Ellesmere Island Advice

[daftandbarmy]

In 2005 I hiked across part of Baffin Island and heard so many good things about Ellesmere Island that I'm planning to try a 2-3 week expedition up there, probably in the summer of 08.

The general plan is to traverse the park on foot, in a self-supporting fashion, with an attempt to summit Mt Barbeau.

Any advice for me from those who have 'been there, done that'? I'm particularly looking for advice on the best part of the summer to go, cool things to put on my must see and do list, as well as any hints on cheap air travel, especially if there's any chance of hopping on a military flight of some kind. I don't have a spare 30k to spend on a flight from Resolute Bay!

Cheers

 

[BernDawg]

I have been to CFS Alert on the Northern tip of the island and I can assure you that it wouldn't be a pleasure trip.  The "warmest" part of the summer was in Jul and the temp soared up to 15degC or so for a week or two.  This was interspersed with torrential run offs and overnight freeze-ups.  There is nothing there exept extremely rugged terain, some lichens, sparse wildlife and a very stunted type of willlow hat creeps along the ground.  For the most part the land is a combination of bare rock, shale, shattered granite and mysterious shards of rock shooting straight up from the ground like razor sharp tomb-stones.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Oh goodie.... sounds like infantry territory. Note to self, leave air mattress at home! 

Maybe a late spring trip would be easier so I could ski across all the nastiness?

 

[EW]

I've spent 18 months in Alert and have been fortunate to spend time away from the station.  You would certainly be in for quite the journey.

My better half makes several visits to Ellesmere Island each year (she is also military).  She was recently at Eureka, small station located at the south-west side of the island, and is currently in Alert for three months.  I have seen quite a few Muskox to the south of Alert, and my wife saw many of them this summer at Eureka, but I have no idea how many would be in between.  There are also the odd arctic hares and arctic foxes.  Wolves are also present on the island, but in what numbers I couldn't comment.  They used to get a whiff of the kitchen/dump at Alert, and hang not far from the camp.  As far north as Alert, Polar Bears were a rarity.  There isn't a lot of food that far north to sustain them, but from time to time one would show up in the camp.  And, unfortunately once they got a smell of the station they wouldn't leave, so they had to be put down - but as stated, it was rare.  Not sure about Eureka.

There are sustainment flights into Eureka, and I know that civilian outfits do/can fly into there.  If your trip is done outside of military channels, it is costly to stage from there or Alert. If you do want to do it within military channels (approved adventure trg) I can set you up with a contact at the Canadian Forces Information Operations Group HQ (CFIOGHQ) in Ottawa, and I certainly can't promise you the answers you want, but there are a couple of people there (one MWO in particular) who have looked into this before.  The DND HQ in Yellowknife probably has some info as well.

If you want to work outside of military channels, I don't know anyone who has done the trip before, but you can check with some of the folks who go to Eureka and they probably have some contacts.  There is a web page at http://polar.nrcan.gc.ca/proj/location_e.php?SelectedArea=YEU with some contact information.  You can see a couple of them marked with 'Eureka weather station.'

Good luck.

 

[BernDawg]

I tried to edit my first post but something screwed up.  Anyway.  I really enjoyed my time there and don't want to discourage you in any way just prepare you for a mounumental task such as that.
     I have tons of pics and am avail to answer any questions as I have spent quite a bit of time off the station either hiking or touring the local area.
     Point to note.  The wolves get aggressive in the winter when food is scarce.  I have been in very close contact with them during the summer and you wouold swear they were nearly tame but come winter they get hungry and nasty.  I had to pepper spray one near the end of my tour which was in Late Oct early Nov.
Cheers
Bern

BTW the pic was taken on the 7th of June 05

 

[R933ex]

Been there a couple of times on GSAR and been involved in  planning a couple of exs give me a PM and I will send you everything I got.

TC