Wilderness Trekking in Erik the Red's Land, Qassiarsuk to Narsaq, Greenland

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• published: 03 Sep 2015
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This 6-day 67 km plus wilderness trek traversing the Narsaq Peninsula, dubbed Eric the Red's Land on account of the Norseman settling at Brattahlíð in 985, is one of the finest long distance treks Greenland has to offer, boasting panoramic and varied views combined with exciting and fascinating history and geography. The trek crosses a wide variety of terrain, starting with the sheep farming areas near Qassiarsuk and Silisat before climbing 600m onto a plateau area of bogs and numerous lakes. The flora is very varied with a wide variety of flowering Arctic plants. This part of the peninsula is underlain by sandstones and basalt rocks about 1.3 billion years old and there are fabulous views to the south across the Tunulliarfik Fjord and its many icebergs. Mid way through the trek is a descent to 400m and the emergency hut (a pretty crude and poorly maintained shack) followed by a gradual re-ascent to the high point of 800m at a col. After the col, the route enters a high mountainous area almost devoid of vegetation. This contains the Ilimaussaq igneous complex – a series of rare intrusive igneous rocks - which once formed the cores of volcanoes resulting from continental rifting (much like the present day Eastern African Rift). Erosion has caused the deep cores of the volcanoes to be visible, a sight rarely seen in the world; the Ilimaussaq complex is the best example worldwide. This region contains economically viable amounts of rare earths and uranium, although disquiet about exploiting the latter has so far precluded any real mining activity. There is however, one abandoned trial mine at Kvanefjeld which a short deviation from the route to Narsaq allows you to visit. From the mine, a stony track through sheep farming country takes you the approximately 7km to the fishing port of Narsaq past a bay stuffed full of icebergs. Accommodation at Narsaq can be found at the Narsaq Hotel or Guesthouse. The hotel also has a café/restaurant. We stayed at Narsarsuaq (near the international airport) across the Tunalliarfik Fjord from the village of Qassiarsuk, the starting point of the trek, which was a short boat transfer away. Similarly, at Narsaq, a boat took us back up the fjord to Narsarsuaq. The route that we took could feasibly be undertaken in 4-5 days, but we chose not to rush in order to comprehensively film it for posterity and to visit the Kvanefjeld Mine and mineral dumps. Music tracks featured in this video: Summertime: Norah Jones Breeze: Xavier Rudd Morning Yearning: Ben Harper Feeling Good: Ane Brun Orange Sky: Alexi Murdoch Sunrise: Norah Jones To download a GPS version of a trek across this peninsula, see http://mountainviews.ie/track/3107 Thanks to Jacky in Blue Ice (http://www.blueice.gl) for organising boat transfers