Dogsledding in Uummannaq

By Lasse Kyed Verified Expert

Published: 12/06/2020

Reading time: 2 minutes

Recently I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the remote island of Uummannaq, a tiny place with only about 1.300 inhabitants, but incredibly rich in natural beauty!

Dog sledding on the sea ice, mountain in the background

The island is far enough north that the ocean freezes over every winter, surrounding the island with a white blanket with the occasional icebergs frozen stuck creating the odd icy hills here and there on the otherwise flat landscape.

Once the sea ice is thick enough, people venture out with their dogsleds to go ice fishing, and at a certain point it will be so strong it can carry the weight of snowmobiles and even cars!

If you know a little about Greenland you might have noticed that there are no roads connecting the cities, meaning you have to sail or fly to every destination, but for a short period every winter here in Uummannaq, taxis can drive from village to village over a frozen sea!

I went there for a week and spent the majority of my time dogsledding with locals. We slept in a tiny cabin on the sea ice the first two nights, and the second night we were blessed with an amazing show of northern lights in vivid colours!

A man in front of a small hut on the sea ice, pink sun in the background

Stephen Gollan I both ran out onto the ice scrambling for our tripods to capture this incredible show as it only got wilder and wilder!

Green and purple northern lights over a small hut

I especially wanted to try and get a photo of a sled dog under the northern lights but they were a bit too curious of what I was trying to do and wouldn’t sit still. Better luck next time!

We explored the area and the incredible scenery of a landscape dotted with icebergs which will be completely different every year, making it one of the most interesting places to go as a photographer, in my opinion.

Sled dogs running on the sea ice in Uummannaq

The dogsledding was especially memorable, and even though I had plenty of clothes on I sometimes had to jump off and run alongside the dogs to warm up a bit, as we were travelling immense distances in between incredibly dramatic mountains. An experience I will never forget!