We make our escape

“To travel in the arctic is to wait”. A concept shared by Barry Lopez in his modern masterpiece of Arctic observation called Arctic Dreams.

Historical expeditions through the waters of the Arctic were always defined by long episodes of interminable waiting: waiting for weather to warm, waiting for ice to move, waiting for conditions to improve. Our journey is no different.

Nicky, Julie, Ken, and I arrived in Gjoa Haven just as a window of nice weather closed. Cold, rain, and high winds have replaced what would have been excellent conditions. “You brought winter with you,” I overheard an elder say to a new arrival at the Northern store.

The kayaking season here is very short. Sea ice typically blocks escape until late-July/early-August just as the Arctic summer begins to wind down.

Since our arrival the wind has been steady and sharp at 30-35kph, bumping into the 40s on occasion. It gusts much higher. It’s not a wind you head out into by choice, so we wait. We expected this, of course, and knew our journey would be defined by it.

If I think back to the toughest moments of my trips of past, they always seem to revolve around a forced delay: tent-bound just a stone throw from the South Pole; storm bound on the edge of Bering Sea ice, needing to cross it, it ready to break apart; itching to start paddling on the shores of Lake Baikal but stuck as visa issues muddled everything. They were all frustrating episodes, all episodes out of our control.

The Arctic takes the concept of the forced wait to a different level, however. ‘Quinuituq’ is an Inuktitut word that has no direct  equivalent in the english language. It means “deep patience” You know when a culture and a people have a specific word to describe a specific action, it bears heavily on their life. It’s bearing heavily on ours now.

The winds subside Monday afternoon and we make our escape. Our window is small as wind models predict increasing wind in 6 hours. We travel until 1am and make it to Booth Point just opposite Todd Island. Way back in 2007 Louie Kamookak brought myself, Evan Solomon, Stephen Smith, and Chris Christie out to Todd Island and showed us a skull and grave from the Franklin expedition. It’s something I’ve never forgotten.

The winds outside are howling again and we’re stuck again. But this time we don’t mind so much. If we’re not paddling we’re walking the shores of this lonely landscape immersing ourselves in a world few get to experience. That’s why we’re here after all. And who knows what we might find!!