Dog sledding in Greenland

April 18, 2021

Last year was rather depleted in terms of travel for all of us. To compensate, I spent some time with images I took in previous years and decided to put together a couple of photo-narratives on my past travels with the first one here on dog sledding in East Greenland. Growing up in cold snowy winters I do love travelling and photographing in the Arctic and getting back to the North is always a bit of a homecoming for me. This was my third time in Greenland after trekking and sailing visits in 2014 and 2017 and as I love dogs and snow it was only a matter of time that I did a dog sledding trip. My first attempt to do so failed in February 2018 due to severe weather. My second attempt had more luck even though our route and plans were changed due to the weather again. The week-long trip around Ammassalik island with its start at Tasiilaq - on the Sermilik coast with sledding to Tiniteqilaaq and back was a wonderful opportunity to once again see the area where I hiked first time in summer, only this time it was in the company of winter magic landscapes and hard working dogs.

Kulusuk - the gateway to East Greenland. Flying by airplane to this small island and switching to helicopter is the only way one can get to Tasiilaq in winter. Whilst there one may spend a few days waiting for the right weather, that is for low wind… — Kulusuk - the gateway to East Greenland. Flying by airplane to this small island and switching to helicopter is the only way one can get to Tasiilaq in winter. Whilst there one may spend a few days waiting for the right weather, that is for low winds and clear sky. The waiting was made easier by synchronised dog howling.

and some wonderfull northern lights shows to brighten up long nights. gfx50r + 63 f2.8

Finally we made it to Tasiilaq, a beautiful location framed by granite peaks. A few fishermen on ice, on the low right side, show the scale.

Winterland… three shots stiched pano, GFX50s + 100/200 f5.6. Two ravens in flight on the right side, but the true scale is shown by fishermen on ice on the low right side. gfx50s + gf100/200 f5.6

And we are off, with Egon Poulsen, the best (perhaps the only) Chelsea FC fan in Greenland :)

highway heading North… gfx50r + gf63 f2.8

Resting lines and drinking (eating) snow on a run below

The originally planned route was a five-days circuit around mountains of Ammassalik island. We managed to get only a quarter of our way into it when the weather turned foul and a strong wind called Piteraq that originates on Greenland's ice cap stopped us from going further. Temperatures dropped to low -20s Celsius and the wind speed reached over 100 km/h. So, we decided to stay at the camp at Sermilik fjord in a decent shelter and wait. Whilst we were waiting for the weather to improve another dog sled team joined us. The moment I saw the team approaching I grabbed my GFX50s camera with a long lens (GF100-200 f5.6) and ran outside. I managed to get to the nearest high point, where I was knee-deep in snow, under a barrage of wind, which was blowing ice into my face and my lens.

Raw power, dog team charging up a snow ledge, with a sequence of shots below. gfx50s + 100/200 f5.6

I saw the team approaching a snow ledge where the dogs would have to charge upwards and I started taking shots. The dogs stretched into a great line that was so organic in the immediate landscape and the lead dog powered his way up, so I was very happy despite all the Piteraq gusts and cold. Typically a sled team in Greenland has a fan formation unlike the line setup in Alaska or Siberia, which helps to sled on frozen sea surfaces, so seeing Greenlandic dogs in one nice line is not common.

Whiteout, Egon Poulsen and his dogs, gfx50s + gf100/200 f5.6

At some point in our trip we got over a ridge and this amazing view opened up with a frozen small plateau and path through the mountains all lit by a low sunset. By that time, we were probably 3-4 hours on a road and my hands and my cameras started to freeze (it was about -25C or lower plus strong wind) but the scenery was so moving that I just had to stand up on the sled, which at that point started to move fast downhill, with one hand on the sled and one with camera trying to grab a couple of shots - see below.

