Features

By Capt Scott Murphy

Six members of 442 (Transport & Rescue) Squadron have just returned from spending the summer solstice under the midnight sun of the high Arctic.  The adventure training team successfully completed a six-day, hundred-kilometre mountainous trek in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut.

Quttinirpaaq is the world's most northerly park and, at just under 40 000 square kilometres, is almost as large as Switzerland. The area is considered to be a polar desert with less than 6 cm of precipitation per year and with June temperatures averaging daily lows of 0°C and highs of 5°C.  The trekkers reached as far north as 81°40', higher than all but the two most northerly inhabited places on the planet.  At this extreme latitude, the sun rises in early April and does not set again until the first week of September!

Taking advantage of the squadron's annual participation in OP Hurricane, the group traveled by CC-115 Buffalo from Comox to park headquarters at Tanquary Fjord.  Expedition members then applied mountain navigation, trekking, and camping techniques as they circumnavigated the Ad Astra Ice Cap.  Along the way, they traversed barren valley floors, lush meadows, flowing rivers, boulder fields, scree slopes, and ancient glaciers.  Numerous ice fields were in sight at all times - including both the Per Ardua and Air Force Glaciers!  The group encountered small herds of musk ox, as well as caribou and arctic hare.  They also stumbled across the sun-bleached remains of numerous animals - a harsh testament to the unforgiving climate and terrain. 

MCpl Rob Coates, the Search and Rescue technician who guided the expedition, was impressed with how "individuals from different sections of the squadron came together and pulled off this trip. Everyone worked together and made it happen without any problems.  It was an awesome experience that gave us an unique appreciation for Canada's North."