Check out these photo’s from Rhonda Reid during Natural Habitat’s initial Northern Lights group in Churchill. Igloo building is an art that requires patience and practice. Usually the drift areas are excellent for cutting blocks and building the structure. Inside, the temperature can be 15-20 degrees warmer than outside and can be a critical survival strategy in the Arctic.
Guide Melissa sporting the Nanook of the north look. Photo Rhonda Reid.
The cult-like following Hudson Bay Quest will depart Gillam, Manitoba on March 15th, and terminate in Churchill,MB this year. The two towns in the far north alternate starting positions every other year. Last year 16 mushers from North America contended for the mushing title and Shawn McCarty from Ely, Minnesota won the crown.
This year’s quest currently has 15 teams registered so far for the 220 mile (330 Km) race. 2011 was the first year the race changed courses and instead of braving life – threatening conditions along the ice edge of the Hudson Bay, the Gillam/Churchill route was employed. In that year, Charlie Lundie became the first HBQ winner from the host town of Churchill. He edged out Peter McClelland also from Ely, MN by just two minutes as the two raced toward Lundie’s home crowd filled with many family members of Lundie’s. After the win the crowd lifted Lundie on is sled in jubilation as goes the tradition in dog mushing. McCarty finished third that year and eventually won last year’s crown.
2012 winner Shawn McCarty from Ely, MN
Since the race has shifted more inland on the tundra following along the border of Wapusk National Parc and the Hudson Bay Railroad, a more consistent and recurring line-up of mushers have continued to return each year perpetuating a sort of rivalry between the southern mushers from the northern United States and the Churchill and other Canadian mushers. Any good competition thrives on repeat contestants challenging for the title year after year. The Hudson Bay Quest seems to be gaining that quality now that all the weather and danger issues of the bay are in the past.
Sled dogs yearn for this time of year. Brad Josephs photo.
While there’s still another month and a half before the race, the preparations are going strong. it takes enormous organization and communication to put on an event like this. Dave Daley of Wapusk Adventures in Churchill does the lions share of the work before hand and the Canadian Rangers volunteer their time during the race to insure safety of all the mushers and dogs is the priority. Even though the race is less dangerous these days, a winter storm can still make the trip dangerous…this is the high north after all.
As the race draws nearer I will keep you updated on the list of teams and any other new information regarding this year’s race. It looks to be an exciting time once again in the heart of winter in the sub-Arctic! With this also being the prime season for viewing aurora borealis in the northern sky, frequent updates from Churchill and Natural Habitat Northern lights tours will provide images and reports of activities and the lights.
If you thought that the frontier town of Churchill, Manitoba on the shores of the Hudson Bay shut down for the winter after polar bear season in November,……you were mistaken. In fact the winter season has become increasingly active over the past decade or so. With the increasing number of people having already made the visit to Churchill to be up close and personal with the polar bears, these same folks and first-timers are returning to see amazing aurora and get a feel for the Arctic winter.
Captivating aurora borealis in Churchill,MB. Brad Josephs photo.
Northern lights trips offered by Natural Habitat Adventures begin next week and run through mid-March. This year two photo- trips are also traveling north with Brad Josephs as trip-leader. Brad has incredible experience in the far north and his photography skills in this environment are top-notch.
Aurora domes provide cozy viewing in the heart of winter. Jeremy Pearson photo.
Aside from viewing “northern lights” over the Hudson Bay, other thrilling activities fill the days. Igloo building, dog sledding and nature photography highlight the schedule…all the while just being submerged in the feel of an Arctic village in the heart of winter.
Current temperature in Churchill is 0 F with a wind chill of -17 F….actually a warm -up from the past week. However, the right clothing and footwear makes for exhilarating experiences and ones that stick…for obvious reasons…in the mind forever. I still recall my experiences winter camping in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks back in upstate New York like they were just last week. Something about cold just locks those feelings in forever. And some amazing trips they were indeed. I think it’s the fact that you could make a mistake that absolutely could have dire consequences that really requires focus and determination of the mind. The present is all that can be considered at the time.
Sled dogs in training. Churchill,MB. Sandra Elvin photo.
