Committee Bay

As expected, we had a very comfortable night’s sleep at the hut we found on the Curtis River — a night that was a wee toastier, compared to those spent in our tent.

A bright blue sky this morning. The temperature down somewhat though, as we set off along a meandering route following the river northward. Coming out of the river’s delta reaching into Ross Inlet, we came up against towering, quite challenging chunks of ice that we carefully negotiated ourselves and sleds over and through. It was worth the effort. We had made it into Committee Bay. We were out onto the Arctic Ocean… a good turning point for us!

Along our route today we came across further evidence that we were not alone here. We sighted wolverine tracks and, again, we noticed some older polar bear tracks. 

We pushed North on Committee Bay and finally stopped to set up our camp on the sea-ice: [ Latitude: 67º 15’  23º  N | Longitude: 87º 18’ 23º W ]. We’ve wisely deployed the ‘bear fence’ for the first time since leaving Naujaat, having been warned there could be bears here on the West coast of the bay. It is a cold one tonight — can feel it already — so it’s extra layers on, in the sleeping bags.  

We realize we’ve been rather spoiled the last couple of days. It will be especially cold tomorrow with temps in -25C territory and windy, according to Frank, likely bringing us a Saturday traverse along the western coast of the bay… a bit on the stiff side at -40C, or colder. 

It’s back to business tomorrow, as we continue to push further North.

[The AR Team]