Total Isolation
Greenland
500 people. No roads connecting them to anywhere. The most remote settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
500 people. No roads connecting them to anywhere. The most remote settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
Ittoqqortoormiit sits on the east coast of Greenland, at the mouth of one of the largest fjord systems in the world. There are 500 people living here, all Greenlandic Inuit, and no roads connecting them to any other settlement. In winter the pack ice closes off the sea approach and the only connection to the outside world is a helicopter from Iceland, which runs twice a week weather permitting. The hunting culture — polar bear, musk ox, narwhal, seal — is not a heritage performance here. It is how people eat. The landscape is one of the most dramatic in the Arctic: 15-metre high icebergs floating in the fjord, mountains rising directly from the water, the Northern Lights from October to March.
Ittoqqortoormiit is what it looks like when human beings make a decision to live somewhere extraordinary regardless of the difficulty of that decision. The 500 people here have made that decision every generation.
The Forgotten Atlas
The Inuit of east Greenland have maintained a hunting culture largely intact that has adapted to modern tools — snowmobiles, rifles, GPS — while retaining its essential character. The dog sled remains in use. The traditional kayak (the qajaq) is still built by hand. The knowledge required to hunt on sea ice, to read weather in a landscape with no weather stations, to navigate by stars and landmarks in conditions that make GPS unreliable — this knowledge is passed from parent to child and is as sophisticated as any technical education. Visitors who come with respect and curiosity are welcomed.
Air Iceland Connect operates flights from Akureyri, Iceland to the nearby airstrip of Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point). From there a helicopter operates to the settlement. The combination of helicopter dependency and weather variability means that plans here must be extremely flexible — delays of multiple days are not unusual. Accommodation is in a small guesthouse operated by the community. Excursions — dog sledding in winter, boat trips in summer, hiking — are arranged through local guides.
Allow a week minimum and build in buffer days for weather delays. Contact the local guesthouse directly to arrange your visit. Summer (June — August) for midnight sun. Winter for Northern Lights and dog sledding.
Coloured wooden houses on the rocky coast. The church, the school, the hunter's cooperative, the helipad. A complete small community at the far edge of the world.
Scoresby Sound — the largest fjord system in the world. Boat trips in summer navigate between icebergs the size of cathedrals.
In winter the sea freezes and the landscape becomes a white plain stretching to the horizon. Dog sled trips cross it in conditions that are extreme and extraordinary.
Meals are provided at the guesthouse. Fresh Arctic char, musk ox, seal — when available. The most geographically specific meals you will ever eat.
If invited to eat with a local family, accept. The food will be from the hunt. The experience is irreplaceable.
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