WINTERING

TASIILAQ, EAST GREENLAND

Heavy snowfall transforms Tunu settlements, more the town than the roadless villages, quelling traffic, driving pedestrians indoors, and dampening commerce to a hush.

I fly to Tasiilaq from Reykjavik via Kulusuk on the tail of a four-day blizzard. Spring is already greening Iceland, whereas here it’s whitening everything. So much snow. It blankets trammeled ground, worn paths and old routines with revitalizing freshness.

Snow-intensified light irradiates colorful exteriors and casts an air of expectancy. Everyone’s out and about, opening windows, clearing entrances, digging out vehicles, skiing ungroomed slopes, breaking trail to the shop for groceries, gathering by the post office for a communal smoke.

I stroll the one cleared road, waiting for Max to dog sledge across snowbound Ammassalik Island. He’s trailing a phalanx of track-setting snowmobiles over inundated mountains and glaciers. Once he’s here and rested, I’ll jump aboard and we’ll return to Diilerilaaq the way he came. What a revelation: to see the dogs in their element and tugging at their traces, unchained.