Meet Jim, Webmaster and Technology Specialist for the Will Steger Foundation and 2007 Baffin Island Expedition. A jack of many trades, you might find Jim in a wide variety of environments on any given day at the Homestead. Visit the lodge and you’ll find Jim working dutifully on the Global Warming 101 website and trouble shooting computer glitches. Venture out to nearby Jackfish Lake and you’ll find Jim on the back of a dog sled, honing his mushing skills and training Elizabeth and Abby on trail technology. In his cabin you might find Jim hanging out with his family, who have come up from the Twin Cities several times to visit. Visit the sauna and you’ll find Jim jumping fearlessly into the ice hole with a triumphant yelp.

Before the arrival of the expedition team to the Homestead, Jim and support staff were hard at work establishing wireless internet access and enhanced cell phone reception in the lodge. With their help, powered by a generator and two solar panels, the rustic building has been transformed into a modern technology center.

With Jim’s expertise and dedication, the expedition team will send out daily emails, images, and audio dispatches via satellite connection from trail. Traveling village to village by plane and snow mobile, Jim will create a mobile base camp where he can receive data from the field and upload it to the GW101 website. He will work with Will Steger Foundation Media Specialist, Jerry Stenger, to process film footage from the expedition when the team arrives in each village. Footage will be promptly edited and posted to the website.

Technology will play a crucial role in the ability of the Will Steger Foundation and expedition team to reach its goals. Through the use of this technology the team will document the impact of global warming on traditional Inuit culture and help to broadcast the Inuit voice and experience to the world.

With the expedition team packing up gear and leaving on February 12, the training of the dog teams is also winding up. These last few weeks have been full of long dog runs into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and on the Beargrease trail on the shore of Lake Superior. The dogs are running nine hours at a stretch and are still pulling 700 pound sleds. It has been amazing to watch their progression from the beginning of the season, when we could tell how tired they were after a two-hour run. Now, the dogs are hammering in their harnesses ready to go after many hours of continuous running. They are quite strong and ready for the challenges of Baffin Island.

We welcomed the addition of a talented new dog to the yard a while back. Her name is Whisper and she comes to us from the dog yard of our friend Jamie Nelson of Togo, MN. Whisper, a three year- old Alaskan Husky and Iditarod veteran is an incredible gee-haw leader. This means she is very responsive to directional commands from the musher.

The final dog teams have been chosen for the expedition as of this week. We have two teams of 10 dogs each for the U.S. team members. We have Whisper, then playful Bullet and Cilantro, all-business Jake, the serious-pulling pair of Tuvik and Jones, talkative Sasha and Sparky, and powerful Jimmy and Skid in the wheel (back) position.

Leading the second team are Frank and Nyla, who have quite different personalities but balance each other out well in front. In point position, just behind the leaders, we have Teekona and Sonny who love to pull, then comes young Didgi and burly Bones, brothers Rudy and Pepe, then the hammers, Simma and Carlos, in the back.

The dogs’ positions on the team will routinely change during the trip. Different dogs will have the chance to lead, allowing established leaders to take a break and new leaders to gain experience. Dogs also enjoy the chance to run with new partners, which keeps things interesting for them during long days of travel.

The dogs will be departing from Ely, MN on February 17, headed to Ottawa to catch their flight to Iqualuit, Nunavut on February 20. They will be loaded into their own personal kennel on the plane and several hours later will arrive on Baffin Island, ready for new sights, smells, and adventures.

Meet Noche, the Homestead cat. Noche arrived in Ely on early October of 2006. He had been living the life of a restless urban housecat in Minneapolis. All the while, however, an explorer lurked beneath his furry exterior.

Shortly after his arrival at the Homestead, Noche took off into the woods. No one knows where his wanderings took him, but he was gone for a full two weeks. Needless to say, the Homestead mice were greatly relieved. Homestead staff members, however, were worried for their new friend. It was during that same time that temperatures dipped well below freezing and snow began to fall. Still there was no sign of Noche. One morning, a scratching could be heard in the back corner of the lodge and Noche’s black head appeared through the small cat door.

