Perched on an eastern outcrop of Greenland, the village of Ittoqqortoormiit is one of the most remote settlements globally.
The Arctic town is so isolated that visitors can only reach the community by travelling 40 kilometres by helicopter, boat, or snowmobile, and there is no other form of transportation within the town limits.
The picturesque town was formerly named Scoresbysund after English explorer William Scoresby, who became the first European to map the Arctic region in the early 1800s.
The settlement’s current name, pronounced “IT-OH-CORE-TORE-MEET’, means ‘the place with the big houses’ in the East Greenlandic dialect.
Surrounded by unspoiled wilderness, Ittoqqortoormiit neighbours the world’s largest national park to the north and the largest coastal inlet system to the south.
The brightly-coloured wood-panelled homes dotted across Ittoqqortoormiit create a pocket of pastel tones amongst the vast desert landscape of snow and rock.
Temperatures in the remote arctic town fall as low as -18C in the winter months, and remain below 10C even in the peak of summer.
Snowshoes are an everyday essential for most of the year and residents often make use of a dog sled or skis to make winter journeys
The local population is far outnumbered by the millions of seabirds that call the village home, and connecting with nature is a massive part of the town’s culture.
Based above the Arctic Circle and roughly 800 kilometres from the nearest town, Tasiilaq, the surrounding area is home to polar bears, orcas, seals and musk oxen.
Hunting is a central part of local life. Native seals, in particular, provide a valuable source of food for the indigenous community and feed the area’s polar bear population.
In recent years, the town’s reliance on the land has led campaigners to use Ittoqqortoormiit as a critical example of communities that could be forced from their homes if climate change significantly impacts the seasonal ice formations that have served them for centuries.
