National Geographic Traveller

The ice age

Arctic on

screen

Don’t miss new BBC2

series Arctic Live this

November. Kate Humble,

Simon Reeve and Gordon

Buchanan will set up camp on

Canada’s Hudson Bay, ‘the

polar bear capital of

the world’.

IMAGES: ISTOCKPHOTO; GETTY; CARL JOHAN UTZI

U

ntil 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). SARAH BARRELL

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 the hotel’s new Wilderness

Camps? simplysweden.co.uk

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.

As winter falls, a whole host of adventure travel

opportunities present themselves...

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. action-outdoors.co.uk

Icehotel’s Wilderness Camp cabin

24 natgeotraveller.co.uk

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