Boatman and hunter
JensKleist
“Ice speaks. Learn its language, or stay in the harbour.”
- Based in
- Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland
- Guiding since
- 2018
- Languages
- Greenlandic, Danish, English
- Leads
- Disko Bay Icebergs
About Jens
Jens was born in Qeqertarsuaq, on Disko Island, and learned to read the sea before he learned to read. His father hunted narwhal in Disko Bay, and Jens still takes his own boat out in the early morning to check the nets before he takes guests out.
He joined Nordvik in 2018 when the Disko Bay trip needed someone who could tell, from the sound of the water, if an iceberg was about to turn. He cooks halibut on the boat in a way that guests ask to have written down, and refuses.
He leads the Disko Island days and drives the boat on the Ilulissat Icefjord when Karen is on the ferry.
An iceberg turns
In July 2023 Jens stopped the boat a hundred metres from an iceberg the size of a church, said nothing, and pointed. Ten seconds later it rolled. The wave reached the boat a minute later and lifted it by a metre.
“They are not dangerous if you listen,” he says. “They are only dangerous when you are in a hurry.”
Leads
Disko Bay Icebergs
10 days, Jun to Aug, from €5,600
