Days 6, 7 and 8
The journey continued northeast down the Owl River. Remember I said I wondered what wind and clear skies would be like? Well, on day six, we were to find out. Clear skies and strong winds on our backs: ambient temperature -25°C - with wind-chill, -47°C. Chilly. It was strong enough for me to stand still on the ice and be blown forwards; strong enough to blow the pulk ahead of me, towing me along with it; strong enough to sit on the pulk and be blown along. Wow. That was fun for a while, then we realised that we really needed to get serious about protecting our faces and moving on to generate body heat.
Then I found out what frost nip is all about - I felt my face burning with cold and it felt a little odd as I helped a team member change his film. Basically my right cheek and nose froze. Apparently it looked like my skin was coated in candle wax. It was quickly cured by my mate placing his hand on the frozen bits - I was annoyed he didn't take a photo first! It happened again a little later, at which point I thought the full-face balaclava - to become an ice-encrusted gimp - was an attractive option!
Occasional glances back revealed the lost valley disappearing behind us with the sun surrounded by a huge halo, the like of which you can only see in the extreme cold. Incredible scenery.
The final part of the journey was less spectacular but interesting nonetheless as the terrain became flatter, the valley widened out, it started snowing and we took a wrong turn. We ended up in a river valley strewn with boulders. So we climbed out of the valley with two to a pulk. Hard work but a good lesson to illustrate the 'Incident Pit' - how not identifying and rectifying a simple problem up front can quickly turn into a much harder or even impossible situation to get out of.
Finally, we decided to opt for a pick-up by skidoo, to take us quickly across the last 40 miles. The pick-up was arranged via radio. The journey took 3½ hours. It was described as like being asphyxiated in a deep freeze whilst being beaten by a piece of 4x2!
On arrival at Qikiqtarjuaq, Broughton Island, we were met with warm bunkhouse accommodation. The toilet is outside - a bucket. Showers - well, you need to chat up the local nurse to get one in her house. Still, there is a huge gas-fired boiler that chucks out vast quantities of hot air. And, by the time you get off that damn skidoo, you will go down on your knees and worship that heater as your new-found God.
We chilled out there for a day playing cards and liar dice. We went shopping for food and souvenirs. We had a parade of local people coming to visit to offer us carvings, things they'd made, skins etc. We wandered out onto the sea ice and visited an iceberg that had got trapped there the previous autumn, and we met local children who showed us the igloos they had built as part of a school project.
We also worried about our flight out. There had been blizzards in Iqaluit for the previous three days, preventing planes from leaving to reach Broughton Island. However, they cleared in time and we caught our flight on schedule. We did indeed fly back over where we'd just walked and were totally gobsmacked by what we saw. All of us said 'did we walk that?'. Will I do it again? You bet!