Since then, Noche has become the most social among us. He has been known to follow many staff members home to their cabins for the night. He watches over us during the cold days from his basket in warm rafters of the lodge. He keeps the mice out of the kitchen and occasionally brings one in as a gift to share with the rest of us. He sprawls out on the sunny lodge sofa, knowing we can’t resist petting his soft belly. Sometimes his panther side comes out – he has been known to announce himself by leaping suddenly from the rafters onto the table during meals or meetings. If we leave our computers plugged in and unattended for too long, Noche will seize the opportunity to cuddle up on the warm keyboard. One more reminder not to waste electricity! When the expedition team leaves for Baffin Island, and the support staff close down the Homestead for the winter, Noche will move to Ely and live with an adoptive family there until Will returns in the spring.

Patches are a very important part of an expedition. The expedition logo helps record the expedition for posterity. The sponsor logos provide funders with visibility and show that they are behind us one hundred percent. And of course, the name badges help identify team members in photos when they're covered up with warm gear. To get the patches onto the expedition team's parkas, the Heart of the Woods Quilters in Ely, Minnesota offered their skills.

The Heart of the Woods Quilters were only too happy to help with this important project. A group of mothers, daughters, and granddaughters used hand-stitching and sewing machines to place the expedition logos, the team members' names, and the sponsor logos onto the bright orange parkas. The Global Warming 101 Expedition Team is grateful for their hard work and expertise!

 

Ely , Minnesota is a town of approximately 3,700 that sits four hours north of the Twin Cities, on the northernmost edge of an area called the “Iron Range.” Originally built around the industries of logging and mining, Ely has evolved into a well-known tourist destination.

Known as the “Gateway to the Boundary Waters,” the town is home to a variety of canoeing, fishing, and dogsledding outfitters. Summer in Ely brings an influx of paddlers and nature enthusiasts eager to explore the miles of unspoiled wilderness stretching to the Canadian border and beyond. The Boundary Waters is one of the nation's most beloved nature preserves; people come from all over to test their survival skills by paddling and portaging canoes, to catch a glimpse of moose or Great Blue Heron, and to hear the loon's strange calls in the summer twilight. There are also a lot of summer camps in the area; for some children, the week or two they spend in the Boundary Waters will be the only wilderness they will see throughout childhood. In the winter months, canoes give way to dogsleds strapped to trucks as local mushers take to the winding trails over frozen lakes.

Winter is a favorite season in Ely. The cold dry temperatures make outdoor activity quite pleasant (when dressed appropriately!). Ice houses dot the local lakes, snow mobile tracks parallel the county roads, skiers train for local races, and the ice rink fills for pick-up hockey. The Ely Winter Festival is an annual highlight, drawing snow carvers from around the world, and visitors from far and wide. It has been an Ely tradition since 1984 when it began as a cross-country ski race from Ely to the neighboring town of Tower. Since then, it has evolved to include dogsled rides, snow carving, an annual art walk, and a huge calendar of events held throughout the Ely area. Here’s what this year’s Ely Winter Festival had to say for itself:

“Welcome to Winter!

Welcome to a land where the sky is so blue and the sun shines so bright that you forget that the temperature has descended past freezing long ago. Where snow is carved into beautiful shapes and where the town itself becomes an art gallery.
Welcome to the Ely Winter Festival!

You might remember it as the Voyageur Winter Festival. But Ely is so much more than its French history. We share our land and our economy with the Native brothers and sisters who lived here first. We are miners and children of miners, resorters, artists, and lovers of the natural area we inhabit. And that includes winter: snow, ice, and all that comes with it!

Most of all, we love to PARTY! And that's what the Winter Festival is, a big party. Won't you come and join us?”

A highlight of the festival in recent years has been the annual Mukluk Ball . It’s the local dance event of the year – an opportunity for the Ely residents to get dressed up, strut their stuff, and listen to some good music. This year’s Ball hosted a send-off party for Will Steger and his 2007 Baffin Island Expedition Team. Will brought his entire crew up on stage and introduced them to the cheering, mukluk-wearing crowd. (Yes, they really do dance in those mukluks!)

Along with its love of wilderness, the Ely community has a thriving arts scene. Several well-known artists live and display their work in Ely, including National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg and Minnesota photographer Deb Sussex . Brandenburg’s photo essay Chased by the Light, a conceptual work in which he limited himself to one photo per day for ninety days, is a beautiful exploration of the changing seasons and the living landscape. Local art is featured in over 50 businesses in downtown Ely during the annual Ely Art Walk , February 1-11.