Ascending the Quassussuaq Peak in Nuuk

On a frosty November day, I went for a great hike, starting off the Nuuk Airport to follow the 7 km green-marked trail that goes around the Quassussuaq Mountain (450 m). The hiking trail is marked with green dots on the map below.

I had fitted my hiking boots with mini spikes (“grandma nails” as we call them in Danish), which turned out to be quite useful as the terrain was very icy in places. Previous days’ unstable weather had transformed melted snow into malicious ice!

Leaving the airport and following the trail marks, I had great views to the Nuuk fjord and the Sermitsiaq, the 1,210-meter-tall iconic mountain situated on an island about 13-14 km northeast of the town. The trail went quite up and down and as many of the trail markings were covered by snow, I merely walked by random, sometimes following other people’s footprints.

From this side of Quassussuaq, there is no marked trail to the top of the mountain. Normally, it is relatively easy to follow the ski lift up the side of the mountain facing the airport. But I was already quite far from the ski lift, so at some point during the hike, I decided to reach the top. On a summer day, this is relatively easy to do, but today, hard ice and fairly deep snow pockets, where I sank up to my knees, made it a bit of a challenge, but still fun to ‘climb’ the 450-metre-high mountain top.

As I arrived to the top, I was met by absolute stunning views over the “skyline” of Nuuk, the fjords, and the mountains. And to celebrate the whole thing, two paragliders came along jumping out from the peak and taking acrobatic turns in the wind. They could stay in the air for hours due to strong winds from the fjord.

After a while I walked on southwards but had to stop every second minute to enjoy the view. Finally, the sun set, and the street lights of Nuuk came on. I carried on slowly descending the Quassussuaq until I got the Qinngorput neighborhood in sight. I took some great shots and that marked the end of today’s hike. That way, I ended up not following the marked route all the way, but instead took a ‘shortcut’ over the top of Quassussuaq.