The Wreck of the Ithaca- A Trip to the Sea Ice

Brian and I were fortunate to be invited to travel out to the sea ice with our North of 58 learning vacation. First of all, it was decided that we needed warmer clothing. Sorry LLBean, but not quite the level we needed for this trip and another all day outing that we would be making. We both were outfitted with Canada Goose jackets and these boots that could take us to the North Pole, I think. The best thing about the jackets is that they have a wonderful hood with real fur that repels moisture, and it extends way out in front of your face. There is a wire in the hood which allows you to shape it. Before you know it, you have your own little micro climate right inside your hood. This photo is from the next day, but you get the idea.

Here we are in our Canada Goose jackets.

 We traveled in two komatiks (sleds) pulled behind snowmobiles. Six of us in one sled and 4 in the other. It was about a 30 minute trip over some bumpy terrain, but absolutely worth the ride. Actually, the ride was an exciting adventure too, with every inch of our bodies covered up. 

This is one of the komatiks we took on our trip to the ice.

This photo shows both snowmobiles and komatiks.

Out on the ice, we came to the Ithaca, a 280 foot shipping vessel that now sits 12 miles east of Churchill out on tidal flats. It was built in 1922 in Quebec and had at least 6 names during its colorful history, which included some time in Mussolini's fleet. Its rudder broke in an 80 mile an hour gale on September14th of 1960. This is Brian's birthday, and he would have been turning 13. At that time, the Ithaca was carrying iron ore from Rankin Inlet to Montreal. I believe that they must have been aiming for the port in Churchill because of the storm, but ran aground. The tidal flats stretch for miles, so it would be easy to misjudge this in a storm. Judging from the condition of the vessel, it doesn't have too many years left as a tourist attraction. Some of us have Disney World and some of us have old wrecks.

That's me, with Brian's shadow.

Not too many more seasons for this ship!

This was one of my favorite shots. It looks like it is still sailing the seas

The Ithaca was really a bonus. I mostly wanted to see the sea ice. I had done a post quite a while back on the sea ice at the town landing. This had a much different feel to it, and we were much farther out. I had barely walked out 30 feet on my last visit to the sea ice. It was a gorgeous day, but brutally cold. I was surprised my little camera did so well, as the back viewfinder was all frosted up. Every time I took a glove off to take a photo, my fingers felt like they were instantly freezing. Leanne, one of the staff with us, insisted that I find my glove liners as she didn't want to see anymore bare hands. At one point I saw her standing a distance away. I approached to see if she wanted us, but she said that she was just keeping an eye on us. It was just like recess duty, but this time I was the kid!

Mike, our director, assured us that the ice was safe, and I know he is correct in this. The tide would be coming in underneath the ice, but we need not worry as it was very shallow. Well, I did not experience any of this, but some of the folks in closer to the shore (or maybe with less padding on their ears) heard all kinds of moans, cracks, etc as the tide water came in under the ice. One woman had a crack develop right under her foot, and she sank down to her thigh. She was a trooper, so I guess it happened to the right person! The photo below shows a crack that I had found at the back of the Ithaca.

This is a crack in the ice, directly behind the Ithaca

Here sits Brian, having a frustrating moment with frosted eyeglasses and drained camera batteries.

Our visit to the sea ice is one of the memories I will treasure from this trip. Just as it is hard to explain the experience of the aurora, the sea ice holds a completely different magic as you stand alone in such a vast, harsh, and achingly beautiful landscape. Our astronomer friend Roger calls it the Lure of the North, and I believe it will be the title of our memory book.

Jamie, the woman who stepped through the ice, shared this poem with me about the Ithaka. It has always had special meaning for her, stressing the importance of the journey more than the destination. I hope you will click on the link and read the poem Ithaka

A Day at the Races!

A view of the races from the road

This morning we headed into the town of Churchill to see the start of the Hudson Bay Quest, a dogsled race from Churchill to Gillam. It is a 220 mile race over barrens and then through the boreal forest. The weather is cold, but picture perfect! In fact this might be the nicest weather this race has ever seen since its inception in 2004. The race is known to be extremely challenging, and it is one of the races that is a qualifier for the Iditarod. This year there were 17 teams, and each team was supposed to leave with a 3 minute time delay.

This is Dave Daley, founder of the Hudson Bay Quest

Dave's family cheers him on!

 The scene was set. As we drove into town, we saw that they had plowed huge amounts of snow into a long area by Hudson Bay. Then they plowed a trough for each dog team, reminding me of horses getting ready to race. It was a crazy sight.

A typical pack

On the other side of the main road was the race itself. The banner went up at 9:00, and the race began at 9:30. A Tundra Buggy was on sight to serve as a combination warming hut, bathroom, and viewing area for many of the elementary school children. There were 17 dog teams, and each classroom (K-12) had been assigned a musher to support. They had all made signs, and when their musher was ready to run, that class came out from the tundra buggy to cheer on their team.

