Splitboard Greenland
Split and Sail
An arctic splitboard trip and the experience of a lifetime, combined.
Join us on a very special private boat captained by a legend, get guided through some truly remote terrain by two pro UIAGM splitboard guides.
Past icebergs and through ice floe, we sail in a two masted schooner purposely built for navigating arctic waters in the search for untouched powder descents on remote arctic islands.
Our two UIAGM guide strategy opens up terrain that would be unwise for a group with just one guide to visit. This client/ guide ratio of 3:1 enables us to deliver true adventure splitboarding on the mountainous west coast of Greenland.
“The best trip of my life” – Glynn Williams, United Kingdom.
Grey Seas, White Mountains, Blue Icebergs. Greenland.
After landing in the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, situated on its south-west corner a short taxi ride from the airport takes us into Nuuk Port and Harbour. From here we head to the inner marina where our boat, flying under the French flag, awaits us. After lowering the luggage down onto the deck we climb down ourselves to embark on ‘La Louise’ where her owner and captain, Thierry Dubois (and his skipper) will welcome us onboard.
A 3 hour sail from the harbour in a north easterly direction, passing by the colourful houses of Nuuk, leads us towards a group of islands which will be our splitboarding zones for the week. All of these islands have been personally scouted and mapped by Thierry as to their suitability for ski and splitboard touring and, crucially, he knows exactly where the best places to drop us off and pick us up from each day are located.
Combined with his knowledge of the local weather systems, this gives us a major guiding advantage as he understands how the itineraries might have been affected and as to their suitability for touring on each day.
We’re taken to the shore each day in a semi-rigid, 4m dinghy fitted with 20 Hp HB engine and get picked up by it at the end of each tour to take us back to La Louise, anchored up in the next bay.
These really are secret spots and as such they are very closely guarded, we’ll genuinely ask you not to share any touring routes on Strava or similar apps for this very reason.
One of a Kind. “La Louise”
There are already a lot of boats operating in the ‘ski and sail’ space throughout the arctic and Greenland is no exception but 95% of these boats are production line, factory models that have been retrofitted to accommodate ski-tour groups. These do work but can compromise on comfort. To our knowledge, there is only one boat out there that was designed from the outset for to deliver this specific service.
Passenger comfort was at the forefront of the La Louises’ design and she features waterproof partitions, heated drying rooms for boot liners and clothing, survival suits, a high quality boiler system for hot showers, comfortable seating areas with a library and music and the capacity to make long, self sufficient, arctic voyages. All of this sets her apart from anything else currently on offer.
La Louise is an elegant and robust 19 m arctic schooner which took Thierry six years and 23,000 hours of work to design and build, to a very elaborate specification. She has 2 carbon masts, 4 sails, a 235HP John Deere engine and a stainless steel icebreaker bow. Every single aspect of this craft has been thought through and designed to work flawlessly in both open arctic waters and ice filled fjords whilst carrying passengers and skis/ splitboards in comfort.
There is room for 8 (including the guides) on this boat (the captain and skipper have their own private quarters) and even though sleeping berths are compact it’s very comfortable ( the more organised you are with your things the better the experience will be for you). The main living room/ dining area is where you’ll spend most of your time when not on the deck.
The boat has a network of radiators powered by the boats engine (and stove) and an electric heating system powered by a generator. The constant ambient temperature onboard is very pleasant and at night it is around 15 / 16 degrees, an oil burning stove is fitted to pump out heat on the colder days.
Thierry has been sailing in and around the arctic on this one of a kind boat for 6 months of each year, since 2011. It is his home, his business and his life.
Eating & Drinking. Fine French food.
Thierry is a passionate cook, he prepares and serves food made with love. Mealtimes are important here and with generally zero phone signal available on this trip it is a chance to disconnect and enjoy time at the table in good company.
After breakfast (with great coffee) each morning we go splitboarding. On our return to the boat we’re served a late lunch of fresh, homemade soups, salad’s and cheeses with home baked bread and cured meats. Thierry buys well over 50kg of good French cheese to serve up over the course of just a few weeks. You’ll not go hungry here.
A late dinner follows (after showers and some down time). Expect to eat cod and other fish caught off the side of the boat that day along with some insanely good desserts to follow. Sailing with a French captain on a boat flying under the French flag you’d expect a good wine too, and that’s exactly what you get.
Thierry will join us at dinner and it’s a great chance to talk to him about his career as an off-shore and round the world yachtsman. It has been a fascinating life and the story of his being capsized for 4 days in 1997 during a solo round the world race is captivating. Thierry is often approached to consult on safety procedure for various navy operations, globally.
“Who else is going?”
Every person on this session will likely have been on a Rider Social trip before so you’ll find yourself in the company of very chilled splitboard crew that understands how to move in the mountains with us. The boat has room for 6 clients giving us a 3:1 client guide ratio.
“What’s the touring / riding like?”
This is Norway. On steroids.
It really is quite hard to paint the complete picture of this arctic experience for you. The terrain is huge, it’s very remote and it is stunningly beautiful. We will sail you to a new zone each evening and anchor the boat, the next morning when we’ll climb down into the motorboat (wearing arctic life preserving equipment) and shuttle run to the shore.
From here we’ll make a tour and look for the best conditions ( expect to split a minimum of 1200m vertical per day) and ride down in what is usually untouched powder to the opposite side of the island where we’ll be picked up from the shore by Thierry who has sailed around to meet us.
The lines to ride are really quite varied – we rode big steeps of nearly 40 degrees, raced through an incredible winding canyon run and surfed down one of the enormous couloirs, all of them with a sea view leading us back down to shore.
Every day you’ll be wearing your harness and be carrying your boot crampons and axes and it’s not uncommon to have to fashion an exit to the beach after riding – on some days it was a bushwhack and on others it was a full on abseil back down to the shore.
“Why two UIAGM guides?”
Paul (Polo) Verdier and Laurent (Bibs) Bibollet will be the UIAGM splitboard guides on this trip. Most of you will already know Polo from going on splitboard trips with us in the past. Laurent is from the same
Compagnie des Guides, Saint Gervais as Polo.
They have been friends for a long time and we’re thrilled to have him onboard here at The Rider Social.
Laurent’s splitboarding and UIAGM work in Chamonix & Les Contamines has seen him become appointed as a Jones Snowboards
Ambassador Guide – a coverted acolade awarded to those who have dedicated their lives to offering unique guided experiences and educating about snow safety.
He recently filmed an episode of
Arctic Lines with Antti Autti (due for release Autumn 2025). His most recent movie part was in
With both Polo and Laurent working together we can better manage some of the trickier conditions that Greenland can present you with. From organising abseils to navigating glaciated bootpacks and everything in-between.
It is very, very likely that will be riding in some incredibly remote places on this Greenland trip and your safety is at the top of our list. With both
Polo and Laurent in charge we can be doubly sure it stay’s there…
When is the next trip?
We are scheduled to go back in April / May 2027 . Exact dates TBC. Click here to contact us and be the first to know.
How much is it?
Contact us if you want an exhilarating and completely bespoke experience in remote arctic terrain with a small client guide ratio of 3:1 on a unique arctic icebreaking schooner.
Course dates & times
15th May 2027 – 22nd May 2027
2027 Dates TBC. Please contact us for more information on this
