Leaving the icecap
Published on 04.05.2009 - Hubert at the Humboldt
After having crossed several ice canyons and having tobogganed down the very end onto firm ground, Larry Hunt and Alain Hubert have now come to the end of their journey on the icecap.
Their position day 12 : 78° 51' 52" N / 66° 44' 28" W
From Larry Hunt's diary : "30km, 11hrs of trekking, we reached the end of our journey on the icecap crossing several ice canyons and finally tobogganing down the very end onto firm ground. Just before then, 2 guinea fowls had flown over our heads as to welcome us back to fertile ground. It was really a great feeling to see them flying over us.
"The view of the icecap spilling over the rocky muntains is spectacular. It is also hard to believe that in 3 months, icemelt coming from the middle of the ice cap will be forming rivers and streams and bleeding down the extremety of the icecap into the river beds to the ocean. It is like turning a tap on over my baldy french friend's head and watching the streams form at ear level. ..."
Their position day 13 : 79° 03' 26" N/ 66° 53' 47" W
From Larry Hunt's diary : "25km, 11hrs, Alain starts the day by giving me a refresher couse on how to use the Magnum 44 gun in the very unlikely event of a polar bear attack. It reminded me of an article I had read in which it said the best defense was to roll up into a ball on the ground and to not move (probably hard to do..). It said that 95% of the time, the bear would leave. I am wondering how they made that statistic...
"According to Alain and the people of Qaanaak, nobody has ever been where we are as it is not reacheable by dogsled. There is no interest for the Inuit to go inland as the sea is where they hunt.
"We will see lots of wildlife (guinea fowls, rabbits, raindeers, foxes) and tracks as the snow is fresh from the storm that swept through the region 2 days ago. At one point, we crossed the tracks of a bear fortunately going in the opposite direction.
"Anyway, we feel that since we havent bathed or changed in nearly 2 weeks, our odor will be our best defense and will surely chase even the bear away. .."
