I’d only tried snowmobiling once before, in Canada back in the 90s, so when I went snowmobiling in Greenland, it was like starting from the beginning again.
I turned up at PGI Greenland to check in for my first excursion with them, 3 hours of snowmobiling. Joaquin would be guiding me today and I first had to get kitted out. Joaquin found it very amusing how bundled up with layers I was with 4 layers on the bottom half and 4 layers on the top half, or 5 if you count the fact I’ve got a double layered coat, fleece underneath and waterproof on top which detach into 2 separate coats. It was Greenland in March and around -20 degrees, of course I was going to be well wrapped up. He recommended for snowmobiling, that I wear their padded dungarees and a padded coat and only keep 2 layers on underneath. The dungarees and jacket were so enormous I looked like the Abominable Snowman! He gave me padded mittens to wear and a balaclava to go under my crash helmet. It was like I was going to be doing Formula One racing! Not Formula One racing as it turned out. Moto GP!
There was one other person on the snowmobiling tour, so it was just the 3 of us and Joaquin said I had a choice. We had 3 snowmobiles. So we could either take 3 and drive one each, but he warned me it would be around an hour driving each way. Or we could take 2 and I could ride with him. I asked him if driving the snowmobile was difficult and he said it wasn’t, but you had to move with the snowmobile, shift in your seat and lean into corners or if you were going sideways along a hillside you had to lean to balance things out. So I wasn’t going to be Nigel Mansell, I was going to be Valentino Rossi! Anyway I decided I was going to drive. That’s what I’d come here intending to do, the opportunity was here for me to drive and if there’d been more people on the tour I wouldn’t have had that option, so I went for it! I have to say, even though it was with some trepidation I started out driving the snowmobile, I absolutely loved it. I was completely buzzing when I came back.
I got my basic instruction on how to drive a snowmobile, the throttle was a lever on the right hand handlebar, the brake was like a bike brake on the left hand side. And there was a red emergency stop button… Joaquin showed me how to shift my weight when we were cornering and then we were off to have a practice.
We went to a snowfield to practise cornering, I was okay at it, but I had to get used to standing up completely to shift my weight and really lean over when we were going round corners. We tried one more time and then we were off! Joaquin said he would keep looking back to make sure I was okay and he’d slow down or stop and wait for me as necessary, that I was not to try and catch him because he’d just go faster. He also said the dog sleds had priority so we had to pull over for them, wait if there wasn’t room to overtake and only overtake when there was plenty of space. With all that in mind, we set off.
It is physically quite demanding with all the moving and leaning you have to do, plus I was quite tense to start with. I’m no natural athlete and I’m not very big either, handling a snowmobile was quite hard work, it was a heavy machine. It was less physical when I relaxed a bit more, but still reasonably difficult. I just had to follow what Joaquin did and lean the same way he did when he did. He warned me when I went uphill just to keep going, not to stop or I’d be stuck. So I made sure I accelerated up the hills even though there were some tight turns, quick leans and I was bouncing around like in the General Lee in the Dukes of Hazzard on some of those fast corners! As there had been a blizzard the day before, there was a lot of fresh snow on the ground, Joaquin also took us on the more difficult trail. So he said I’d done really well driving for an hour on the difficult trail in harder conditions than usual.
We did see quite a few dog sled teams while we were out, I bet the people on them thought we were right hooligans, tearing past on noisy machines, disturbing the tranquility! But I was having such an adrenaline rush. There was one really steep downhill section with seriously deep snow that Joaquin wouldn’t let me drive down. He drove his snowmobile down, walked back uphill, told me to walk down the hill and it was so steep I actually slid most of the way which was great fun. Joaquin drove my snowmobile down for me, just as well, I don’t think I could have got down that section without getting stuck.
View of Ilulissat Ice Fjord
We had a stop at a viewpoint to view the ice fjord, so we did a short hike to it. Joaquin helped me over the difficult bits, he was very good at watching me to make sure I was okay and helping me if I was struggling. The huge padded dungarees and enormous jacket, both of which were far too big for me hampered me quite a lot, which added to the difficulty with the slippery, uphill climb. When we finally got to a good spot to view the ice fjord Joaquin produced a flask of tea. I’d had this fantastic snowmobile drive and was now looking at this beautiful view over to the ice fjord drinking tea to keep myself warm. How much more perfect could it get?