This is a photo of one team being brought from the "snow lanes" across the road

The event happened by the "snow bowl", an area where you could be somewhat protected from the weather if it was severe. I wondered how I had never seen the snow bowl on any trip to town, but I understood once I laid eyes on it. It was a giant ring of snow, about 12 feet high. I'm just guessing. There was a wide opening, and I guess it could protect you from wind and blowing snow. Today we did not need it. I am wondering whether the snow bowl has been there all along, and I just never knew it had a purpose and a name.

The race began, and it was a spirited send-off for every team. I will have to check out the website, as you can follow their progress. They should arrive in Gillam some time over the weekend. They have only one mandatory stop, but these racers need to care for their dogs, and the ones I know personally are totally devoted to their animals.

This is the train that will take us back to Winnipeg next weekend.

On the way up, we encountered many drifts on the tracks.
Unfortunately, this machine was behind us.

The dogs and mushers from out of town travel up on the train. You can see how close the train tracks are to the race. I just had to turn around, and there was the train. Another interesting sight was the train plow. I haven't any idea what it is called, but I think that's what it does.

It was a full morning of fun, topped off by a hot drink and pastry at Gypsies, the local bakery and restaurant.

A Night on the Town, A Day in the Forest

Once again we are in a transition time here at CNSC. We just said goodbye to our third Arctic Skies group, this one led by Roger Woloshyn- Starman! The other group's focus was photography of the aurora and the Arctic, led by Jim Halfpenny and David Marx. Both groups warmly welcomed us to join their lectures, and we did just that whenever there was time away from the dishes. Our aurora photography skills have most certainly improved, and Brian is having fun with time lapse. I am looking at better editing programs that I didn't know existed!

So we are on a two day break of sorts. We had the local scouts for a sleepover two nights ago, and they were pretty darn cute. On that night, even with the scouts here, we did keep the aurora watch. I made it until 1 am, and was pleased to get a few nice shots!

On Tuesday afternoon, I went out on a walk with two of our guests and my fellow volunteer, Donna. We started to walk toward the boreal forest, as I wanted them to see the frosted trees with a blue sky as a backdrop. As we walked along, it was amazing to me that all of the snow on the roads and open surfaces had blown away, or at least most of it. The snow which remained was extremely hard, and we could walk across it easily. In the open areas, the wind had sculpted the snow into beautiful designs.

As the shrubs and smaller trees became more numerous, the snow became deeper and softer.  Suddenly, some fresh tracks became evident on the pristine surface of the snow. They were huge and canine. After checking field guides and going back for measurements, it was most definitely was a gray wolf. Just as the field guide said, the tracks were about 4.5 inches long and 3.5 inches wide. Perhaps just a bit larger- certainly no smaller.

Some of our group who were more adventurous than me,  started walking through the snow. Before they had taken more than a few steps, they were in snow up to their waists.  We headed back once Jill and Donna had figured  a way to crawl out!

When Brian and I went back on the second day, we followed the trail for a short way. We saw plenty of other tracks as well, including fox, red squirrel, and plenty of ptarmigans. We saw some small flocks of these beautiful white birds flying by, but we weren't fast enough with the cameras. The ptarmigan photo is from last year.

Brian and I hiked into the forest a bit, to enjoy the beauty of the frosted trees, where we found a sundog rainbow peeking through the trees. We came out of the woods, and  walked back over the tundra pond to CNSC. The reflection of the blue sky on the icy patches was so pretty. I'm not sure the camera does it justice.

Sundog framed by spruce trees

Just before arriving back, we stopped to take some photos of a bright orange lichen on the surface of the bare rocks. It is called Xanthoria elegans and means the elegant sunburst lichen, according to Wikipedia.

Yes, it truly looks this orange in the sunlight!

At the close of the trip, Brian took this photo of CNSC, which made me chuckle, as it looked like they had done some landscaping with all of the spruce trees.

The other part to the title of this blog is "A Night on the Town". Last Friday, Brian and I did have a night on the town. Actually, our assistant director, Heidi, needed a cat sitter and we needed a kitty fix. It was a perfect plan.

Heidi has two kitties, Stuey and Stella. Stuey is about 6 years old, and fairly sedentary.  Stella still has some kitten in her, and she is so light that you can't feel her in your lap. So after some quality kitty time, we walked into town for a meal at the only open restaurant, The Seaport Inn.

Then we had a brisk walk over to the town complex to watch a curling tournament. Fortunately there was a chatty gentleman beside us who was happy to give us pointers about what was going on. There were four matches going on, and we were watching from the comfort of the Curling Club Lounge. I loved the fact that all different ages seemed to be playing together.

