GREENLAND ICE GOLF ASSIGNMENT / Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine

We fell in love with Greenland after our first trip there in 1997. In the hopes of getting another job to go back there, we proposed a magazine story on the first ever World Championship Ice Golf Tournament, to be held in Uummannaq, Greenland. Way above the Arctic Circle and way below freezing. About 25 below to be exact. It was surreal seeing people golfing in parkas, gloves, and fur hats. Icebergs frozen in place on the ocean and golfers using pink and orange balls so as to be visible against the ice. Great visual elements to work with, and now we just had to find a way to learn how to work in that extreme cold.

Now, Diane being an excellent researcher, she delved into the issues of cold weather photography: from batteries dying, film cracking, lightning bolts on the film caused by static electricity from motor drives, you name it.  And so it seemed like an excellent and brilliant choice to bring as one of our cameras an old Leica M2 – no batteries, no motor drive, few moving parts to freeze up.

The first day we arrived was the coldest – minus 30 C. The very first excursion the tournament producers had planned for us was to go out in a dog sledge (what we call a sled) for a ride around the island on the frozen ocean.

The first time we stopped for a break, all we could do was try to walk around and get some circulation going in our toes and fingers.  I was just jumping around trying to keep warm, but Diane decided to take her first picture of the dog sledge team at rest.  Next thing I know, she comes up to me with this appendage to her face, “Len – we’ve got a problem – I’ve got a Leica stuck to my nose!”

With all that research, we didn’t take into account the fact that these are old cameras and made of metal, not plastic.  We saw all the Greenlandic sledge drivers giggling and having a good laugh at Diane’s expense. Finally one of them came over to us, and in some very broken English muttered, “only way – get camera off nose – I pee on nose”.

Well, Diane didn’t go for that solution, so she just gave a good old fashioned yank of the Leica, and off came a piece of the tip of her nose – exacerbated now by the freezing cold.  No permanent scar or frostbite, but a very important lesson learned.