Ellesmere-home previous

In June of 1998 I had the opportunity to go to a remote part of northern Canada to visit Ellesmere Island. The main purpose was to climb Barbeau Peak, the highest point in Nunavut Province, Canada.

Barbeau Peak is located at W 75-00-42.6 N 81-54-51.0, UTM using NAD27 Canadian datum, In Ellesmere Island National Park and Preserve. In other words, it is about 500 miles from the North Pole.

Getting there is half the fun. The park is located in a very remote part of the world. We flew as far north as we could on scheduled flights, but even these were freight flights with a few passenger seats thrown in. Then we chartered a ski-equipped plane to take us the rest of the way (and hopefully pick us up two weeks later).

I took a shuttle to the airport, carrying several bags. Getting to check-in was difficult with the heavy bags, but getting dropped off right at the door helped a lot.

I met Bob, Bill, Greg, Jack, and Dan at the hotel in Edmonton. Although I expected some older folks, several appeared older than I expected. Tony and Pete, the two Canadians from Alberta, will join us in the morning. Three others and I had a good dinner and I took a long shower, not knowing how long it will be until my next real shower and assuming I’ll need to be quick in the morning. Dan and Jack (the two Canadians) arrived around 10pm when I was already in bed.

I got up, took a shower, and met the others for breakfast. We then headed to the airport to meet the others. The eight of us had fun checking in with all our bags of equipment, but had no problems.

The 737-cargo plane that had maybe a dozen rows of 6 seats each in the tail section. We had a stop at Yellowknife and then Cambridge Bay on our way to Resolute.

We arrived at Resolute, with its 184 residents, gigantic 7000+ foot runway with lights, full ILS (Instrument Landing System), and everything you would expect at a major US airport – except it in the middle of nowhere. And I mean nowhere. It’s on an island where they can only get ships on for 30 days a year.

One might think the Resolute airport was built at US taxpayer expenses when the DEW (Distant Early Warning) posts were being constructed during the cold war. And that it was a way of getting supplies and people to and from them. One might think that.

I decided to stay at a hotel (really converted house) for $230 a night, including meals. Four of the group camped out near the airport, three others and I stayed at the hotel. There was another “hotel” in an old building at the airport, but that was several miles from town. There were plans to build a more traditional hotel starting the next year – once they figured out the exact materials required and had them shipped in on the yearly supply ship. I’ll have to go back sometime to see it.