Peter's Cairn

Peter's Cairn

Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 60.72104°N / 46.01409°W
Activities Activities: Hiking
Seasons Season: Summer
Additional Information Elevation: 730 ft / 223 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview

Peter s cairn from townPeter's cairn from town
This is a nice easy hike if you ever find yourself spending a day in Qaqortoq, Greenland. The city has a population of about 3,500 and the buildings are all gaily painted. The official website for Qaqortoq has a hiking trails map, but it does not have any details on how one should approach this small summit. The key is to hike up to the town soccer field which can be reached as described below. From the NE corner of the field, you can find a faint trace of a trail heading up a gully in a NE direction.
soccer fieldsoccer field


Qaqortoq is an Inuit word meaning “the white place”. That description probably is true much of the year, but on July 6, 2010, they had one of their unusual sunny days and we made the most of it.

Getting There

Qaqortoq is a fishing village and most visitors arrive by water. There is a heliport that provides transport from Narsarsuaq Airport the only international airport in Greenland. There is also a ferry (Arctic Umiaq Line A/S or Arctic Umiaq (AUL) ) that operates on a route from Ilulissat-Narsaq.

Red Tape

There does not appear to be any problem with hiking across the hillsides in Qaqortoq.

Route description

To reach the summit, starting from the town pier, take the following streets…go to the visitor center (N of the pier); turn right (E) and follow Vatikanbakken street E and NE; take a right on Sanatorievej street; take the first left onto Ringvej street and continue to the soccer field.
first part of climbstart of route

From the NE corner of the soccer field, go NE up the drainage
upper portion of gullygully to ridgetop
to the ridge top and turn right heading ESE gradually climbing (class 2) up the ridge to the summit cairn.
final ridge to summitfinal ridge to summit


Since this is a relatively short hike, you may want to extend it to include Saqqaarsik (the Front) which is north of Peter’s cairn. It is a pleasant cross country hike of about 1 mile which drops about 400’ in elevation before regaining it to the false summit at 1,080’. From there another 15 minutes will get you to the true summit which is about 1,260’
SaqqaarsikSaqqaarsik

Hiking trails map

Qaqortoq hiking trails