Baffin Island 2010 Afterthoughts

300km.

3 weeks of hauling 25-30kg packs through bog, tundra, moraines and over glaciers. My ankles, knees and hips didn’t appreciate any of this but the scenery was incredible and I gained a much deeper understanding of the Inuit culture.

The Inuit people are fantastic, we lived with them for 5 days.  We ate seal meat and raw, dried and boiled char (very like salmon)…although I wouldn’t recommend the fish eyes – too chewy and they burst in your mouth *bleurgh*.

We watches Bowhead whales swimming amongst the remainder of the sea ice in the bay and the small community of Qikitarjuaq (500 people) buzzed with excitement/fear as a polar bear was spotted on the outskirts of the hamlet.

A 3 hour boat ride took us to the end of the fjord as seals swum playfully in the water.  Once in the pass the peaks stretched a vertical kilometre from the valley floor and almost every day we saw chunks of rock the size of family cars…the size of houses, plunge down the frost shattered peaks and explode into pieces.

We saw tundra alive with colour, arctic poppies, blueberries, lemming scurrying down burrows, wolf spiders, arctic hare (glaringly obvious in their white coats against the summer rock and tundra), geese honking as they launched into flight, ravens shrilly crying as they swooped through the sky, snowy owls and polar bears (luckily from a distance).

We climbed steep terminal moraines over 50 metres high, crossed rivers carrying vast quantities of silt and the occasional chunk of ice as they powerfully eroded their banks. In the afternoon they rose with the melting of the ice, so high and fast they were uncrossable and boulders could be heard rolling in the river bed.

On the glacier we saw vast chasms carved by the melt water, picked our way carefully between the crevasses which enticed us to gaze into their deep blue gashes. Medial moraines stretched as long brown streaks down the glacier.

As we slept in our tents, pinned down by ice screws ad rocks that we had gathered from the glacier surface, the glacier groaned and moved beneath us, it shuddered and creaked and the rivers roared like jet engines throughout the night!

Listen to Katie’s afterthoughts on Baffin:

Day 25: Relaxing in Pang

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Today we had a day in Pangnirtung, which is awesome! We got to go to a local hotel and we tasted tea with milk for the first time in four weeks; coffee, proper coffee; toast, jam, orange juice, it was amazing!

We spent the day in Pang looking at a printing studio and Inuit craft.

Some of us went to the store and had a look round there. We went to the library and read some of the papers and the books. Climate change is a massive issue in all the literature in Pang, and how climate change is affecting hunting and the culture, and the permafrost on which the communities are built, and what’s happening in those communities.

We went to the store and were surprised by the prices of some of the things there. For example, a small bag of Haribo cost $6, (£3.70) a packet of 5 disposable razors $35 (£21.50)  and a little tub of ground pepper was $10. We started rummaging through the bargain bin and got ourselves some tortilla wraps and bread, which we ate with our freeze dried meals in the evening. They cost us less than a dollar each, absolute bargain.

High Prices in Pang

In the afternoon, whilst we were there as well, our camp site had turned into a bit of a kid’s playground because it was the first day back at school for all the children in Pang, and they were having a big barbecue with a camp fire. We talked to some of the secondary school teachers and other people in the community.

We had some seal meat, which is a dark meat but had a strong fishy taste, but it was delicious we also drank a seal stew made from the juices of the seal meat, i’m not sure what else was in it, but it tasted very good anyway.

In the evening we watched an elder make an Ulu, this is a knife that is used for food preparation. It had a very sharp semicircular blade. Some of us bought an Ulu too.

We sorted out our equipment and packed our bags, ready to fly to Ottawa tomorrow. Tonight will be our last night in the tents. Tomorrow will will have our first shower in a month.

Listen to Katie’s report from Baffin:

Day 23: Arctic Hare, Canada Geese and Crashing Rocks

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Today we hiked from the Summit Hut via Mount Thor to Windy Lake; around 25 km. Whilst walking I spotted a bright, white animal. It appeared to be a bright, white rock amongst a group of other rocks. I exclaimed “Is that a hare?!” and with binoculars we could confirm that it was indeed a large, completely white, winter coat Arctic Hare, sitting among the rocks, thinking it was completely camouflaged. AJ crept up close and got some quite up close photographs. We stood back and watched the hare, sitting there thinking it was completely camouflaged and resting.

The Arctic Hare

We also passed large groups of Lesser Canada Geese with goslings, which was fantastic to see; truly wild, breeding lesser Canada Geese. As we were walking, we also encountered a collosal crash of thunder, and to the side of us, near Mount Thor, a huge rock fall occurred, and from the mist came crashing down massive boulders the size of houses, and they tumbled all the way down the incredibly sheer rock face, causing a massive cascade of rock all the way down the mountains!

The Massive Rock Fall

The wet weather cleared and the views became stunning all the way through the valley. Hanging glaciers, tumbling glaciers and tens of waterfalls, and some very short and pristine, and very colourful patchwork tundra.