When we left the complex, we were treated to another wildlife moment, with a gorgeous Arctic fox checking around the trash can for a free meal. Then it was back to Heidi's house, where we watched an episode of a series new to us called Murdoch Mysteries.

In the morning, we got picked up at 7 for an exciting ride to CNSC. Another little blizzard event was happening,  so the 13 mile drive had some areas with pretty low visibility. I finally just closed my eyes, and it seemed a much better ride. Mike, our director, assured me that he has driven this thousands of times and it wasn't all that bad. Good to know!

The Local Weather Report- Brrrr

Being a teacher for over 30 years, I have always had a keen interest in the weather over the winter months as I followed the chances for a snow day. During our time in Churchill, I find myself visiting the weather website frequently, trying to decipher what I should probably expect in the upcoming 24 hours. The website used up here is Weather Canada, and the local weather station is located at the Churchill Airport. In northern Canada, the reading for windchill is more important than the temperature, as it is a better indicator of the kind of clothing you need to wear to keep you safe.

Given the extreme cold, the weather has been on everyone’s mind up here. On Wednesday of this week, it was -68 degrees with the windchill! That is a personal record for my time up here, but then again, I don’t get much credit since I stayed inside. Maybe I get some credit for being smart, though!

 For a short period during the extreme cold, every tree branch was covered in frost.

I thought I would start with some of the most common (and my favorite) weather conditions. The most common weather forecast up here, along with sunny or light snow, is a forecast for ice crystals. Some days, that is all the forecast says. Sounds delightful, but what does it mean?? Here is a definition I found on one of the weather sites.

Ice Crystals- A barely visible crystalline form of ice that has the shape of needles, columns or plates. Ice crystals are so small that they seem to be suspended in air.

Well, that is interesting, but not too helpful in figuring out what I can expect when I step outside. I can tell you a couple of interesting facts about ice crystal forecasts though.  First, you can expect to see great sun halos, moon halos, sun columns, and sun dogs.  Also, on a clear night I see surprisingly few stars, considering how little light pollution there is. Our director at CNSC was explaining to me that this is due to ice crystals in the air. In other seasons, there are more stars on clear nights.  Of course, we can see all of the major stars and constellations, making it actually easier to read the nighttime sky.

Sun Pillar from last year

Sun halo with sun dogs

In addition to the ice crystal forecast, sometimes the forecast is for ice fog. Look below for the definition of that. To me it sounds very similar to ice crystals. Sometimes it does look foggy out there, and that must be ice fog (if it isn't blowing snow).

Ice fog- a suspension of numerous minute ice crystals in the air, reducing visibility at the earth's surface; the crystals often glitter in the sunshine; ice fog produces optical phenomena such as luminous pillars and small halos.

Sundog at Sunrise

Snow sculpted by the wind

The other big favorite in the forecast is “Blowing snow”, or “Locally blowing snow”. Given our consistent strong winds from the NW,  the snow is often blowing. The forecast for locally blowing snow always had me puzzled, but I have it on good authority this year that it means blowing over the open areas. In Churchill, this includes the tundra, the town, the road out to CNSC, and really everyplace except the boreal forest. The trees block the wind and the snow builds up there. We are down to bare gravel on the CNSC driveway, but in the area with trees, it can be 2 meters deep! Wear your snowshoes for sure if you are going for a walk in these woods.

In the winter time, the high point of weather excitement comes with the word blizzard! Now that is a weather term we New Englanders recognize. However, the north puts its own spin on the meaning of blizzard. As I learned a few days ago, you can have a blizzard with no snowfall! Up here, it is a combination of cold temperatures, high winds, and very low visibility due to those strong winds. So, it is our blowing snow that creates the visibility issue, and the drifts cause all sorts of problems for any vehicle on the road. Wikipedia uses the term ground blizzard for this phenomenon, but I do not see that term used on any Canadian weather sites.

This is a photo from last year which shows the piece of equipment used to clear the roads. It's really a giant snowblower. When snow accumulates on the roads due to snowfall and wind, it is first plowed to the center, and then this machine blows it all to the sides. If they were to just plow, then the snow banks would trap more blowing snow and the drifts would get worse. This year they trimmed all the willow bushes along the road to CNSC, and the drifts are much less noticeable. It does not take much to catch the snow.

On Tuesday, the skies were sunny, and the air was cold. That was the prediction for the next 24 hours. Four hours later, we were told there was a blizzard coming, and it did! Even in New England, we get more warning than that. Not only that, we had another blizzard yesterday, this time with 2 cm of snowfall. We're waiting for that to clear out right now.

So, how about weather for the aurora? The most important conditions are clear, dark skies. Then, a little plasma from the sun zipping along in the solar wind would be very helpful!
The sky is clearing as of 11:00 pm. Perhaps there will be a delight in the sky tonight. Here is a favorite from last year.