Way back to base at Tasiilaq. Below - turning left in wet snow takes extra effort gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

We have lift off… sometimes all paws are up in the air :) gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Dog sled technology has its origin in Thule culture, which dates to 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. Dog sleds were further refined by the Inuit for travelling and hunting on the frozen waters and fjords in Greenland. The ones in the east are different from the ones in the west, because of the more mountainous terrain, compared to the flatness in the west. It is truly the perfect way to travel in Greenland. The Greenland Dogs were originally brought from Siberia to North America by the Thule people about 1,000 years ago, whilst the first sled dogs can be genetically traced back to 9,500 years in the Siberian Arctic. Greenland dogs are fully adapted to life in the Arctic, they have specific genes to cope with a high fat intake, as do humans and bears who live in the Arctic. They also have a genetic set up that allows them to cope with low oxygen conditions, which presumably contributes to fitness for the extreme demands of long sled-hauling trips. With daily average runs of 60-80km at 9-10km/h speed in freezing environments, across mixed terrain, they definitly need that.

Loved how the dog’s colour matched the colours of granite rocks

The path had a number of frozen lakes, such as the one above. gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Down the hil in the fast lane… gfx50r + gf63 f2.8

Arctic express - Julius Nielsen and his dogs

Into the white - Julius Nielsen and his dogs gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Julius Nielsen and his dogs gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Egon Poulsen with his dogs. gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Julius Nielsen and his dogs on the way back to Tasiilaq, gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Coming home to Tasiilaq, gfx50s + gf63 f2.8

Gear: throughout the trip I used two Fujifilm cameras: GFX50s and GFX50r. One was equipped with a GF63 f2.8 prime (~50mm in FF) and another with a long zoom GF100-200mm f5.6 (~80-160mm in FF). For better ergonomics the GFX50s had a metal grip extension plate (Peipro, part of L-plate) and the GFX50r had LensMate XP2 thumb rest. Both cameras performed as Fujifilm cameras always do - flawlessly. Despite being used at very low temperatures, as low as -25-30C, under heavy wind and snow blasts I did not have any problems with their work and focusing. On one day, the battery in my GFX50r lasted for about 5 hours of use in bitter cold (lower than -20C) and I did not need to replace it. In fact changing it would have been tricky, as my hands were rather frozen by then. The 100-200 f5.6 autofocus locked onto the subject through blizzard’s drifts and the lens being rather light and compact for a medium format system is a wonderful versatile companion for travel where you want to have an extra reach, but do not want to carry a large heavy telephoto. These two bodies and lenses made up a nice compact (for medium format) system, which I kept in a Lowepro 102 slingshot (body+100/200) with a ThinkTank 20 holster (body+63) attached to it. At the end of the day/ride before moving into warmer (even +4C is much warmer than -30C) environment I would place the entire camera “belt” into a large Exped compression dry bag to slowly warm up for an hour or two inside before I would get gear out, if needed. This was necessary to avoid condensation build up due to the fast switch from cold and dry to warm and humid.

Greenland

June 26, 2018

Greenland has became a popular destination to visit. With its beautiful ancient granite mountains, amazing glaciers and icebergs and sense of remoteness it is a great country to visit and photograph. My second visit to Greenland was on an old beautiful two mast oak Danish built ship - Donna Wood. Sailing in the Arctic is something I wanted to try for a long time and when I had an opportunity to photograph Greenlandic unique lanscapes from a different angle, from the waters of the largest fjord in the world Scoresby Sund, I happily grabbed the chance to do so last August.

Throughout almost two weeks I used one X-T2 with the 50-140mm f2.8 lens (my main landscape lens) and a vertical grip. The second X-T2 body had the superb 16-55mm f2.8. After photographing extensively with a tripod and filters in Iceland, just before this trip, I decided to go free of those and only used a tripod when I played with long exposures and occasionally used a CPL when shooting icebergs. One amazing thing about Greenland is how much colour you get when the light is right. Given the right conditions all the kingdom of ice turns on fire and even in poor light icebergs come out in all shapes and shades of blue.

