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April 20, 2010 – Alert and Thule, Greenland

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

This morning we took a helicopter ride from Alert to Ward Hunt Island to meet with another Ranger Patrol. It turns out Ward Hunt Island is even further north than Alert – the 83rd parallel. A new record for me. We took a tour of the famous things on the island. No kidding. The first is a handmade marker with a small plaque commemorating the visit made by Pierre Trudeau while he was Prime Minister. The second was a large bronze plaque marking the first unassisted trip which began on Ward Hunt Island in 1995 to the North Pole AND BACK. It took 110 days.

Plaque commemorating 1995 trek from Ward Island to the North Pole

After taking in some of the breathtaking scenery and eating some bannock – Aboriginal fried bread which is very good and is supposed to keep you warm – we headed back to Alert.

Our last stop before we left had great meaning for me. Anyone who has ever read about Alert has probably seen the place where there are signs to dozens of cities and their distance from where we stood. I added one from my hometown, Chicago – 2862 miles.

Signpost in Alert - 2862 miles to Chicago

We then boarded the C-17 and flew to Thule, Greenland, to refuel. During the 90-minute refueling stop we toured the US Air Force Base at Thule. At the height of the cold war, Thule was the home to 12,000 people and was one of the places where strategic bombers were based. Given the changes in geopolitics and in technology, it has a new mission of early warning as part of NORAD and as a place to track items in space (satellites and so called “space junk”). As they explained to us, they can track an item in space the size of a softball at a distance equal to that between New York and Los Angeles. Pretty amazing.

We then got back on the C-17. I got to sit up front and see the scenery including the Polar ice cap and thousands of icebergs. We then settled in for our next 4½ hours in the air on the way back to Ottawa, which they tell me is basking in temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius. That’s a few degrees warmer than the weather we left behind.

I want to gather my thoughts a little about the Arctic. But I know learned a lot on my trip. First, it is a wondrous place. The usual rules that apply to our world don’t work there. It is hopelessly rugged. Compasses don’t work. Communication is extremely difficult.

Everything you need to survive has to be brought in. Second, the effects of global warming are felt here more than anywhere else. The shrinking of the polar ice cap. The thinning of the sea ice. The rising temperatures. Third, as those effects are being felt the Arctic will become more accessible. While there is a great deal of attention paid to using the Arctic as a shipping route, that is a long way away – if ever. But, in the near term there will be more tourists and adventurers. They will cause more environmental challenges and demand more search and rescue. Meeting these challenges will require a great deal of international cooperation.

While I was glad to get back to Ottawa with its warm temperatures and my own bed, the high Arctic is quite a trip. I understand this blog will be posted on Earth Day- Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Tags: Alert, Arctic, Greenland, North Pole, Nunavut, Thule, Ward Island
Posted in April 2010 |

April 19, 2010 – The Rangers

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Every once in a while you see something that is just plain smart. I definitely put the Canadian Rangers program into that category. This afternoon we took an hour ride in a Canadian Forces BV 206 which is a tracked tandem snow machine – a giant enclosed snowmobile, to a camp where the Rangers were working with a group from the Danish military who came complete with dog sleds. More on that in a moment.

Snow transport in Alert, Nunavut

The Canadian Forces website describes the Rangers as “a volunteer force made up of Inuit, First Nations, Métis and non-Aboriginal First Nations people who serve as reservists in the Canadian Forces.” The primary role of this part-time force is to conduct surveillance or sovereignty patrols as required. Some Canadian Rangers also conduct inspections of the North Warning System (NWS) sites and act as guides and scouts when southern forces are in their area of operations.

U.S. Ambassador Jacobson in front of CSB Alert welcome sign

Two examples. We saw how the Rangers built an igloo (a real one – not the place where the Pittsburgh Penguins play) in 20 minutes. And, when I asked how they navigate in a world that all looks the same and where compasses don’t work since magnetic north is south of where we are, I learned that they tell direction from the patterns in the snow. They know the prevailing winds in each area. The winds create distinctive patterns. Great idea!

Igloo in Alert, Nunavut

The Danes were extraordinary in their own right. There are three of them who serve together for two years in the wilderness with a team of dogs. They get supplies every few months. But they need to become self sufficient. They need medical skills, veterinary skills, and all around survival skills. They also need to be pretty good cross-country skiers since they ski alongside the sled for about 5000km each year.

Danish sled dogs in Alert, Nunavut

An interesting fact. There is a pack of wolves up here. It turns out they are now friends with the Danish dog team. Or at least they have a degree of mutual respect. Who’d have thought? One other comment, when someone asked the Danes – people who are more than experts on survival in the high arctic – what they thought of a trip on skis to the North Pole their response was “that’s nuts.”

Sunrise during C-17 flight from Ottawa, Canada to Alert, Nunavut

We came back for dinner and then went out and watched military divers jump through a hole in the six foot thick ice and survey the Arctic Ocean. If that wasn’t special enough we then went for a snowmobile ride (I had never driven one before) out on to the Arctic Ocean to a place where a large iceberg was forming in the frozen ice. We climbed to the top for pictures.

Canadian Rangers training camp near CSB Alert, Nunavut

It’s now 11 pm. I got up at 2 am. But since it’s still totally sunny out, I don’t know how I’ll go to sleep. I’d better figure it out since I have to meet for breakfast at 6:30.

