Pisuquatigit Pantumiut Part Deux- Descen. A Movie by Conor Hurly
One of our BSC crew recently returned from what looks like an epic adventure way, way up north in a place called Pangnirtung.
Here is more about the trip in Conor's words, first a little background:
Pangnirtung, Nunavut is a small hamlet on the shore of the Pangnirtung Fiord. It is home to roughly 1200 people and a burgeoning turbot and arctic char fishery, and is also the starting point for many travellers heading to Auyuittuq National Park. Our intention was to get a sled drop in the park, circumnavigate Mt. Asgard and follow a meandering route of approximately 170 km back to Pangnirtung over sprawling glaciers while skiing lines along the way...As simple as the plan sounded, the challenges the arctic presented us proved to be quite challenging—scant amounts of snow in the valley bottoms, breakable crusts overlying facets, +/-50 cm of snow on the glaciers, temperatures that reached -38 celsius, polar bears, wind and wind scoured ice faces. As dreadful as those conditions sound, it was one of the more rewarding adventures in which I have ever partaken.
Part Two:
After circumnavigating Mt. Asgard, we came to the conclusion that most of the runs we wanted to ski were hardly in condition. One 500m chute, in the same cirque as Mt. Asgard looked good to go. As aesthetic as it was, we discovered sun crusts form on solar aspects even when its -25 celsius. After sledding down the frozen class six Weasel River and then being buffeted by winds raging up the valley, we decided to camp in the valley bottom and day trip into the high country for the remainder of our 17 days in the park— it made the facet laden boulders a bit more manageable.
Gauntlet Peak, located at the mouth of the Pangirtung Fiord, proved to be an enticing summit and provided us with an amazing tour past the steep granite walls of Turnweather Peak. Spring was in the air, and I followed the tracks of an arctic hare to the top of 750m couloir that went from ridge top to the sea; I believe it was escaping a fox. In lieu of the wolverine, the arctic hare, is the alpine ranger of the north, we spotted their tracks in many of the high cols we crossed.
After spending nearly a month around the park and Pangirtung an appreciation for the lack of trees and the hardiness of all things living in the north, grew within me. It is a place of a different scale and beauty than what exists down here; ultimately, that difference was what we sought.
Just in case you missed part one, here it is: