

The best back yard I’ve ever had
Published: 12/06/2020
Reading time: 3 minutes

This was the view from my living room window last weekend. I was wandering out of the kitchen and did a double-take, suddenly captivated by this breath-taking view that had simply presented itself to me without my having to so much as step outside the front door. ‘Do I really live here?’ I thought. I forgot what I was doing and just watched this guy walking up the pristine white snow that had fallen overnight. Just him and his dog. I opened the window and let the crisp, cold air pour in, bringing the scene outside right into my living room. But I felt like a voyeur, somehow trespassing on their privacy, breathing their air, and I closed the window again, returning the outside scene to its rightful place.
This view, out the back of our house, has to be one of the best things about living in Nuuk. Our backyard is this mountain – sometimes an immense and silent backdrop to the falling snow, sometimes a foreboding greyness in the thundering wind and rain.

When the snow is deep and powdery, kids flock to the back of the house to dig holes and tunnels. Our son has been known to leap, with his friends, from the window, disappearing in howls of laughter into the powdery whiteness below. One memorable and very snowy winter we dug a snow cave immediately behind the house – a cosy and silent hideaway that we filled with rugs, sleeping bags, and pillows, and lit with candles. Being only metres from our living room window and our home wifi, our little family snuggled in for the night to see a Netflix film, watching our frozen breaths condense above us as we drifted off to sleep.
I like to sit with the window open, breathing in the cool air and listening to the nothingness radiating from our mountain. But sometimes I am surprised and flinch at a swooshing sound as the occasional skier shoots past, sometimes waving from only metres away. Again, I feel that I have somehow crossed between two worlds, that I am not entitled to experience this pristine natural beauty, sitting, as I am, at my dining table.

In the winter, the midday sun baths our mountain in brilliant white light. In the early spring, the sun’s drawn-out descent coats the lingering snow in a blanket of pastel evening light, first yellow, then pink. In late spring, water pours over its rocky slopes and rushes down the stream by the side of our house in a surging torrent. And in summer people wander, zig-zagging, loitering on the bushy slope, hunched over, chatting and collecting blueberries.
And only once in a while, there is an even better view of our mountain than from our living room. On those rare occasions, I lie in bed in the darkness, watching the ghostly, green lights – drifting, dancing – silhouetting the dark horizon of the mountain that is our backyard.
Read more travel blogs from Arctic Alien
-
Boat tour among icebergs | Tasiilaq | East Greenland
Tour startsTasiilaqDuration2 hoursFrom 1100 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Snowmobile ride | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration3 hoursFrom 1595 DKKSee more -
1 to 6 Passengers Included
Captains Favorite Strait Cruise Sullorsuaq | Private tour | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration8 hoursFrom 17000 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Oqaatsut Kayaking Day | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration7 hoursFrom 2195 DKKSee more -
Price for group
Experience traditional Inuit drum dancing | Tasiilaq | East Greenland
Tour startsTasiilaqDuration0.5 hoursFrom 1300 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
5-Day Adventure Camp in the Heart of Nuuk Fjord | West Greenland
Tour startsNuukDuration5 daysFrom 13000 DKKSee more -
4.00(1)
The Arctic Sauna Experience | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration1.5 hoursFrom 660 DKKSee more -
FLIGHTS FROM DENMARK INCLUDED!
Luxury Arctic Escape – Aurora Cabins & Helicopter Glacier Tour | 5-Days | Ilulissat
Tour startsFrom CopenhagenDuration5 daysFrom 31300 DKKSee more -
5-Days Above The Arctic Circle | Sisimiut | West Greenland
Tour startsSisimiutDuration5 daysFrom 9461 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Tundra And Wildlife Tour | Kangerlussuaq | West Greenland
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration1.5 hoursFrom 350 DKKSee more -
Accommodation and tours included!
4 Days of Ice Sheet Camping, Arctic Kayaking, and Glacier BBQs | Kangerlussuaq
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration4 daysFrom 9500 DKKSee more -
Includes 7 to 10 passengers!
Archaeological sailing | Private Charter | Qasigiannguit | Disko Bay
Tour startsQasigiannguitDuration3 hoursFrom 5000 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)1 To 6 Passengers Included
Private Catch’n’Eat | Qooqqut Nuan | Nuuk
Tour startsNuukDuration6 hoursFrom 14500 DKKSee more -
4.50(2)
Snowshoe hike and restaurant H8 | Oqaatsut | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration6 hoursFrom 1895 DKKSee more -
Luxury Multi-Day Tour
7-Day Exclusive Luxury Escape: A Premier Greenland Adventure | West Greenland
Tour startsNuukDuration7 daysFrom 78350 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Ukkusissaq Mountain Hike | Nuuk
Tour startsNuukDuration5 hoursFrom 2195 DKKSee more -
5.00(5)
Meet Sled Dogs | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration1.5 hoursFrom 430 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)
Sea Safari | Sisimiut | North Greenland
Tour startsSisimiutDuration2 hoursFrom 1000 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Northern Lights Tour | Kangerlussuaq | West Greenland
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration2 hoursFrom 550 DKKSee more