This morning, my alarm clock sounds very early and I've never been so happy to hear that sound. The night was beautiful with a green boreal aurora dancing in the sky.
It's still dark outside but I'm going to learn to know you more, my dear Kangerlussuaq, from the inside. Walk among your mountains, slide on your frozen fjords and try to watch your wonderful muskox… With me, Julia and Gabriel from Brazil. We are on the verge of hiking with an exceptional local guide: Jens-Pavia. Our taxi driver is waiting outside. I'm ready and screaming. Let's jump in the car. This day is going to be CRAZY! " Smiles are on all faces and light hearts. " I know the route of the guide and I look forward to this meeting with great impatience. I feel privileged to share time with this master. Julia and Gabriel are in the same mood. On the road to the meeting point, we would go with the driver of Greenland. He's so keen to exchange with us. I try a few words in Danish and he teaches us some Greenlandics. Everyone seems so happy at 6 a. m. in this isolated place. Nice. This is Jens-Pavia. Handshake and quick presentation. And we're all back inside the car to reach the starting point. That's it. We have arrived. The night slowly takes place. This blue sweetness unites the sky and snow mountains. Serene landscape. Another pretty monochrome. Greenland likes modern art. ◙ From the snow comes a soothing light. We feel literally surrounded by harmony. The landscapes are so vast, we have so much space and nobody on the horizon. The wilderness just for us this morning resplendent. Jens-Pavia opens his backpack. He leaves a pair of binoculars and starts sitting on a rock. He's looking for muskox. Well, there could be two or three out there unless they're rocks. It's hard to differentiate them from here. Anyway, we're going to go to the mountains and we'll see. " We are evolving in a beautiful setting. " Julia and Gabriel suddenly laugh and insist on taking me into a picture. " You'll know what head you'll get when you're older! " " Then I realize the subject of their joke. " Frost dropped maliciously on my hair and made me look like an old lady. Ah ah ah! I appreciate the idea that my hair has their own Greenlandic experience!
Jens-Pavia reads for us the open-book snow: " Here, there was an arctic hare and by then a polar fox. " Snow is an array. He makes his contribution by drawing new animal prints to make them known. They are not here, yet suddenly they appear before us. Wonder is everywhere. " Look at these little white birds there in the bush! " He is enthusiastic. " They are really tiny but so beautiful this year has seen their number increase as never… "
The land on which we are walking constantly changes: powder, compact snow, ice… Depending on the type of soil, our steps do not resonate at all in the same way. I listen, fascinated, and say to the guide that we could make experimental music in these winter landscapes. I dream and imagine that musicians come with microphones capture these sounds and make a special album here: Kangerlussuaq symphony… crows flying over our heads make a cross-check. Thank you, my friends, for your encouragement. ; -))
The binoculars on the nose, Jens-Pavia announces good news: " Let's go there, muskoxen are certainly there. " We must be as quiet as possible. The crunch of our steps in the snow could alert them and make them run away before we even approach them. Our guide gives us a trick by recommending that you walk on the small dried plants. We follow him in the mountains. It is impossible to approach a direct, too risky way, we have to bypass, take a partial path to not get caught. It's so fun. Rise of adrenaline. Some hunt the aurora boreal with the hope of getting a beautiful picture, others, like us today, do exactly the same thing with muskox. The palpite heart. Suddenly Jens-Pavia whispers: They're up there! Can you see them? Oh, my God! Yes we see them! I want to hold my breath. Chills are going through me. Half-hidden, we take pictures (one or two clichés) impressed to be a few meters away from these massive and legendary animals when a Gabriel movement makes them flee. It's not serious. It was magic! I never thought I could approach me so close to muskox. Jens-Pavia's knowledge and experience made the meeting possible. When you are with a guide that knows the backcountry like his pocket, everything becomes possible. It's like being given the keys to a new, bright world, as if we were offering you the last piece of a puzzle and you had the incredible chance of having an overview for the very first time. Clear and splendid vision of a wild world…. We enter its secrets. Jens-Pavia is more than a guide, we guess a man of great wisdom. A rare person. Curious and passionate, he learns again and again by sharing his discoveries without fanfare. He shows us archeological remains of old houses that he is the only one to discover. Scientists are studying each of its findings.
It's not a hike, it's a real journey in the heart of wilderness, history, life, death… A communion with the elements, almost mystical. I am infinitely happy. Jens-Pavia seems so serene, does he draw his strength from all these hours spent in nature?
Gabriel takes his gloves off to eat. Once the breakfasts are over, his hands start to make him terrible. He suffers enormously and can no longer heat them. It is a great anxiety. Julia and I am a little worried but are reassured by the tranquility of Jens-Pavia. Nothing serious can happen to us, we are in good hands, we know it. Our guide is looking for branches here and there. He tells us that as long as Gabriel suffers, that's a positive sign. He opens his backpack and excerpts the scratches of matches, a match and a long candle that he buried under the trams. Then he starts the fire and asks Gabriel to approach his hands, there is no more effective way to warm up. Gabriel obtains but without believing it. So impatient, suffering and grimming, he decides to abandon this path and tries to put his gloves back as quickly as possible. Jens-Pavia tells Gabriel that the only way to get hot is not to keep his hands in the gloves but to bring them closer to the fire. His way of telling him is informative, no pressure, not of your authoritarian, no order. Just a friendly council. We encourage Gabriel to try again. He puts his hands naked and trembling around the fire and waits. Julia and I am so calm. When you trust someone, when you believe in his abilities, there is neither panic nor fear, just a very sweet and pleasant inner peace. Little by little, Gabriel begins to feel the heat come back but not yet to the point to regain a smile. So Jens-Pavia shoots something new from his backpack and announces that he holds THE BEST AND WARMEST GLOVES in the world made with muskox wool and made by his wife. Gabriel's trying them right away. After a few minutes, he's joking again. It worked as promised. Is Jens-Pavia's bag a sort of magician hat? Will he get a white rabbit next time?
Hiking is almost an end. We return by the frozen fjord. We stop and sweep the powder with our gloves to collect the ice. Which show, beautiful lines and motives go through it, work from the surface to its depths as notes dancing on a scope. Our guide absolutely wants to show us a cliché on its camera taken in the same place a few days before. There are angel wings carved inside the ice. Wow! Kangerlussuaq is definitely a magical place. It is time to thank our talented Jens-Pavia and say goodbye. One thing is sure, I will return to walk with him. He turned an ordinary morning into a sacred party. What a nice meeting!
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