Today, if you open Google maps and type “Grise Fiord”, you get a tiny map of the Arctic and an abrupt message saying: “It is impossible to find a route to this location.” In 1989, however, Geraldine and Danny Osborne made the almost 5,000km trip there, where they lived for a year with their three children in the pursuit of art and adventure. Now Geraldine has written a classic memoir of this sojourn, complete with stunning reproductions of her husband Danny’s Arctic landscape paintings and many wonderful photos.
As they land in the tiny hamlet in a field plane stuffed with possessions and a full pack of sled dogs, Geraldine’s enthusiasm is clear. “I couldn’t imagine a more alien environment to live in on earth – perfect for experiencing a totally different life!”
The author, at that time a recently-graduated doctor, embraces her new environment with passion. The couple also planned, in December, to retrace the route along which the Inuit people migrated from what is now Canada to Greenland. This would be an ambitious and dangerous quest, across ocean ice cover.
In fascinating detail, Geraldine describes the nuts and bolts of living in dark and sub-zero conditions, the community spirit and warmth of their neighbours and their long-standing traditions. She sews her own Arctic-wear fur clothes and those of her children. Danny builds a snow sled. The children adapt with ease, playing with local kids and getting used to local customs (such as the chopping and skinning of game), ice fishing and dinners like “seal stir fry, seal curry and seal stew”.
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Temperatures drop from -40c to -50c and while it’s fun to read survival tips such as the need to carry a gun at all times in case of polar bears, or what to do when a walrus clamps his tusks over the side of your boat, life is also dangerous and tough.
Their field trips into the pristine icescapes at the top of the world can be hair-raising; the planned trip to Greenland, although attempted, ultimately wasn’t possible due to what we know now is global warming. But Osborne’s explorer spirit shines throughout, a testimony to human adaptability, resilience and a true sense of adventure. Remarkable.
