may be several feet tall. In some parts of the Arctic, as temperatures become warmer, exceptional willow growth has become a problem for the Inuit. Some of this same plant can be 6 feet tall, and has been known to reach forest height, which has seriously impacted Inuit traditional hunting routes.

Plant height in the Arctic is usually low. Heather is shown at the bottom of the photo with the lighter plant just above it being willow.

A 20-minute meander along the boardwalk led us to the Icefjord where the ice gathers. The glacier from which the ice has calved is many kilometres further inland. It is estimated this glacier produces around 10% of Greenland’s icebergs. Up to 20 million tons of ice calves off the glacier each day!

Then we were off to see the recently-built ice museum in the town, the Icefjord Centre, which also provided access for a walk over the roof. The appealing architecture fitted nicely into the landscape, and its design by female architect Dorte Mandrup would be a draw for tourists. The design was inspired by the wingspan of the snowy owl in flight.

Within the museum we learned about ice and its different forms (there are 200 Inuit words for ice), the sea and wildlife in the area, and the history of the people. A high point for me was a room with a most unusual audio presentation. There were around 10 sets of headphones each transmitting recordings from within various Greenlandic glaciers. Different levels of cracks and squeaks could be heard, each quite different from the other. It really gave a different prospective about the glaciers and how they are almost a living entity.