Tags: Alert, Arctic, Canadian Rangers, Nunavut
Posted in April 2010 |

April 19, 2010 – Tom Smitheringale

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Yesterday – in the comfort of Ottawa — I was reading an article in the New Yorker about a Swede named S. A. Andrée who, in 1897, tried to take a hydrogen filled balloon over the North Pole. He didn’t make it. But his diaries and some photos he took were found many years later.

Today in Alert I met Tom Smitheringale, an “adventurer” from Australia, who tried to cross-country ski to the North Pole pulling a sled with supplies. He didn’t make it there because he crashed through the ice and was soaked in freezing water. After ten minutes he was able to pull himself out. He sent an emergency rescue signal and, by absolute luck, there were helicopters and rescue planes here in Alert practicing search and resuce as part of an annual Candadian exercise called Operation Nunalivut 2010. They were able to get to him before he died. According to medical personnel here, if they hadn’t gotten to him in a few more hours he wouldn’t have made it.

Why anyone would try to cross-country ski to the North Pole is totally beyond me. And why, when asked if he would ever do anything like that again he said he would try again next year, is incomprehensible. But, I must say, it was memorable to meet him.

The strangest things happen up here at the 82nd parallel.

Tags: Alert, Arctic, North Pole, Operation Nunalivut 2010, Tom Smitheringale
Posted in April 2010 |

April 19, 2010 – Alert

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

I always wanted to go to the end of the world. I finally made it.

The flight here was amazing. From Ottawa International Airport we flew for five and a half hours over the frozen north. We are at the 82nd parallel at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. The view – particularly for the last hour as we went over mountain ranges – was spectacular. The most memorable thing, however, is how the sky, the land, and the water all blend together. When you look out the window you are never sure what you are seeing.

The last thing we saw before we landed at Alert was the crash site of the C-130 from Operation Boxtop 22. It is the basis for the movie Ordeal in the Arctic. The tail of the plane is still sticking out of the snow. A reminder of how formidable this place is. After we landed we saw the graves of the victims and a memorial to them.

Graves from Operation Boxtop 22

Operation Boxtop

I was able to sit in the cockpit for the landing. The runway is gravel covered in snow and ice and, yet the landing seemed very uneventful to me. But, then again, what do I know about landing a C-17 on a permafrost runway?

In the pilot's seat

When we got off the plane we were greeted by the commander of Joint Task Force North, Brigadier General Millar and his team. After they took us on a quick tour of the facilities we got the traditional greeting for new arrivals to Alert. Everyone at the facility met in the lobby of the main building and cheered lustily. Not to let it go to my head, I understand they do it for everyone who manages the five and a half hour flight up here.

Off to lunch.

Tags: Alert, Arctic, Brigadier General Millar, Nunavut
Posted in April 2010 |

April 19, 2010 — Because it’s there

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

I’m on a Canadian Forces C-17 on my way to Alert, Nunavut which is 5½ hours and 2400 nautical miles north of Ottawa. To give you some perspective, the pilots told me that if we flew the same 2400 nautical miles south we’d be in Venezuela. Alert is about 500 nautical miles from the North Pole. If I see Santa Claus when I get there I’ll give him your regards.

The C-17 is relatively new to the Canadian Forces (since 2007). It can carry a tank or three helicopters. While it is a cargo plane, and spartan-like compared to commercial aircraft, it is positively luxurious compared to the C-130’s we flew when I was in Afghanistan. There are actually seats!! As you approach the plane, the main thing you are struck by is how low to the ground the belly is – only a couple of feet of clearance. The inside is a maze of wires and pipes. But, because of the wingspan and the design, it is VERY smooth in the air. Though pretty noisy.

C-17

One interesting thing – at least for a United States Ambassador. One of the crew members, the “load master” is from the United States Air Force. He is part of an exchange program where U.S. troops are stationed side-by-side with Canadian Forces here in Canada while – at the same time – Canadian troops are doing to the same in the United States. It’s yet another example of what I always say about the relationship. We’re family.

This is the first C-17 “operational flight” to Alert. Last week they did a test run. The runway up there is gravel and it is covered with snow and ice. Last week was the first time a C-17 ever landed anywhere in those conditions. If you are reading this, it went as well the second time.

We took off from Ottawa at 4 am. About an hour later we saw the sun rise in the northeast. I was told that will be the last time I’d see darkness until we get back to Ottawa tomorrow night. There is daylight for all 24 hours in Alert at this time of year. That’s the good news. The bad news is the temperature is -20 degrees Celsius. And that’s warm for this time of year. I packed every warm piece of clothing I own.

I am travelling with Deputy Minister of Defence Robert Fonberg, Assistant Deputy Minister for Policy Jill Sinclair, Major-General Yvan Blondin, the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and Brigadier-General Gregory Matte.

People always ask me if I have been “north.” By tomorrow night I’ll be able to say “as far north as you can go.” Very exciting.

Tags: Alert, Arctic, Brigadier-General Gregory Matte, Canadian Forces C-17l, Jill Sinclair, Major-General Yvan Blondin, Nunavut, Ron Fonberg
Posted in April 2010 |

Posts Tagged ‘Alert’