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Position: N69°23'58.4 W091°30'30.7

The winds and terrain have been unfavorable to kiting the last couple days, so we ski south into head winds towards the small hamlet of Kugaaruk.

Although we have deviated from our original route, forced south because of bad ice and open water, we are still following one of the many Northwest Passage routes.

Though it is usually referred to as "The" Northwest Passage, there are several navigable routes that connect the Arctic Ocean to the Beaufort Sea. A century ago, the ice forced Amundsen south of Victoria Island, a route which took him three years to complete. But now, through a combination of climate change, melting the multi-year ice that used to block the passages even in the summer, and better ice breaker ships, more routes have become navigable. The widest and deepest heads north of Victoria Island. We are now following the most southerly route that passes south of Baffin Island through the Fury and Hecla strait, which lies by the community of Igloolik.

The various routes can be seen on the following map, along with some interesting information on the ice.

Sarah

As a side note, Trude Wohlleben, a friend and advisor of Pittarak who works with the Canadian Ice Service, had this to say about the choices Team Pittarak were facing:

"There are some pretty significant leads that opened up between the coast and the pack ice where Sarah and Eric are, as a result of those north-northwesterly winds last week. The main advice I can offer is to look for a section of coast that runs parallel to the prevailing wind directions (which gets funnelled up/down the Gulf of Boothia, so it tends to come from the north-northwest or south-southeast). Sections of the coast that are parallel to the winds will have shear zones but smaller shore leads. Sections of the coast that are perpendicular to the wind, on the other hand, will tend to have larger shore leads when offshore winds occur. Where they are now, it looks like the coast is facing kind of southeastwards, perpendicular to the wind direction of that big storm last week, so as a result there is a pretty wide lead.

Also, while the pack ice itself looks similar to what Sarah crossed last year on the way to the North Pole, the ice floes in the Gulf of Boothia will be smaller than those in the Arctic Ocean, and not as thick. The leads and fractures in between will also be slower to freeze. Once they are on the pack, they should just push hard and get to the other side as quickly as possible. Again, aim for a section of coast that appears to run parallel to the main wind directions, so they don't risk running into another wide lead on the other side.

****And finally ... if the ice in the Gulf of Boothia looks too dangerous, Sarah and Eric should recall that Fury and Hecla Strait is an alternate route of the Northwest Passage. So if they went south along the coastal fast ice to Pelly Bay (Kugaruk) and then rounded Committee Bay over to Igloolik and Hall Beach (instead of heading northeast to Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet) they would STILL be doing one of the recognised routes of the Northwest Passage. Overall, that may be the safer option.****"

Image reference: NASA
Statistics reference: Canadian Ice Service 1968-2010 Ice Chart Data

[Via Pittarak: Northwest Passage Expedition]