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Baffin IslandFrozen Landscapes in Arctic, Canada I’d like to think that by getting blown off course and having our gear crushed by the sea-ice, we were upholding a long standing tradition of exploration on Baffin Island . While we were able to avoid the un-pleasantries of being marooned for years, death by starvation or being eaten by polar bears, it’s a dubious honor to join the ranks of Sir John Franklin and many others who had underestimated the complexity and ferocity of Baffin Island and have been forced to reevaluate their plans mid trip. Our plan had been to start at Pond Inlet on the northern tip of Baffin Island and then ski and kite-ski our way down to Clyde River in the middle of the island. The trip was to cover roughly 400 miles of wild terrain that wove in and out of fjords, across open sea-ice, over glacial passes and through crevasses. In a classic case of “Be careful of what you wish for – you just might get it,” our first day started with little to no wind for our kites and slow progress. A few hours later in near hurricane force winds, our dreams of a big traverse were crushed by a 30 mph excursion into a jagged ice floe that left one of our sleds splintered and broken. With one unreliable sled, it was time to reconsider our options. Betting a few weeks salary on a snow machine ride out to Coutts Inlet, we reassembled our gear and established ourselves in the Nova Zembla Island area roughly 30 miles southeast of Pond Inlet. Our first quest was to work our way up a receding glacier toward the high point of Qiajivik peak. Climbing through a moraine filled with old animal tracks, we reached a high point just as the temperature hit a low of -10c at 10pm. Retracing our steps back down to the sea-ice camp, we spent the night in a tent bolted to the ice with ice screws before heading off the next day in search of the elusive monster couloir. We didn’t have to go far. Within a few minutes of skinning, we came to the base of a 4,000’ beauty - we didn’t know it at the time, but this was to be one of the best lines of the trip, with soft snow, a striking fall-line and sunny weather. For the following weeks, we fell into a pattern of climbing and skiing a couloir per day and then moving camp when an area was skied out. This area, Coutts Inlet and the North Arm of Coutts, had some descent couloirs, but not of quite the quality and quantity of the Sam Ford Fjord area. They also suffered from exposure to the sun, which cooked the snow into a firm, icy base. This made for some sporty turns, especially in the “Gnarwhal” couloir which had an attention grabbing 55 degree upper section to it. Although nothing on this trip went according to our plans, it did follow the Baffin Island master plan, which guarantees nothing more than wild terrain, striking scenery and unexpected adventures. One of the more telling examples of this concept was the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which is a major part of Baffin Island ’s history. After 200 years of trying, the secret northern passage from England to Alaska was finally pieced together, only to be immediately discarded as being unrealistically difficult to navigate. To this day, the act of discovery and exploration on Baffin Island remains perhaps more important than any end goal.
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Review by Photo by Andrew McLean |
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Wildlife of Canada's Arctic regionWildlife in Manitoba, Canada Polar bears, arctic foxes, caribou, snowshoe hare, beluga whales, wolves, moose and seals are just some of the animals who thrive in the freezing tundra and pack ice of northern Canada and the Arctic Circle. They have adapted to the seasonal environment and take advantage of both the winters, when much of the bay freezes, and polar bears hunt on the ice, and the warmer weather when the ice melts revealing salt marshes that support huge water fowl nurseries. Visitors to the region will also be wowed by the Northern Lights and impressed by the vast, silent, open, untouched spaces. Canada’s polar bears are a dangerous lot and have been known to hunt the gentle beluga whale as well as seals and walruses. Much of this region is too far north and too frozen to have been seriously effected by logging or mining, so 90% of it remains in its virgin state. It is only in recent years that concerns about the bay being frozen for shorter periods have caused conservationists to worry about the habitat of these southern most polar bears and their animal contemporaries. The best times to see polar bears is between January and April, the best time for whale watching between June and August and the best time to see the Northern Lights is between September and October and January through May.
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Review by Photo by flickr user pinkbelt |
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Calgary StampedeFestivals in Calgary, Canada The Calgary Stampede is a wild west extravaganza - a historic celebration of farming life, of agriculture and of the rodeo. It features musical entertainment in the evenings, chuckwagon races, agriculture competitions, fair ground rides, a daily parade and the world’s largest outdoor rodeo competition. The first stampede took place in 1912 and drew large numbers of competitors and more than 100,000 spectators. Visitors to the modern ten day annual July event usually total more than a million, and a further two million viewers tune in and watch the parade on television. Prize money for the six rodeo events recently topped $1.6 million dollars. Locals and visitor are encouraged to ‘dress western’ for the duration of the event and enjoy the range of traditional sitting on the edge of your seat style western entertainment.
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Review by Photo by flickr user thivierr |
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Journey Behind the Falls (Canada)Caves & Caving in Buffalo, Canada Many waterfalls, great and small, have a breezy space behind the sheet of falling water called a “Cave of the Winds," sometimes regarded in legend as the dwelling place of a thunder god. The problem with these tourist attractions is that the owners don’t often let you actually enter them, for liability reasons. So it is with Niagara Falls, on both sides of the international border. On the American side, behind Bridal Falls, there used to be an actual Cave of the Winds you could enter. Occasionally, however, someone would slip on the wet, mossy stone steps and get swept away by the mighty cataract. And then a huge rock fall occurred, partially obliterating the space. So nowadays, the delights of the American attraction called “Cave of the Winds” largely derives from getting right up close in front of, but not behind, the waterfall itself. Being supplied with a disposable canary-yellow poncho and sandals, but inconveniently carrying your shoes, you take an elevator down a shaft into the bowels of Goat Island, emerging onto a wooden boardwalk, following it up to the Hurricane Deck, right into the spray from the falls. On the Canadian side, the corresponding attraction is called “Journey Behind the Falls.” Starting from the historic Table Rock House in Queen Victoria Park, garbed in the usual canary poncho, you take an elevator down to the base of the much more impressive Canadian Horseshoe Falls. In addition to the deck area, the nice thing is that two viewing tunnels have been bored through the cliff to come out actually behind the waterfall, something you don’t get to see on the American side.
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Review by Photo by gregorybrick |
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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo JumpArchaeological Sites in Alberta, Canada Native Americans found a quick and easy way to get a lot of food fast was to chase a herd of bison over a cliff then going down below to carve them all up for easy transportation. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is one of the bet preserved of these early abattoir precipices. Bison tracks running between two ridges and of course the large number of bones on the canyon floor as testament to this efficiency. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, an Interpretive Centre explaining more about the Blackfoot peoples who lived in this region has been built into the cliffs of the jump.
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Review by Photo by flickr user species_snob |
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About usStuck at your desk? Gazing out at those grey skies and imagining you are somewhere else? I want to go here is all about inspiring you to do something different - about encouraging you to check out a new experience or destination. It's simple - we post something new every day. If you like the look of it, send it to a couple of friends. If not, wait and see what tomorrow brings. And if it gets past the fantasy stage, we'll soon have links to research the experience further, but you can also send us an email, and we'll tell you where to look or book next. |