It was another wonderful day in the Arctic Circle.

Listen to Toby’s report from Baffin:

Day 22: Slips and Rescues

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Today the team moved from our camp at the base of the Turner Glacier to the Summit Hut. Whilst we were on the route, myself and AJ scouted out a river for the team to cross, which you have to do before the whole team go across with bags on, but whilst we were doing this, we both slipped and got swept down the river a few metres. This, unfortunately, is just one of those events that happens during expedition life, but the team were absolutely fantastic. They pulled us out really quickly, got the tents up, clothes on and sleeping bags out for us to warm up.

The many fast flowing rivers produced by glacier melt water make the journey extremely hazardous (photo from 2009 expedition)

We are both really, really proud of the team, and it’s a real credit to the training that’s happened throughout the expedition, on this trip. After we had warmed up, we continued on our course to the Summit Hut, admiring the views as the weather began to clear.

The evening was spent around the stove, eating and laughing together. Everyone is now in their beds, preparing for a long day tomorrow. The expedition top tip for the day is that a dry bag is a fantastic, essential piece of kit for any expedition life, especially as myself and AJ found out today. It makes sure that your sleeping bags stay dry, along with all your warm clothes that you want to pull out if you get chilly.

Listen to Rachel’s report from Baffin:

Day 21: Battling Rough Terrain and Bad Weather

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We’ve only done about 6km today, but it’s been really hard going over some really rough moraine. We are currently camped just before the Turner Glacier so we can get across the river first thing in the morning and we’re hoping to be up crazy early, about 4am to get across it before the river is too high.

Along the way today we climbed half way up Midnight Sun Peak, which is pretty cool, we got some good views over the glacier and the moraine lake. We hoped to go up Turner this afternoon but it didn’t really happen because the weather’s completely clouded in and it’s been raining all afternoon so we didn’t get that. We were going to go and have a closer look at Mount Asgard, but unfortunately, due to the weather, we haven’t found anywhere to see it from.

Rough Terrain (photo from 2009 expedition)

We worked out today as well that we’ve covered about 250km so far for the expedition. That’s double hauling at the beginning and going up the Norman Glacier, and the route’s only 97km! Ha, very funny.

Tomorrow we’ll be up about 4am to get going. We hope to do maybe 15km. We need to get a move on really, so we can get our pick up at the end. It’s been pretty heavy going: we’ve been carrying nearly 25 kilos over some pretty rough terrain. So hopefully we’ll make it but we’ll see how far we get tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll actually make it to Summit Lake, but as I say, we’ll see. And then 3 days left and we’ll be in Pangnirtung and then back to everyone soon.

Listen to Rob’s report from Baffin:

Day 20: Climbing Mount Battle

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I am at the base of Mount Battle. Today we have been at the bottom of the glacier all day so we had  a chance to all split off and do different things a group of four of us went up mount battle today, which was amazing. We had views of the whole valley system we came down all the glacier’s we have been up. We could see where we are walking tomorrow. It is in the middle of where all the glaciers feed into, so you get amazing views all around.

Mount Battle in the distance (photo from 2009 expedition)

A couple of the others did some different things. Rob looked at the geology of the area. Toby actually saw two arctic hares. he went off wandering in the tundra to look for them, and he saw them really close up and got up some amazing pictures of them. Going up Mount Battle was really tricky work, it took us about 9 hours return trip. Really tough terrain walking up there, really steep and quite unsteady boulders all the time so we had to keep really focused not to break our ankles. No one broke their ankles, which is good!

Then when you come back down off the mountain, you come back onto the tundra and it is a carpet of blueberries and soil, which is amazing and smells delicious as all the herbs come up. We are just packing up ready to head back into the pass tomorrow to make our way to Pangnirtung. We are just sorting out all the group kit, all the ice kit, so we are all packed and ready to go tomorrow. I think it is going to be quite a heavy day; we have got all the leftover stuff to sort.

Listen to Emily’s report from Baffin:

Day 19: The Rapidly Melting Glacier

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We are now off the ice of Norman Glacier, after having a fantastic five day trip up the glacier and great exploration of the southern tip of the Penny Ice Cap and the glaciers that run down off it. The highlight for me was certainly climbing our little unnamed summit at the midway point, standing on top of the peak and looking out over this meeting point of 3 or 4 glaciers. All of a sudden it made you realise just how small you were in these massive glaciers coming off the Penny Ice Cap and these huge mountains around us. It was something really, really special to be stood on top of the little summit, looking down on all of this.

The team has worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks, just lugging all of the food, equipment and ice gear needed to go into this remote part of the world, and we’ve been rewarded with fantastic weather, fantastic sights and lots of new knowledge and understanding of the Arctic environment.

Melt water under the retreating glacier (photo from 2009 expedition)

Our progress back today has been really good. Walking off the tip of the Norman glacier, we were a little bit surprised that our access point onto the glacier was no longer safe, so we had to find another route off the glacier. It was amazing comparing the two edges of the glacier! It has melted a good two, two and a half metres in just 5 days from when we stepped onto the glacier to when we stepped off of it, and as a result it was too thin to step safely off. I didn’t realise the glaciers here were melting quite that quickly, which is quite worrying in many regards.