Speaking of focus…our next blog will be a checkpoint of sorts on the upcoming Hudson Bay Quest dogsled race in March. This will be another scintillating race for sure…starting in Gillam and finishing in Churchill.
Photo courtesy of Clement Rousseau
Eleven orcas, including one that appears to be nursing, are trapped in the ice in Quebec, Canada.
Eleven killer whales are “locked in” by ice in a Canadian bay, with only a small area of open water for them to surface, the mayor of a nearby village said as he appealed for help to save the marine mammals.
A hunter found the killer whales, also known as orcas, on Wednesday morning in Hudson Bay, in northeastern Canada. Two of the orcas appear to be adults; the remaining nine are smaller in size, said Petah Inukpuk, mayor of Inukjuak, an Inuit village home to 1,800, in Quebec. Other reports said there were 12 orcas in the pod.
A video taken by villager Clement Rousseau showed the opening to be just large enough for one or two of the orcas to surface at a time. A team from Canada’s fisheries department is expected to arrive at the ice hole on Thursday, according to Canada’s CBC.ca.
“They are in a confined area,” Inukpuk told NBC News on Wednesday, noting that “there is no more open water.”
“From time to time, they are in a panic state and other times they are gone for a long period of time, probably looking for another open water (space) which they are unable to find,” Inukpuk said. “They keep going back to the same spot.”
Killer whales are highly social and typically travel in groups from two to 15, though there can be larger groups, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. They are most numerous in colder waters, such as Antarctica, Alaska and Norway, although they can also be found in temperate and tropical waters.
Inukpuk said killer whales were not spotted in the area every summer, but every second or third one. But this is “the first time that they are locked in,” he said.
The winter was unusual this year in that the bay did not freeze up as it normally does at the end of November or beginning of December, the mayor said.
There was open water after Christmas but “about three days ago it got really cold and there is no more open water presently,” he said.
Deborah Giles, a graduate student researcher at the University of California, Davis, who has studied killer whales for eight years, said the main issue facing the orcas would be if the air hole remained open.
“It is absolutely tragic to think about this, you know, if that does close up,” she said. “That’s really what their biggest problem is right now.”
Among the ideas discussed to save the animals was using an icebreaker, she said, although Inukpuk said such equipment was in Antarctica at this time of year. A Canadian fisheries official told CBC.ca that some icebreakers were being used in the Saint Lawrence River, where three commercial ships got stuck this week.
Geoff Carroll, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who helped release two California gray whales in a similar situation that made international headlines in 1988, said his experience in the effort known as “Operation Breakthrough” also showed the power of other methods.
“Our experience up here was that it seemed like the local knowledge and the low-tech approaches to working with the whales were the ones that worked best,” Carroll said. “It seemed like there were lots of high-tech efforts made to get those whales out and they kind of failed one after the other. What really worked was when we got local guys with chainsaws cutting one hole after another and we could kind of walk the whales out that way.”
Operation Breakthrough, which was chronicled in a 2012 movie “Big Miracle,” was a success because Eskimo whalers cut more than a half mile of holes for the whales to travel through on their way to open sea in Alaska. Two Soviet icebreakers helped by crushing a critical thick wall of ice that blocked their path, according to a story on the rescue by the Los Angeles Times. Oil workers and environmentalists also assisted in the rescue effort.
The two gray whales were released after 20 days, although a third, smaller whale drowned near one of the air holes. There have been reports of other whales getting stuck beneath the ice, Giles said, but she said it was an anomaly for killer whales – technically in the oceanic dolphin family – which tend to hunt around the ice.
However, one pod of orcas died in 2005 in the Japanese Arctic after an ice hole closed, according to CBC.ca. There have been some other cases, too, said Paul Wade, a research fisheries biologist at NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle.
Video courtesy of Clement Rousseau
Giles said food would likely not yet be a problem because the larger orcas should be able to survive on their fat stores for several weeks. But survival is less certain for the smaller mammals, including one that appeared to be nursing. She noted that the animals may not be in distress, as the adult males could be seen engaging in the normal behavior of “spyhopping” — or shooting straight out of the water.
“It’s possible that they are doing that not necessarily to get a bigger breath as somebody had indicated but rather to look around,” Giles said, adding that killer whales can see equally well above water as below.
