Day 42
Distance traveled: 0 km / 0 mi (rest day)

Flying into Axel Heiberg to join the rest of the team, I could finally grasp the difficulties that they had been through over the last forty days. From the sky the ocean below looked impossibly confused and cluttered. Even from 5,000 feet, the eye could not find the end of the rough ice. It was only as I aproached the rendezvous point that the ice finally seemed to relax.

Finally joining the team, my fear that I would be an outsider was quickly disspelled as everyone welcomed me to camp with open arms and enormous smiles. Stories of polar bear encounters and hellish fields of rough ice and pressure ridges poured out of everyone, all while they dug into the snacks and treats I had brought. The reunion was magnificent and could not have come at a better time, ahead of us the terrain is smooth, and a renewed sense of vigor permeates the weathered team members that I've been following for so long on the website.

While I followed their progress, I also have been training so I wouldn't be left exhausted in the wake of these now thin and efficient people that have been running for nine hours a day for so many days on end. Of course, what training could I possibly do that could prepare me for Arctic travel at this level? I imagine the next few days will be hard on my body and my ego, but I'm also excited to get into the swing of things and finally feel like a full team member.

Ben

Expedition Day: 49
Position: N 80° 32' W 89° 35'

It seems impossible to really capture this place with a camera, or even with words for that matter. No matter how sophisticated the equipment we carry is, it cannot capture the feeling of sitting alone atop an iceberg in the frozen sea listening to the distant howls of wolves. The howls set our dogs into their own symphany and the silence of the sea ice is broken.

We decided to make today a short travel day, not for lack of energy or difficulties, but simply because the region we just entered is by far the best environment to see wildlife. In the shadow of an iceberg we made camp, and set to getting ready for a day in the mountains. We abandoned the skis because the snow on the land is sparse, and we are soon satisfying our urge to explore this land in more detail. Until now I have seen little wildlife and I had no opportunities to get any worthwhile photos of what I did see. That far I've seen a few lemmings and a snow bunting, a sparrow sized arctic bird. Only 45 minutes of hiking into the steeper hills and we found a herd of muskox with 14 members, a number of those being calves. The muskox seem to have been transported straight from the ice age with their curled horns and powerfull bodies. It seems strange to me that they are close relatives of the common mountain goats I see often in the Colorado Rockies because their character is so foreign to me.

A quick look around makes me really wonder about how these animals manage to survive here, as specialized as they are. Even lichens seem to have trouble growing on the rocks, and grass is nowhere to be found. The muskox prefer a type of willow that stays close to the ground, but I didn't even see this anywhere. This only deepened my respect for these animals, then i think of how they manage to survive through the dark arctic winters with -40°F temperatures and their past issues with over hunting and dwindling populations. How then will these creatures manage when global warming takes its toll? Just today Will who has been coming to the Arctic for years mentioned that he'd never seen the oncoming spring take hold so early. We are experiencing June weather in May! With the early snowmelt, the black cliffs of Ellesmere Island are exposed and reflect even more sun, speeding the thaw. All around us patches of black dust blown in by the wind have absorbed the sun's heat and sunk deep into the snow and ice. We are forced now to travel on the rough sea ice because the land holds so little snow. This cycle has continued to escalate over the years, and we now can hardly argue that we are not causing drastic changes to this environment, and to those majestic creatures that inhabit this harsh landscape and nowhere else.

Ben

Addition Info:

Muskox

The Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is an arctic mammal of the Bovidae family, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives.

Muskoxen are more closely related to sheep and goats than to oxen, but are in their own genus, Ovibos. Both sexes have long curved horns. Muskoxen are usually around 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long and 1.4 m (4.6 feet) high at the shoulder. Adults usually weigh at least 200 kg (440 lb) and can exceed 400 kg (880 lb). Their coat, a mix of black, gray, and brown, includes long guard hairs that reach almost to the ground.

During the summer, musk oxen live in wet areas, such as river valleys, moving to higher elevations in the winter to avoid deep snow. They graze on grasses, reeds, sedges, and other ground plants, digging through snow in the winter to reach their food.

Muskoxen are social and live in herds, usually of around 10–20 animals, but sometimes over 400.

Muskoxen have a distinctive defensive behavior: when the herd is threatened, the bulls and cows will face outward to form a stationary ring around the calves. This is an effective defense against predators such as wolves, but makes them an easy target for human hunters.

Expedition Day 60
Position: Not Reported

Our expedition is nearly complete, it's safe to say that the hardest parts are over and that I will be returning with most of my camera equipment intact. Most of it at least... I can't imagine being one of the origional arctic explorers traveling with cameras that now would be in a museum, having to deal with the many situations that are hard enough with new improved technologies. It's hard enough getting the right exposure with digital cameras that allow you to see the photograph imidiately after you've taken it, imagine not seeing your film for a year or more after taking the image, wondering the whole time if your camera had some flaw that you wheren't aware of. The old black and whites that I saw while researching previous expeditions to Ellesmere Island where dark and grainy, hard to comprehend and didn't give a very clear idea about the hardships that people have to face in the arctic. What photographer really wants to set up a massive camera and change their film to suit the situation in a blizzard. It's hard enough now to simply change a lens without getting bits of snow inside the camera, bits of snow that mess with the intricate inner workings of the camera. A snowflake can ruin a whole roll of film. That said, it is also a pleasure to be faced with difficulties. The harder the situation, the more likely nobody has ever taken that image before. The benefits of modern technology make quickly responding to a situation so much easier, when the eleven wolves visited us last night, it was easy to pick up the camera and snap off a dozen images even though they disapeared nearly as fast as they apeared. I can't wait to get all of my photographs downloaded and to see them on a big screen that allows me to see the details, it's like opening presents!

In my time up here in the arctic, I'm sure I've learned a lot. Not just about photography, but about myself and about life. I don't think I'll be able to fully grasp what those lessons might be quite yet, but I'm sure they will come to me over time. I've found that the simple little comforts are the most exciting up here. For instance I allowed myself two sweet caramels a week, and would look forward to those little treats more than anything. Would they have had the same effect if I had been able to eat as much as I wanted? I doubt it. When we sit around the stove at night and dream about our favorite meals, and what we miss most from home, I find that these things are not really what I care about, I care most about the memories that I get to bring back with me, and the life lessons learned up here that I can draw on for the rest of my life.

Ben Horton, Expedition Photographer