We are now camped back in our cache point in the moraines. Everyone is really pleased how things have gone. I’m very proud of the team and how everyone has worked and really come together. We’ve now got another week here in the park with our rest day tomorrow and then we’ll walk off down, continuing through the pass, so still by no means the end of the expedition, we still have a long way to go yet.

Listen to Antony’s report from Baffin:

Day 18: Trekking back down the Glacier

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We left glacier camp in glorious sunshine and trekked our way back up the glacier to the saddle. I led the last leg before the crevasse fields and then Antony led us confidently through the crevasses. Their extent and size was only apparent to us today, as a few days earlier we had been lost in the cloud, so we couldn’t actually see how big they actually are or how far they stretch. The views throughout the day were absolutely incredible. We made good speed, walking mostly uphill, but covering over three and a half kilometres.

Looking down the Glacier (photo from 2009 expedition)

There is so much to learn out here; it is amazing. I absolutely love this place! There is so much to see and so many things that you discover everyday. The tributary glaciers swinging into the main valley. The medial moraine stretching like a rocky brown streak down the glacier. Rivers of melt water rushing over the ice and then disappearing down holes. Crevasses gape wide enticing you to gaze into their blue gashes. Rocks the size of houses, the size of family cars, plunge from the valley sides and everyone tends to see the mountain crumble before their eyes.

Listen to Katie’s report from Baffin:

Day 17: Stunning Views and Beautiful Sunsets

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I’m currently watching the sunset over the Penny Ice Cap!

We are still at the camp that we were at yesterday, but today we had a couple of options: one was trying to find the elusive lake, but unfortunately when we were scouting it out we came across a huge crevasse, which was absolutely stunning, I’ve never seen anything like it before! So we took lots and lots of pictures and then had a bit of a play around with some ice axes.

On top of the mountain (photo from 2009 expedition)

This afternoon we went up to an unnamed mountain. It was an absolutely amazing view, we got a huge panoramic! Most of the team went up; there were a few who stayed behind to rest their feet, because we are going to move off to camp tomorrow and make our way back to the cache, depending on the weather.

The views are absolutely stunning, we saw some fantastic biodiversity: lichen growing up the mountain. There was evidence of lemmings and arctic hares, which was stunning really, because it’s just a huge moraine and you wonder how life can survive in such a stark environment.

We had a fantastic day, the whole team are happy. The sunset is absolutely amazing, sitting here on the glacier, Penny Ice Cap shining away in pinks and oranges. We are all going to sleep well tonight and are all safe and well.

Listen to Rachel’s report from Baffin:

Day 16: “Shame we don’t have a bottle of champagne!”

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Today we walked 20 kilometres along the Norman glacier. It was initially a tough climb up and then we entered a highly crevassed region. We entered a thick bank of fog and mist. Which descended over us, it made going extremely slow. Luckily at this point we were at the top of the glacier which levelled out and this meant we could carry on going we thought we would carry on going for an hour longer in the hope that conditions would peter out and become more optimal for us and in the othe side of the glacier in the next valley. So we carried on walking and we crossed crevasse after crevasse. The going was extremely slow.

The inside of a glacier (photo from 2009 expedition)

We were on one four man rope, and one three man rope teams. it was quite scary in some place. the crevasses were very deep and there were snow bridges that needed to be carefully crossed and after an hour and a half of walking into the next valley, suddenly the mist broke and we could see a long distance into the next valley, clear skies and the penny ice cap was suddenly visible in front of us, as weredozens of small glaciers winding around hills and mountains on either side. It was one of the most fantastic moments of my life and I will never forget it. It was absolutely incredible. It was without doubt one of the best moments of my life. Everyone was screaming and everyone was shouting with glee and hollering and Rachel shouted “Shame we don’t have a bottle of champagne” and I said “Yes! Absolutely!”, at which point I fell down on my knees into the ice, but was fine.

The inside of the tent (photo from 2009 expedition)

We carried on moving through the glacier, the weather was consistently fine from then on. Incredible views of all the glaciers winding and snaking their way around the mountains us incredible ice formations and noise from the glacier underneath us as the ice shifted in creaks and groans and collapsed around us. Not dangerously, just in the traditional sense in which glaciers move. We are now camping just below the Penny ice cap and we can see a long valley down below us. We are near an icey river and many boulders are strewn around us.

Tomorrow we are going in search of a lake which was mapped 50 years ago by an aerial survey, but no person to our knowledge has ever been there.  in fact for the last two days we have been walking in a territory, the whole area we believe nobody has been. Perhaps inuit people have ever been here, no explorers are known to have been here before. We may be the first people to lay eyes on these hills, first people to see these views, set foot and the first people to visit this lake on foot if it still exists.

Listen to Toby’s report from Baffin: