Running with bears

The otherworldly, icy landscapes of Greenland offer a true wilderness adventure - but how about upping the ante, and going for a run in polar bear country?

- JACQUES MARAIS

I have been to Greenland a few times. Back in 2003, I was invited to cover an adventure race called the Arctic Team Challenge. It was a tough assignment, working 23-hour days to keep pace with the week-long event. I don't think I ever really recovered from that period of total immersion in Greenland's ice and snow.

It also took me a while to recover from the solid drinking session I enjoyed with then CEO of Visit Greenland (their tourism agency), Anders Stenbakken, a Dane who took a liking to me.

It was the start of a friendship that resulted in me being invited back to Ammassalik (new name: Tasiilaq) in 2005. On that occasion, I was a crash-test dummy on a two-week dog-sledding trip. The first three days involved learning how to pack our sleds and manage the team of dogs – and how not to pee your pants when a Greenlandic husky grabs you by the shoulder. They're big brutes. The lead dog Otsuna took umbrage at my wonky pronunciation of "Go!" in Greenlandic – the command sounded somewhere between a Viking vomiting and a leopard coughing. I thought my Afrikaans accent would do the trick, but Otsuna disagreed and I left the decision-making to him after that. This was a good move. I got my dog-sledding licence – yup, I'm officially a musher for up to 12 dogs – and my fascination with Greenland only deepened. For the next two decades, I dreamt of a return visit.

The message came late in 2024: "Do you want to sail up Scoresby Sund on a 100-year-old schooner and help us with a trail-running recce and photo shoot?" The sender of the message was Florian Piper, marketing manager for Oceanwide Expeditions. There was no answer other than, "Hell, yes!"