Canadian Arctic: Baffin Island Ice Edge Adventure
Explore by Ski or Sled from our Wilderness Base Camp
Trip Overview
- Easy base camping
- Travel by pulled sled June 13th trip departure; ski and kayak June 5th departure
- 8 nights wilderness camping in tents
Baffin Island holds a legendary place in the annals of polar adventure, and its allure is no less potent now than it was centuries ago. Today, however, we are able to enjoy its stark natural beauty and rich wildlife with much greater ease than earlier explorers, like the intrepid 16th-century William Baffin for whom the world’s fifth-largest island is named.
Our expedition takes place on the spectacular northeast coast of Baffin Island along the Arctic Cordillera, the northernmost range in Canada. The Baffin Mountains, backdrop for our Ice Edge adventure, contain some of the most dramatic scenery on earth, where snowfields and glaciers tumble from sheer peaks to meet the frozen seas with icebergs locked in place. In this region we also find Bylot Island, one of Canada’s newest national parks, Sirmilik – an Inuit word meaning “place of the glaciers” – created in 2001.
We visit in springtime, when this remote corner of the Far North is bursting with wonders. Here where frozen ocean meets the open water lies the Ice Edge -- a dynamic phenomenon in the Arctic -- where wildlife concentrates to forage upon the abundance of plankton and fish that open water and sunlight foster. The Ice Edge is a place of incredible biological productivity, and we may see polar bear, narwhal, bowhead and seal present for the feast. The 24-hour sunlight of late May and June mark the arrival of seabirds, including thick-billed murres, northern fulmars, king eiders, black kittiwake, and gyr and peregrine falcon. We may observe all of these species both at the ice edge and at a breathtaking seabird colony.
Our Arctic adventure begins at Pond Inlet, "Jewel of the Baffin," so-called for its magnificent setting among ice-choked bays and soaring peaks. Traveling over the pack ice, we arrive at our camp late in the day. For the next week, weather and ice conditions permitting, we will travel from our base camp to the Ice Edge via snowmobile (June 14th trip departure) if snow conditions permit, passing beneath the towering cliffs of Bylot Island. The May 30th trip departure is an active trip, where we will plan to ski from our base camp each day, and paddle when the conditions permit. On both trips, we'll spend time observing and photographing scenery and wildlife. We’ll also visit a Thule archeological site, learning about this ancient culture that thrived here a thousand years ago.
A Short History of Baffin Island
These ancestors of the present-day Inuit adapted to life in the Arctic environment at about the time the pyramids were being built and some 3,000 years before the first Europeans arrived in the New World. The first contact between Europeans and the Baffin Island Inuit came in the tenth century when there was regular traffic back and forth across present day Davis Strait with the Icelanders of Greenland. The Vikings had a name for Baffin Island —they called it Helluland, Country of Flat Stones — and the birds and animals they hunted there became exotic trade items in Europe. These included the white gryfalcon, and eventually Baffin Island became known in Europe during the Middle Ages as Falcon Island.
In the nineteenth century, with the lure of a potential Northwest Passage trade route to Asia, European explorers returned to Lancaster Sound, and right behind them, in search of the prized bowhead whale, the whalers began to arrive. Many of the Passage seekers were rescued by these whalers, including the incredible John Ross expedition, which — after four years of overwintering in the Arctic, and having been given up for lost — was picked up in Eclipse Sound. The whalers enculturated the Baffin Inuit with various trade goods from points south and established a whaling station in Eclipse Sound at Pond Inlet in 1903.
By the beginning of the 20th century the eastern Arctic bowhead had been hunted to near-extinction, and the whaling era drew to a close. The Baffin Inuit were largely left on their own, but with a new-found dependency upon western trade items. With the northern fur trade in full swing, coupled with the Baffin islanders’ desire for outside goods, trading posts were set up at Pond Inlet in 1912, and the site became an established trading center for the Inuit. Today, 11,000 people in eight different communities call Baffin Island home.
While the region’s history is dramatic, it is the drama in this stunning Arctic landscape that leaves visitors awestruck. We witness its beauty and changing moods firsthand while traveling with our Baffin Inuit guides and learning about the challenges and rewards of their contemporary northern lifestyle. This classic Arctic adventure offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore the natural and cultural features of a most remarkable environs.
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9 Days
2012 Dates
Jun. 6-14 Ski and Kayak from Basecamp
Jun. 13-21 Sled from Basecamp
Trip Difficulty (Ski/Kayak): Level 4
Trip Difficulty (Sled): Level 3
2012 Prices
Land Cost
Ski and Kayak: Group size 8-10: $5,990*
Sled: Group size 8-10: $7,490*
Small Group Surcharge: $500
Single Supplement: Not guaranteed at local hotel
Internal Flights
$2,450
Park Fee
$24
*Price does not include international airfare, Canada's 5% Goods and Service tax or mandatory trip insurance. Prices are given in US Dollars.
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