Greenland’s World Ice Golf Championship

by Willy Volk on

I don’t usually think of golf as an “extreme” sport, but when you play it 370 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it suddenly becomes an adventure. Held in Uummannaq, Greenland every year since 1997 — though it has roots stretching back to the 17th Century — the World Ice Golf Championship is set among freezing glaciers and huge icebergs in temperatures that can dip below -50º F!

The Tournament is a 36 hole-stroke competition played over two days. Want to see a map of the course, to see if the $2600 entry fee is worth your time? No can do. Greenland’s shifting frozen landscape makes each year’s course completely unique. However, to get an idea of what the course is like, you can check out the gallery of images or watch some of the videos.

Don’t worry if you lose your balls — no, your golf balls! — to a polar bear; you can always kill time by making ice sculptures.

[Via Thrillist]

Word for the Travel Wise (08/05/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Today I’m just taking the easy route. Relaxing and catching up on some of the things I never really got around to doing. Small reads and projects here and there, including populating some of the categories here on Gadling that are a little light. Then I noticed we don’t even have one for Greenland. Huh? How can this be? This shall be fixed soon I say. In the meantime I did a quick search on Greenland and found several fine blogs Erik had lovingly posted in the past. One of which was this Whale Hunters piece that makes you think about the art (or just plain killing) of the large mammal. If you haven’t read it before or let it sneak past you in the pass, use this time to check it out if you haven’t anything to do this Saturday.

Today’s word is a Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) word used in Greenland:

mattak – whale blubber

Greenlandic also known as Kalaallisut language is spoken by 54,000 people and is closely related to Canadian Inukitut. In my own opinion I’d say most words are dizzying and longer than the length of the country itself, but that is just me. You can visit the Greenland Language Council online, but their site is in full Greendlandic so without any prior skill you won’t get too far. Wiki and Ethnologue report, both have great background info and lastly there is this Greendlandic for Travelers (silly Engleeshes) to check out. I didn’t get it, but maybe you will.

Word for the Travel Wise (06/28/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

The last time I hit you with a phrase from the Inukitut lang it was more than a mouth full and enough to scare any potential student away from ever attempting to spew out any sound related to this particular tongue. I myself tried shaking the crazy combination of vowels and consonants out from my mind, but only the brave and bold continue to go where many men choose not to and that place is one of communication beyond our own borders.

Today’s word is an Inuktitut word used in Canada:

malikkit – follow them

Inuktitut words as noted from this Nunavut.com site are more “like Lego blocks, intricate pieces locked together to produce a nugget of meaning.” Wiki breaks things down further with in depth info on territories where the language is heard in Canada, differences between Inukitut and the Inuit heard in Greendland and Alaska and includes pictures of the alphabet. Learning this one on the web will be tough, but for those who wish to tackle such linguistic feats check out the links above and some of these last few: Nunavut Living Dictionary, Inkutitut Syllabarium, the Inukitut Morphology List which holds the key to one of the best online dictionaries for getting started.

Past Inukitut words: quviasuktunga tamaaniinnama