We came back on a different trail so I didn’t have to negotiate that very deep snow, this time uphill! I know it is possible to do very steep climbs in snowmobiles from seeing the race up the mountain in Jackson Hole 4 years ago, but there was no way I could handle a snowmobile like the lads in that race could! I think that section of the trail would have been difficult for me to manage going either up or down, I’d probably have overturned the snowmobile.
The drive back was immensely enjoyable even though I was cautious on downhill sections. Joaquin kept holding both his arms out to illustrate that he was neither accelerating or braking, but I felt more comfortable braking a little bit to slow the snowmobile down. However, I was more used to the snowmobile now and how to move and balance so I was better at driving it. I was definitely on a high when I came back and ended up driving quite well after my apprehensive start in difficult conditions on a challenging trail. Something I found with my excursions with PGI Greenland, the guides were really encouraging and gave a lot of praise and compliments to make you more confident and make sure you were enjoying the experience. Without doubt, that was the best thing I’d done in Greenland so far. And it was to get even better the following night.
The undisputed high spot of the two days of tours with PGI Greenland was the snowmobiling night tour to see the Northern Lights. I was the only one booked on the tour, so they decided they were basically going to have a staff outing and take me with them! Four of the staff, both guides and office staff went out on a hunt to see the Northern Lights with me. The snowmobiles were out ready when we got to the garage, once again I was kitted up like the Abominable Snowman. Joaquin said the small snowmobile was for me to drive, the same one I’d driven the day before. Now he knew I could drive one, they’d just got one out for me ready. There would be a snowmobile in front, I’d be in the middle and the other snowmobile would be at the back.
The Northern Lights were already visible and a beautiful green was illuminating the sky at the location of the snowmobile garage. And then we set off driving. The aurora was glowing in the sky the whole time I was driving the snowmobile. I was trying to watch the sky while I was concentrating on the trail, it was easy at first, I could keep glancing at the sky because the trail was straight and flat. I can’t describe how beautiful it was driving a snowmobile across the snowfields watching the green glow of the Northern Lights in the sky. And no one else in town does night time snowmobile tours, so no one else was out, just 5 of us on 3 snowmobiles. It was pretty special.
After the straight, flat section there was a long uphill section and I had to give my full concentration to driving the trail and forget about looking at the sky for a while. But then when we got to the spot to watch the aurora, we turned off the engines, had tea and biscuits, took photos and enjoyed the dazzling display of dancing lights in the night sky. We were all so excited to see them and they were amazing. It was a magical night, a combination of a personal tour and an office outing, I was very fortunate. We watched the aurora dancing for a while, mostly green with pink and purple flashes like I’d seen before and also a shooting star that flew across the sky at one point.
Joaquin asked if I wanted to drive back and I said that actually I’d just ride back because I was tired and I didn’t feel like concentrating on the trail. There was a lot of going downhill on the way back and I took downhill sections slowly and I’d probably be worse in the dark. I’d driven there in the dark, I’d had 2 hours driving the snowmobile during the day on Friday too. So Joaquin took my snowmobile and I rode back with Jose. It was all so personal and made me feel very special, that’s what good customer service is, they were all so wonderful and did a marvellous job. I raved about them to everyone I met, they have made my visit to Greenland special and driving out on snowmobiles to see the Northern Lights will be my enduring memory of my trip to Greenland.
I travelled to Greenland in the second half of March 2017.
I travelled to Ilulissat with Air Greenland from Copenhagen via Kangerlussuaq.
My snowmobiling tours were with PGI Greenland, a seasonal adventure activities tour operator based in Ilulissat with offices in the town centre.
Read more about my adventures in Greenland.
Camp Ice Cap
My First Day in Greenland
Exploring Ilulissat
Snowshoe Hike to View the Kangia
Two Day Dog Sled Adventure
