The Rough. Real. Remote. fieldnotes part 4

Hey, it’s Arne again, still enjoying life on our Rough. Real. Remote. adventure, and this time it’s all about snowmobiling.

The Arctic and snowmobiling make a great couple, and in winter when I’m not out there heliskiing or skitouring you can find me on my snowmobile.

Snowmobiling heaven
I live in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, and in coming up to Sisimiut, what always amazes me is how important snowmobiling is up here. There are almost 700 snowmobiles in town, and you might walk past houses with 6 or 7 parked out in front.

People use snowmobiles like others might use cars or bikes to get around town. They drive to work, they pick up their kids at school, they truck things to building sites, they take snowmobile taxis, and more than anything they go on backcountry adventures that literally start on the edge of town.

And after our amazing dogsled trip I wanted to give Stefan a different sense of the raw nature out here. We joined a crew of local riders from Sisimiut for a day of boondocking, as snowmobilers call fun freeriding with no particular goal in mind.

The Støvlbæk Brothers
Two of those guys are the Støvlbæk brothers, Krister and Deo, who are modern pioneers of the sport, and they had agreed to take us to the very peak of the Aqqutikitsoq Glacier 40 kilometers from Sisimiut.

The backcountry between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq is perfect for this sport since it is the largest, most accessible, and ridable mountain zone of any region in the country.

I was keen to see how Stefan would make the transition from his nimble snowboard to a 400 pound machine, but the guy just has a natural talent for this stuff, and his professional nature and ability to ride anything on snow impressed the whole crew. It wasn’t long till he was doing donut-shaped spins and throwing the sled around like a seasoned rider. Good stuff!

Of course, neither Stefan nor I can match Deo Støvlbæk who spent the day jumping off windlips, climbing steep couloirs, and riding his snowmobile pretty much like he was just jibbing around on a snowboard in the fun park.

You know, it’s almost like the snowmobile is a natural extension of that guy, and when he and his friends talk about riding you can tell that there is a deep connection with nature and the environment around them. It is modern cultural history in the making.

And to me this is what snowmobiling is all about. Getting out there with a bunch of friends sharing a passion for adventure instead of spending time naming all the tricks or competing in races.

Instead we ride, we talk riding, we lounge in the sun on a peak with 360 degree views from the sea to the Ice Cap, and we enjoy this place which has more space than we can ever explore in our lifetimes.

P.S.
A few days after we left Sisimiut, Deo had an epic moment. He was riding just outside of town, trying to summit Qoroorsuaq No. 2, which no one has ever done before.

His helmet cam catches the ride better than I could ever describe it. Check it out here. And yes, he totals the machine, which happened to incur the wrath of his Mom – since it was actually hers!