SHIT GOD DAMN it is COLD!!!!

After a 4.5 hours flight from Copenhagen we landed on Greenland, did a short transfer and then time for a little propeller plane to take us to Illulissat (Jakobshavn). Everywhere you look it was just snow, snow, ice, ice and a bit of water, nothing and I really mean nothing else was there to see….and the look of it was cold!!!

Arrived to Hotel Arctic, just the name can help you start imaging how cold it is here, it is really Arctic. A quick change of clothes and shoes and then time for a two hours walk to see this little tiny place. Thermometer shows – 25 C, sun was shining and I thought if we just keep a good pace it will be alright. I can tell you I was very wrong! As soon as we stopped to listen to the tour guide it felt like the cold was totally freezing your blood to ice and after a while it felt like my hands should fall off. My fingers got numb and yet I wanted to take a few picture of a landscape that is so different from everything else I have seen and it is marvellous. It is very very beautiful and it is fantastic to have got the opportunity to come here. The sunlight over these icebergs that are 3000 meters high is indescribable and difficult to capture of photos.

During our walk we also did a bit of business went in the few stores here in Illulissat to do “store checking” and to see the number of “touch points”, two new expressions that did not exist in my vocabulary a couple of weeks ago but now feels completely natural. “Store checking” is was it sounds like, check the store out to see which of our products they have, how they are displaced in the store, if they have any discounts etc etc. “Touch points” is the number of times you can find the same product in a store. I really enjoy this closeness to the market and the ability to have an impact on the sale figures.

Today it has been business all day, my first leadership team meeting…as well as mentally preparing our self for the adventure day tomorrow, starting with a helicopter ride in the morning and following on with a three hour dog sledging ride. Will be an experience to write about, a very cold one! We are apparently suppose to get a seal skin on top of us when on the sledge….a seal should be able to keep themselves warm shouldn’t they....and keep me warm?

What an experience, what a lovely landscape….and what a cold!!!