Ice age: Adventure travel trips

As winter falls, a whole host of adventure travel opportunities present themselves

By Sarah Barrell
Published 29 Oct 2016, 09:00 BST, Updated 7 Jul 2021, 17:17 BST

Skiing in Kulusuk, Greenland. Image: Getty.

Photograph by Getty Images

Until recently, Greenland has largely been off limits for skiers lacking access to a helicopter. But this year, Action Outdoors has made inroads (well, ski routes) into a place largely untouched by blade. What Greenland lacks in ski resorts (there are none), it makes up for in wild beauty and skiable terrain. Fancy exploring remote fjords, 1,000ft-high glacier walls and endless backcountry? Then join a small-group tour debuting this winter that penetrates this vast country's fjordland by sailing ship, depositing skiers at the base of mountains, where they can use skins to climb up, and off-piste skills to come down.

The trip includes ski touring, mountain trekking, iceberg climbing and sailing (should you feel the urge). Trips will likely take in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Accommodation is aboard the six-berth Nina Soraya, specially designed for high-latitude sailing. It's crewed by an accomplished support team that includes a former Special Forces sniper (someone has to be on guard for those polar bears).

Trips start at around €2,500 (£2,150) per person per week, all-inclusive (flights extra). Alternatively, the Nina Soraya can be chartered with skipper and crew, from €10,000 (£8,600) a week.

Cruising for... a bruising? 

Apart from a few small-ship group tours, it's been tricky to explore the Arctic — until recently. Now, with the arrival of luxury cruise liner, Crystal Serenity, a new era of Arctic tourism looms — much to the displeasure of environmental groups, fearful of the impact on the shrinking polar region.

Ice Hotel: Year round

Icehotel 365, the sister property of Swedish Lapland's Icehotel, opens this month on the shores of the River Torne, with 22 rooms, a sculpture gallery and an ice bar, lit and kept frozen, year round, by solar energy. And if that's not quite adventurous enough, why not take a snowmobile safari across the tundra to spend a night at Simply Sweden's new Wilderness Camps?

Published in the November 2016 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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