Here is the selection of my favourite shots from the sailing trip in Greenland that show once again how capable the Fujifilm X-T2 camera and lenses are. Handling two X-T2s with vertical grips in the confined space of a zodiac boat was easy. If I could change a few things I would have taken XF100-400mm f4.5-5.6 lens too, as some icebergs and wildlife in Greenland are at a distance. I had a 1.4x teleconverter with me, but it was not enough to bring some scenery closer. I would also like to have a descent drone with a good lens and sensor next time, as iceberg views from above are amazing - something you can see in this stunning clip made by Brynjar Ágústsson. Post-editing was done in Iridient Developer and Lightroom with Nik's collection plugins. Click on any image to adjust it to your screen size.

shadow of our boat at the bottom of the iceberg during sunset

Greenland

August 14, 2016

This year I could not travel far, so this is a retrospective blog - two years ago I took my then brand new X-T1 and X-E1 (as a backup) paired with 55-200, 14, 18-55 and 35mm lenses and went trekking in Greenland and Iceland for three weeks on tour organised by Icelandic Mountain Guides. At that point I had little experience in landscape photography and did not know Fuji X series cameras very well. But they were light, compact with great quality sensors and importantly all this gear could fit into one Lowepro 102 AW sling pack withND filters, SD cards and 12 extra batteries. Long distance hiking for days puts certain demands on weight and size and for that Fuji X cameras were ideal. I had X-T1 with vertical grip and 55-200 attached in the main compartment of the pack and X-E1 with 18-55 in the smaller top compartment. The sling pack was always slung on my front, over the rucksak shoulder straps (38l Osprey Kestrel) on my back with my day gear. The combo was very comfortable and well balanced, so I had no restrictions in movement and could get either of the cameras out quickly to take a shot.
Post-editing was done in Iridient Developer and Lightroom 6. Click on any image to adjust it to your screen size.

Our first camp was at the Karale fjord, a few hours motoboat ride from Kulusuk. The day we arrived the weather was rather grey, but gradually changed to sunny with blue skies and stayed so for more than a week. The granite mountain peaks of East Greenland are about 1000-1500m high and though they look deceptively young they are actually very old having been protected from erosion by an ice cap that is retreating from the coast line now.

Knud Rasmussen glacier, the magnificent glacier flows into icy waters of Karale fjord, East Greenland. The glacier is named after a similarly magnificent man, Danish polar explorer Knud Rasmussen

the turtle-like granite rock comes out of the glacier like a giant prehistoric animal awaken after an ice-age. Image taken at Karale fjord, East Greenland.

fjord patrol, arctic fox in summer coat, Karale fjord area, East Greenland

small icebergs on the way to Kuummiut, the intense blue once were flipped over recently

Our second camp was set in the fjord near the Kuummiut village about 50 miles down south. And the final third stop for a few days was at Tasiilaq - the biggest town (1,800 inhabitants) of East Greenland and has some spectacular views of the fjord with icebergs near by.

I see you -  arctic fox was resting in the shadow of a boulder when I found her/him — I see you - arctic fox was resting in the shadow of a boulder when I found her/him

iceberg near Tasiilaq. the fishing boat gives you an idea of scale

The trip was fantastic and using X-series cameras was a joy. This year the new X-T2 is coming, so I will have even better cameras on my future trips paired with new fantastic weather proof and super sharp 50-140 and 16-55 lenses. Finally, I would also like to stress two points that rarely come up in Fuji promotions and advertising. First - that apart from being amazing in quality, well priced and drop dead gorgeously looking, and supplying endless fun whilst shooting - Fujifilm cameras, especially X-T1/2 and X-Pro1/2 are fantastic for learning photography. They certainly taught me a lot in a very short period time. In fact I learnt on the go whilst trekking. Having everything being done via dials combined with the fact that EVF gives you a live view of any changes is a brilliant interactive educational tool. The second point is that although it is important to showcase work of professional photographers who uses x-series for weddings, events, fashion etc, it is also important to show what one can do with these gems of cameras on travel. Combining travel with learning photography results in the never ending fun during and after the journey e.g. this blog entry.

Icelandic Mountain Guides