Guiding and Scouting in Arctic Conditions Meets Jamboree Denmark

Not many guide and scout groups can boast of being based in the Arctic – but Nuuk’s local group, Nuummi Spejderit, can. Greenland and Denmark have had a close relationship for generations, for better and for worse, and the similarities are easy to spot. But being located in the Arctic places some very specific demands on Guiding and Scouting – and that brings something quite special to Jamboree Denmark. We spoke with them about what it is like to be a guide or scout in Nuuk.

Here we meet, among others, Alexander, who is 13 years old and has been a scout for a few years. Besides scouting, he does gymnastics where he is an assistant coach, and he even plays the piano. What he enjoys most about scouting is whittling with a knife, and together with another scout he talks with great enthusiasm about the moving up ceremony: you have to climb up a rope and out of a circle made up of your old section – and then break into a new circle made up of your new section. When asked what the most boring thing about scouting is, he answers with a big, charming smile: “It’s when the adults talk.” So perhaps Guiding and Scouting 3,000 kilometres from Denmark is not so different after all, when it comes down to it.

Here, our friends from the north tell us about Guiding and Scouting in Nuuk, where activities are divided much more clearly into summer and winter than we are used to at home.

Winter Activities

“You cannot keep the younger scouts and guides outside for an hour and a half if it is 15 degrees celcius below zero. “And the winter is both longer and harsher than in Denmark,” says Anne Mette, who is the leader of the “malemuks” – the 8–10-year-olds. This creates very different conditions for what you can do, especially with the youngest guides and scouts.

As a result, a lot of time is spent on indoor Guiding and Scouting activities, similar to those we know from Denmark. Interestingly, most of the guides and scouts enjoy sawing and whittling, and they are often already used to handling a knife, because hunting and fishing are very common in Greenland – both as a profession and as a leisure activity.

Tobogganing, or sledding down hills, is a very popular activity, and the hills are wild – the scout hut is located in a very hilly part of Nuuk. Even if they have been sledging all day, they still want to go sledging when they come to Guides and Scouts. In short: tobogganing is a hit, and sledding sessions are often on the programme.

Summer Activities

Summer in Nuuk is very short – in practice only about two months, typically from mid-June to the end of August – and the weather is changeable. The city lies close to the water, which means that it is both rainy and very windy, and the Arctic weather can change quickly. Christian, who moved from Denmark and was part of the Danish KFUM Scouts for many years, says that before he came to Nuuk, he had never experienced a Whitsun trip where a hat and mittens were needed.

We also speak with Christian about how the guides’ and scouts’ participation in the flag parade on Greenland’s National Day on 21 June 2026 had to be cancelled because of the weather. It is something that both the guides and scouts and the people of Greenland care deeply about marking: National Day in Nuuk is a big celebration, where the guides and scouts make a special effort – for example by serving sausages, joining the parade and flying the flag.

Special “Ingredients”

The great distances and the unique location also give Guiding and Scouting in Nuuk some very different “ingredients” to work with. Fishing provides access to cod, and there is also the possibility of using musk ox and eider duck in cooking – ingredients that are certainly not everyday fare for Danish guides and scouts.

Building materials also have to be sourced in other ways. For example, the guides and scouts build dens from things found at the recycling centre and that is where the recycling mindset really comes into play. Christian explains that getting hold of poles for pioneering is difficult: they have to be transported about 3,000 km because there are only a few trees in Greenland. They are found in Southeast Greenland, approximately 500 km away – but in practice the distance is much greater, as there are no roads between the towns.

With the enormous distances, it is no surprise that certain things are considerably cheaper in Denmark than in Greenland. Soft drinks, for example, are very expensive in Greenland, which is why they are particularly popular among the Greenlandic guides and scouts at the jamboree. Several of the children have asked the leaders why there is a special offer on soft drinks in the jamboree’s supermarket – so quite a few bottles end up in their shopping baskets.

The differences are plain to see, but the guide and scout spirit is the same. Now Nuummi Spejderit are looking forward to experiencing Jamboree Denmark – and to sharing a slice of Arctic Guiding and Scouting with the rest of us.