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Arriving in West Greenland
via the vast and barren ice cap |
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An American finds that the easiest way to West Greenland is via Iceland. So the approach is from the East, across the vast ice barrens of the interior. Ice blankets more than 80% of the country, nearly 700,000 square miles. In Greenland, life is truly lived "on the edge" of the island. At first, through the airplane window, the ice cap is indistinguishable from the clouds. Then it begins to reflect colors in the sun while patches of dust and cold lakes of tanzanite blue and emerald green come into view. |
As the plane makes its descent, the white surface becomes less smooth. Ridges and crevasses, cracks and sharp edges pattern their way across the ice. |
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 Finally,
coastal mountains appear. Holding tight to low-lying clouds, they
seem stubby ... but gruesome.
Wind pushes the clouds among the peaks like water rushing through canyons. At a break in the mountain range, glaciers appear. The toe looks tiny from the air, as though one could just step up over it. But in some spots it reaches from mountain top to mountain top in a hard glittering line, resisting the rush to the sea. In other spots, the glaciers crumble and slough off ice, creating a morass of slush and icebergs. |
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| The dikes of Holland are child's play compared to the coastal mountains of Greenland which hold back 10 percent of the earth's fresh water supply -- in the form of ice. Snowflakes from thousands of years ago. |
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| As we approach the very edge of the land, 'bergs wander toward open water. In the intense Arctic sun, they make rainbows and bask in the golden spotlight. |
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| Now, civilization is in site -- if you can call a village more than 150 miles above the Arctic Circle "civilization." With a population of only about 5,000, Ilulissat is the third largest town in Greenland. It's name, not surprisingly, means "iceberg." A cruise ship lies at anchor just off the tiny Ilulissat harbor. It is a symbol of the town's livelihood. Although only about 50,000 tourists visit anywhere in Greenland each year, this town captures most of them because of its proximity to the ice fjords. And finally our destination, Ilulissat International Airport, comes into view. |
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