Expedition Update # 7 - Direct from the High-Arctic! These updates are composed on our sub-notebook computer, which is powered by solar panels courtesy of UNSW, then sent using software from Global Marine Networks, over a satellite mobile phone provided by Landwide Satellite Solutions. Thanks very much to all involved! Date: 16/7/05 Time: 1:30 am Position: 10km paddle out of Cambridge Bay Summary: Pre-expedition Adventures Weather: Tad cold, but clear skies Temperature: 7 deg C Message: Even though our expedition has yet to get under way, each & every day spent here in and around Cambridge Bay has been incredible. It's not often you find yourself shouldering a huge shaggy musk ox skin, dragging it down to an ice strewn beach to use as a bed-sheet - no tent, just sleeping bags on top of insulating musk ox fur. As I type this update my mind is still swimming with surreal situations Clark and I have found our selves in recently. Since we last passed word out, far more has happened than we could ever build into a reasonable sized email, so following are just the edited highlights showing how we have been killing time while waiting for our kayaks to untangle themselves from Vancouver. Alex Stuit, president of the 'Ikaluktuktiak Paddling Association' here in Cambridge Bay threw us a welcoming BBQ on Wed night - Beer, thick Canadian T-bone steaks... So good! The guests included many interesting locals, including Brent Boddy who has dog-sledded to the North Pole unsupported (not even satellite navigation!). He's an amazing guy - very friendly, full of information and ideas. More on Brent later! After the BBQ, Alex very generously loaned us two ATV / little 4WD buggies that seem to be the standard mode of summer transport around here. After a brief run-down on how they work, we found ourselves rugged-up in our warmest clothes, tearing along a dirt road out to 'Mount Pelly' - a 'mountain' out of town which we both climbed and slept on the summit overlooking the thousands of lakes below. We have been loving our Exped sleeping bags, as being waterproof we just unroll them anywhere, rain or shine, and climb in. The only problem is that with perpetual sunlight our noses have been getting a bit sunburnt as we sleep! We did a radio interview with CBC, and then headed out with Lawrence's family to their weekend cabin. Everyone here seems to have a remote cabin to retreat to for the weekends, it's lovely. We practiced shooting, practiced eating, and to our amazement, practiced wandering the pack-ice - just leaping from one independently floating, melting & drifting bit of ice to the next. Many couldn't support us, and we'd have to leap onto it, and as it sank into the inky blackness, spring on to the next piece, and so on. A combination of keeping your momentum going while being able to stop & change direction without sliding off the far side. Lawrence is a master at this, and taught us well! Thanks! We'd never have ventured onto the ice otherwise. It's a lot more stable than it looks! (some of it.) The following day, Alex again loaned us more toys! We carried some of his kayaks across town, down to the Arctic Ocean where Brent Brody then gave us a quick run-down on kayaking, and before we knew it we were paddling 10km out of town to his cabin, which must be one of the most isolated and pristine. The wonders never ceased - as we paddled towards the seemingly impenetrable pack-ice shelf, Brent lead us on through the maze of little open water leads amidst the ice. Eventually our luck ran out, and pack ice surrounded us. In kamakaze-like style Brent paddled as fast as he could directly at the sheet ice in our way. The kayak struck the ice, slid up on to it, glided effortlessly over the barrier, and then slipped silently back into the water on the far side!! Apparently this is normal, and soon Clark and I were actively hunting-out ice-sheets to practice this seal-manoeuvre on. It's as fun as it sounds! Eventually the ice became so close that paddling was impossible, and in another kamakaze stunt, Brent just stood up in his kayak and stepped out onto what looked like water (evidently submerged ice). We both did the same and soon all 3 of us had out own kayaks in tow behind us like a sled as we wandered / jumped / shuffled through the ice. All around us bits of ice were breaking, rising up and falling, making grumbling crunching noises as they all drifted about. Brent cheerfully commented that the ice was particularly 'religious' today (as in it was very 'holy', as in it was FULL OF MASSIVE GAPING VOIDS through which we could fall at any moment). It was awesome. We had our Gore-Tex(R) Immersion Drysuits on while kayaking which was very reassuring, and once we reached his cabin we tested them out properly and waded out into the water and went for a bit of a swim, after we lost all feeling in our limbs we came ashore, stepped out of our dry-suits, wearing perfectly dry warm clothes. It felt like the ultimate disguise / spy trick - 1 second in dripping wet clothes, then -zzzzzzzip- step out in our suit & tie. (Well, icebreaker thermals, same thing). We are having the time of our lives, one experience after another. We just helped Brent put out the fishing net - hope to catch some big Arctic Char tonight while we sleep bundled up in this musk-ox fur. Goodnight! Back to updates list To send us a message, please contact us anytime!