I made it. Through training, through cancelled flights, through various delays, etc etc etc. Now, I'm up on Baffin Island, soaking up the sun and loving the beautiful summer temp's (-8 degrees Celsius when I arrived). A lot happened between now and the last post.
We were in training in Chilliwack at the RCMP base with law enforcement through the last part of March and all of April. Marching to and from everything we did, there was a bit of adapting for everyone involved. A bit bumpy at the start, but we rallied and figured it out in the end.
After Chilliwack, it was off to Prince Albert, Sask, for firearms training, environmental assessments, and fire management. Upon finishing those components, a decision was made by the Appeals Office stating that the ruling of inadequate safety tools for park wardens will be upheld. With that decision, park wardens are temporarily removed from law enforcement duties and the PC-04 cards that we worked so hard to obtain have been collected, along with all other park wardens' badges throughout the country. We await the next decision, which I believe is the Parliment's to make...
The show must go on, and all the successful new wardens have spread thoughout the country, from Pac Rim to Terra Nova to Quttinirpaaq. We've got the country covered. I was lucky enough to be sent up to Auyuittuq National Park, which is on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island. My base is Pangnirtung, which is where I hung my coat for 4 days before heading to Ellesmere Island for public safety training.
The trip to Quttinirpaaq National Park (QNP) involves getting to Resolute Bay, on Cornwallis Island. This is a cold, blustery place where people can get hung up for weeks as the weather is too foul to get planes in and out of. The Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP) is headquartered here, and any research that is done in the Arctic Islands is probably coordinated through the PCSP. They dealt with the logistics of our chartered twin otter that was to deliver us to northern Ellesmere and QNP.
After a 4 hour flight from Resolute via Eureka, we tumbled out of the otter, repacked at Tanquary Fiord, picked up two more wardens, then reloaded to be dropped off up on a polar ice cap that measures 900m in thickness! The pilot, John, and his co-pilot, Omar, deposited us ~4km from the highest peak in continental Eastern North America, Mt Barbeau. Over the course of the next 9 days, we proceeded to review crevasse rescue techniques, then climb Mt Barbeau and Whisler Mtn, and do a wonderful park patrol/ski traverse north down the M'Clintock Glacier to the Arctic Ocean. We, of course, had to tag the convergence point of 82 degrees N, 75 degrees W. The final northern extent of the trip was 82.5 degrees N, 76 degrees W. Very nearly the most northerly point of land on earth. Crazy!
The snowpack in QNP leaves alot to be desired. With an average amount of precipitation of 6mm a year, you have to pick and choose your lines. Powder? Well, hard pack days on the ski hill are Ellesmere powder! Enjoy the turns down south, you guys!
On day 9 we were fortunate enough to have the twin otter make it in under the clag (the first 8 days were all bluebird!) and pluck us out to civilization (Resolute, woohoo). It was two days later that I returned to Pang.
I've been noticing many couloirs near Pang and had to take the opportunity to climb a few and ski them as well. The snow was funky, shallow, and ONLY in the couloir. There was no straight-lining into the lower angled bowl below. Get your turns, stop, walk home.
Culturally speaking, the population in Pang, they say, is ~1500 people, and at least 90% Inuit. Hunting is a way of life here, and vegetarians wouldn't fare so well in this neck of the woods. Yes, I am back to eating beef, pork, seal, narwhal, and anything else that is offered.
I was extremely fortunate to be asked to join in a seal hunt to the floe edge at the mouth of Pangnirtung Fiord. We headed out on the sled, hauling a qamutiik (sled) with a boat on top. The boat is for retrieving seals that you've shot from the pack ice perch that you patiently keep. Monty, my co-worker/friend/guide/local dude, managed to get one seal, but before we could get the boat in and hook the seal to solid ice, it had sunk and was lost. Apparently this is common at this time of year as the seals don't have alot of fat on them after the long winter. We returned home empty handed.
To say that I'm learning new things everyday is an understatement. I'll try to keep updating this blog more regularly. By the way, did you know that rivers freeze from the base up in the Arctic? Seems foreign to me.
