Packing for backpacking in South Greenland is the same as any back country endeavor that involves living out of a backpack for a week. You need the usual suspects, like a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, first aid kit, compass, hat, bug spray, bug net, lots of wool socks, etc.
But Greenland offers a unique experience: It has no roads connecting the settlements and towns. Transportation is by foot or boat transfer. This is not the land of Hertz Rental Car and Lyft. Everything I pack will be carried on my back in an Osprey Xena 85L backpack.
Osprey Airporter Pack Protector
Osprey Airporter Pack Protector
Flying from Minneapolis, MN to Narsarsuaq, Greenland with a layover in Reykjavik means 8.5 hours in the belly of Delta Airlines and Air Iceland Express and rides on grease-caked baggage conveyor belts through sorting machines and junctions with sharp edges.
A backpack’s safety during air transport is always a lottery. My Osprey Xena 85L pack has been my multi-day pack for about six years. It’s still in perfect condition with many years of life left–as long as it’s protected during air transport.
The size large Osprey Airporter Pack Protector ($55) zips into a small, lightweight pouch that I can clip to the outside of my Xena or stuff in the top compartment and holds packs from 75L up to 135L.
Primus PriceTech Stove 1.3L
I look forward to embracing the local food of Greenland. On the off chance I grow weary of Arctic char, muskox, snow hare and lumpfish roe blinis, I have options. Plus, bringing my Primus PrimeTech Stove 1.3L ($149) means saving money because I won’t have to eat out as much.
TrailFork Backpacking Meals
TrailFork Oatmeal compostable and burnable packaging burning in a campfire on Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands
This is a cost-saving measure and the reason I’m bringing my Primus stove. The price of freeze-dried camping food in Greenland will be equal to the GNP of many a small nation. I first met TrailFork Backpacking Meals ($9-$12) when I was sea kayaking on the Apostle Islands.
It’s good for the environment because all TrailFork meals are packaged in 100% home-compostable packaging and are burnable in a campfire. Greenland is a country that hasn’t been soiled by mass tourism (yet). I will do my part to keep it that way.
LOWA Mauria GTX Hiking Boots
LOWA Mauria GTXs get a pre-Greenland spa day
Backpacking in South Greenland means a hiking landscape full of contrasts – from green and lush hillsides to barren rock deserts and rugged mountain terrain. I expect marshy earth, river crossings and boots schlorped in mud and sheep manure. “Trails” marked only by deteriorating cairns.
Though I have a newer pair of LOWA boots, it’s my 5-year old LOWA Mauria GTX ($325), the gem of my gear closet, that I’m taking. They are waterproof. Have outstanding traction, support, stability and reliability.
Most important, they have the hiking cred I need for this trip: Five Colorado 14’ers, Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps, Norway and Scotland.
Wuru Wool Hiker’s Wool
It was “Richard” from the comment page and his “relief for hammer toe on long trek” that swayed me to try Wuru Wool Hiker’s Wool ($11)over the tried and true Moleskin.
Richard “left for a month-long trek in Nepal with open sores on the knuckles of 5 toes due to recently-developed hammer toes, not sure if I would be able to complete the trek.”
Poor Richard. At the moment I don’t have open sores on my feet and it’d be nice to keep it that way while backpacking in South Greenland .
Jack Wolfskin River Rain Pants
No matter where I travel, menacing and black Nimbostratus clouds follow. Even on a trip to Death Valley four years ago. The locals hailed me as a modern-day Chaac on that trip. I’m taking a risk with the Jack Wolfskin River Rain pants ($145).
As of posting, they haven’t arrived yet and I haven’t had a chance to test them with the garden hose. But they had me at “waterproof”, “windproof”, “lightweight” and “small pack size”. Full product review when I get back.
Lightweight, packable, marriage saver
Outside Inside Backpack Mancala Game
I am 100% confident that I will encounter rain while backpacking in South Greenland. Being rain bound in a tent for days without internet is both the nucleus and fountainhead for an argument.
Re-channel your inner Boston Strangler with the Outside Inside Backpack Mancala Game ($21), a soothing process of strategically moving beads around the board to win. Then the argument can start!
Kuhl Jetstream Rain Trench
I love the Kuhl Jetstream Rain Trench ($199) rain jacket because it’s a longer cut than a normal rain jacket. It also folds into its own pocket and takes up very minimal space in my pack.
I got this early in the Spring and found that even though its light weigh, it still offered decent protection from chilly wind. When paired with a down sweater, it kept me warm to about 30 degrees.
Kora Shola 250 Leggings
Another gem from the gear closet. I got these Kora Shola 230 Leggings ($145)about four or five years ago and they’re my favorite long undies when out in the elements and cold weather. Made of Yak wool, they are warm and breathable, no matter how much vigorous exercise I do, and they never feel wet from my perspiration.
They’re also humane. The wool is collected only during the yak’s natural bi-annual shed when the farmer (almost literally) walks around the pasture picking up the shedded undercoat and giving the yak a nice brushing. Merino sheep are still sheared.
I’ll be in a tent about half the time I’m in the country and the nights will get down to the high 30’s to low 40’s. These will be great for sleeping and wearing under hiking or rain pants.
GSI Microlite 720 Flip
Constructed with wafery-thin 2mm walls that are actually thinner than most single wall plastic bottles, the GSI Microlite 720 Flip ($30) keeps cold beverages cold and hot beverages hot.
I’ve had this bottle for about a year now and have used it sea kayaking, winter camping, backpacking and cycling (fits great in a water bottle cage). When filled with hot tea or coffee, it keeps it warm for about twelve hours.
Stoked Roasters Stoked Stix
American goodwill in a neat packet
Coffee is one of Greeland’s national drinks and they take it seriously. Kaffemiks, social gatherings around a cup of coffee, are to Greenlandic culture what Friday happy hour is to the US. I’m bringing Stoked Roasters Stoked Stix ($9) to spread goodwill.
My itinerary includes staying over at sheep farms. I want to offer my host a gift from the United States. The packets are lightweight, convenient and instant. The taste and flavor is outstanding. The empty packets can even be burned in the campfire.