“It’s also possible that they coming up as often as there is (is) a way to keep that ice open,” she said. “They certainly, I would say, are smart enough to recognize that this is their breathing hole and they … don’t want to have that close up.”
Wade, the fisheries biologist, said he watched videos of the killer whales and thought some were engaging in normal behavior while other appeared agitated. He said it looks like the pod includes two adult males, several juveniles and female adults or younger adult males.
“There are cases where whales have been able to keep holes open just by the continually coming up every minute or so,” he said. “It seemed like they could probably keep that open although it’s not something killer whales do a lot of.”
Wade also questioned how they got caught in the area.
“Why these whales hung around so long is a mystery,” he said. “Even the types of whales that live in the ice a lot or much closer to the ice more frequently than killer whales — they make mistakes as well.”
Mayor Inukpuk said they would like to create an opening for the animals to move out. He said he would be on a conference call Thursday with other parties to discuss the possibilities. Canada’s fisheries department said in an email that it was working closely with its partners and other experts to assess the situation.
Although the killer whales compete with human hunters for seal meat in an area where there are no supermarkets or grocery stores, Inukpuk said the villagers’ main concern was the orcas’ survival. Many residents have visited the area, which is 20 miles from the village and one mile from the coastline.
“They have a right to survive and hopefully someone will help us to get that (to) happen,” he said. “The weather today is not so cold, so they (the killer whales) may keep the open area as it is by their movements. …
“But tomorrow could be a different story.”
Despite incentives from the government for farmers to ship grain through the Port of Churchill following the break-up of the Canadian Wheat Board, overall shipment tonnage dropped. However. Agricultural minister Gerry Ritz remains optimistic for the future of the deep-water Arctic shipping port.
Approximately 434,434 tonnes of grain were shipped from Churchill this year, about 15 per cent less than last year and the lowest amount since 2008. However, the 10 -year historical average is only slightly higher at roughly 450,000 tonnes. Diversification of the port’s shipping capabilities is reason for widespread optimism for future years.
One year ago the Canadian Wheat Board was officially dissolved ending the monopoly on prairie wheat wheat and barley shipments through Churchill. Previously the Wheat Board accounted for 90% of the shipments through Churchill.
Grain vessel awaits docking at the Port of Churchill. Photo Steve Selden
In a previous blog posting, I reported a $25 -million, five year transition program offering incentives for shipping grain through Churchill. These incentives, despite the lower shipping totals, have allowed the port to diversify and ship canola and barley as well as the usual wheat and durum products
“With the help of this transition funding, Churchill is well-positioned to continue to diversify and maintain the historical average in the future,” Ritz said in a release.
Future of the Port of Churchill is a bit foggy. Photo Steve Selden
In July, Churchill Gateway Development Corporation executive director Jeff McEachern said the corporation is also looking at adding new commodities such as potash and crude oil to the mix. With decreasing Arctic ice and more ice-free days to the shipping season, the possibilities for shipping out of Churchill are growing. Churchill’s opportunistic reputation should surely be able to take advantage of any openings for port growth.
The Churchill region has embraced winter in full force these past few weeks with a couple of storms and frigid temperatures in the negative numbers celsius. Wind chill factors have made it feel even more rough on the skin and with the extended forecast showing no relief it looks as if the town and area will be frozen under until Spring. The ice pack in the Hudson Bay to the north is thick and polar bears are enjoying the time out hunting seals. With all the research out showing the decline in Arctic ice, it’s nice to know the winter season allows us to catch our breaths and focus on solutions for stemming the tide of contributing factors.
Here are some more images from this past fall season to remember the amazing polar bear behavior we witnessed here in the north country. This winter I will be updating local stories and keeping all in tune with what’s happening in the Arctic as well as posting some edited video clips from the tundra lodge. keep an eye out for some exciting changes in the look of the website as well as we transition to a cleaner more fresh look.
A polar bear relaxes and cools in the snow. Colby Brokvist photo.
Two polar bears near the coast in November. Karen Walker photo.
Aurora from the tundra lodge. Brad Josephs photo.
Snowy owl on the tundra in the CWMA. Colby Brokvist photo.
Sparring polar bears in the CWMA. Rick Pepin photo.
