Tour de Force

Onboard a Russian Icebreaker in the High Arctic.

- Tony Fleming

Among high-latitude junkies, the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov is a legend. Built in Finland in 1981, she has spent much of her working life taking intrepid travelers to the ends of the Earth. I join this venerable ship at Kangerlussuaq, in southwest Greenland, following a charter flight from Ottawa, Ontario. She has arrived here from Vladivostok, by way of northern Siberia, Svalbard, Iceland, and the east coast of Greenland.

My fellow passengers are mostly inveterate travelers who seem to have visited every country imaginable. We number around 90, comprising 18 nationalities. Without question, the person who has traveled the farthest is Chris Hadfield, who has made several trips into space, commanding the International Space Station in 2013. Like most of those on board, I share a desire to visit remote and hard-to-reach places. Not for me: lounging on a balmy tropical beach under swaying palms, nursing a drink sporting a miniature umbrella. Call me nuts, but I prefer to experience nature in the raw, where simple survival cannot be taken for granted. That said, I prefer to visit such places on a suitable ship and, when appropriate, under the protective umbrella of an experienced tour company. Such a ship is Kapitan Khlebnikov and such a company is Quark Expeditions.

JOURNEY BEGINS

Once aboard, we head for open water down the 90-mile Sondre Stromfjord and, overnight, reach Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest town. This is the only port on the entire trip where the ship is able to come alongside and we can walk ashore. Here we take on board 700 tons of fuel, and at a rate of 60 tons per hour, giving us time to tour the town and visit the bustling harbor.