In a small village on an island off the coast of East Greenland, people live with the most powerful forces of nature on their doorstep. This is seasonal living in one of its most extreme forms, where the rhythms of the day are dependent on rapidly-changing weather patterns, and one must always be prepared to change plans with a moment's notice. 

Across generations, Greenlanders have learned how to adapt and respond. It's this lesson in developing an interdependent relationship with weather that we aim to explore on this trip. 

Hinoki trips explore themes of well-being in each place we visit. That might look like exploring spiritual traditions, local food-ways, or rewilding ourselves in environments that provoke non-cultivated behavior. In Greenland, we explore our theme of Interdependence. 

What can other cultures can teach us about personal and community-wide adaptations to a changing climate? This trip goes looks toward how we might develop an adaptive mindset--something we all need as we accept climate change.

We feel it is important to directly experience the native culture of Greenland--this critical, global epicenter that sits at the heart of climate change discussions. Community-based tourism has been identified as a viable alternative to other more extractive industries, and we aim to support that.

To lessen our footprint, we will be traveling by foot or kayak for this expedition, with support from a small boat for our gear.

The beauty of slowing down to fully immerse in one area is the opportunity we have to spend more time being active outside. We'll kayak out among the icebergs and whales, forage for wild foods, try to catch arctic fish for dinner, and spend a lot of time hiking out to view the fjords, glaciers and tundra. This is an immersion into the local people's way of life here, spending time in the village before heading out for our kayaking and trekking. 

Our Greenland hosts have achieved the highest world-wide levels of qualification as IFMGA high mountain guides for climbing, mountaineering and backcountry skiing, and UIMLA international mountain leaders for wilderness trekking. They also have life-long local experience and safety systems developed to meet the unique challenges of this isolated arctic, alpine, maritime area. They have dedicated themselves to the pristine and wild land, watching and slowly learning from the complex interplay between ocean currents, snowpack, ice, migratory animals, and weather.

While our guides will uphold the highest professional standards for our expedition, we hope that each team member will also play a full part, bringing whatever skills they have to each trip.

5% of the proceeds from the trip will be granted to a local community conservation project in East Greenland. 

All photos by Helen Spenceley

A $1500 USD non-refundable deposit is required to hold your spot on the trip. 

The remaining balance will be due on May 24th, 2024.

Due to the planning considerations of our local guides in Greenland, who must turn down other work in order to commit to leading our trip, we are unable to offer refunds on any payments after they are made. 

In order to ensure some flexibility in case of life circumstances, we strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance with a "cancel for any reason" policy in place. 

Please be sure to read our general Terms & Conditions, found on our website here under our FAQs.

On our arrival day, we'll get settled into Kulusuk, explore the village, and get to know the residents. 

Our guides will be ready to welcome us to the lodge, where we'll have dinner, get to know each other, and spend a cozy evening preparing for the adventure to come.

We'll spend our first full day exploring from the village, visiting some of the old winter houses, taking boats out to the local summer camps, looking out for whales and getting an insight into where we’ll spend the next week. 

Overnight at the lodge. 

From the beach below the lodge we will set out by sea kayak, following the shores and then crossing the fjord to reach the mountainous island of Apusiaajik. 

Tonight we'll camp near the calving glacier face. 

Leaving the kayaks behind, we’ll cross the Apusiaajik glacier, exploring a complex of ice caves before trekking around 10km to camp at the bay of Tipaarpik. We'll meet our second guide, Juku, there and camp. 

Juku is a Kulusuk resident and local Inuit hunter. His unique perspective on Inuit life and culture in Greenland will help to shape the experience we have exploring this wild terrain. 

Together with Juku, we will lay artic char nets, go mussel- and seaweed-collecting and forage for edible plants on the tundra. 

We will cook our harvest as dinner together on the beach at Tipaarpik and overnight there. 

Travelling by boat, we’ll make the hop over to a local island. Following a mountain stream inland, we’ll climb to the summit (c. 700m) and then overnight at a wilderness cabin. 

Today will feature a traverse of Apusiaajik, crossing two glaciers and a high pass to reach the western side of the island, where we will camp.

After our final breakfast at camp we will prepare for our departure boat transfer back to Kulusuk. We'll enjoy a large lunch together at the lodge (along with a well-deserved hot shower) before packing up and heading to the airport for our evening flight back to Keflavik.

If you are interested, we can also plan for an optional extended stay for you in Greenland to visit other regions of the country.