After two attempts of landing at the airport in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, the pilot turned the plane around and headed back to Yellowknife. Getting “weathered out” or “weathered in” in Nunavut is nothing new…when you fly anywhere in the north this time of year, you take your chances. It could’ve been worse, we could’ve been holed up for days instead of one night and having to spend it in Yellowknife is nothing to complain about! We set out for Cambridge Day again the next day (with another weather warning) but we made it. So here I am at 7:50 a.m., 1786 km north of Edmonton listenting to the heavy equipment beep their way through the morning as they clear the snow from the streets.
I am here with Paul Finkelstein (local food advocate, culinary arts teacher and subject of the TV Show “Fink”) and his group of culinary students from Stratford, Ontario and today we are going out on the land on qamutiks and snowmobiles to look for muskox and anything else brave enough to call the tundra its home. When I return and thaw, I’ll bring you an update of the day. Four hours on the land with 15 teenagers…could be interesting.
Does anyone else sense the irony of one blog covering Istanbul (so near the equator) and the very next covering our humble explorer’s first day well above the arctic circle. Very cool T.
Stay warm. Don’t let the huskies bite!