Fresh polar bear tracks

The last day of Jonathan's visit was a good one. We had a bit of an adventure, though, it was probably a little ill-advised given that the temps were pretty low (in my boss's words, "stupid day to go out").

Before Jonathan arrived, a friend had offered to take Jonathan and me out for a skidoo ride. Of course, this was when temps were significantly warmer and not all 4 machines he had access to were broken down. But, when push came to shove, he made it happen. We decided to turn the ride into a "business" trip so that we could legitimately use work machines. Then, my friend used a machine with a broken choke cord so we brought pliers and were cognizant not to shut the machines off (which you don't really do anyway cause it's too cold). Finally, my boss rounded out our little soiree. He decided to come and test his machine to again make sure the clutch was holding up and it was running on both cylinders. Knowing this, my friend made sure to have a tow rope in case any of the machines crapped out.

It was chilly that day. Around -45 to -50 with the wind chill. Just the perfect temps to be hauling ass across the ice. My boss chose to wear a complete ringed seal skin ensemble. No seal skin mitts though. Parka replete with wolverine fur around the collar. My friend had his trusty wolf mitts. Taking no chances, I layered my legs so much that I could not physically bend my knee enough to get my leg over the seat of the skidoo.

For the curious ones, this is my outfit (scintillating i know---but hey, this may be useful in the future for my swarm of visitors that I know are just racing to book their flights up!). First, full 100% wool heavy long underwear. Cross country ski windproof pants. Mid-weight 800 gram fill down-filled pants. Windproof, waterproof insulated ski pants. Insulated Carhartt bibs on top. That's right. Five layers on my legs. On top was the long underwear I mentioned, then a fleece zip up, then an 800-gram down-filled zip up jacket, then the Canada Goose Wildlife Officer-issued parka. On my head was a wool hat then a windproof balaclava and beaver hat. Goggles of course. On my feet were two pair of socks and Arctic boots by Baffin. On my hands, I only was able to wear -20C rated mitts with a liner mitt inside because my -40C rated mitts are too restricting for me to operate the skidoo throttle. So, dressing is simple and quick---just throw on a small fortune worth of clothes, make sure not one millimeter of skin is exposed, and you're done. Easy peasy. Jonathan was decidedly less dressed, but he is like a one-man nuclear reactor. He had his fur lined hooded coat on under his fur-lined parka. Neck gaiter and goggles. He wore my -40C mitts and insulated boots (though my toes would have been done for in the boots he was wearing--they were NOT true winter boots--but he powered through). All in all, I was toasty warm. His goggles drove him nuts because he couldn't get them to stop fogging up. There's not many things more annoying than not being able to see when you're out on the ice in polar bear country. lol. Thankfully, mine worked great. Unfortunately, that meant that he never got to drive.

We headed out and drove for about 30 min....I guess....who knows...I kept missing the mile markers on the ice you know. They just really lack good signage. My boss brought a gun. And, we all were doing head sweeps to look for bears. I imagine running up on a polar bear isn't the desired goal. Opening up the skidoos on the ice was fun! (For anyone that maybe knows me a little might say that i have a bit of a speed demon side to me....I'm not admitting anything of course). I think we hit somewhere between 40-50km/hr and we could have gone WAY faster, but the ice was not super smooth so there was a lot of movement. Kinda tiring actually.

We made it out to the electric fences where locals cache walrus meat and let it ferment for months. Cameras were deployed to determine if polar bears are deterred by them or not. We picked up the exact same type of cameras I spent the whole summer deploying in North Idaho. I thought it hilarious that I drug Jonathan out to Idaho and made him traipse through the woods, much to his sweaty chagrin, putting up those cameras while avoiding fresh bear scat, much to his life-fearing chagrin. And, now, here we are again, fooling with cameras. This time, in -40C in the Arctic while inspecting fresh polar bear tracks. Dying laughing. I have a very easy-going husband I think! Bless his heart!

We got our cameras and got outta there. Toes started to get cold. My hands were SO cold. Turns out having to use your thumb on that trigger really exposes that little nubbin of a finger to the cold. I had to use my palm to operate the throttle.

There were nice big polar bear tracks ALL around the fences. We came across pretty fresh mom and cub tracks on our way out. Pretty cool to be skidooing across the ice and come across polar bear sign.

On the way back, my balaclava froze completely solid. I thought that it was a plastic piece of my parka. I couldn't even tell what was on my face. No wind was hitting me so I figured it was all good----keep that thumb on the throttle and get home!

After returning, we had a big delicious brunch with Belgian waffles, bacon and hashbrown casserole. Mimosas and cinnamon whiskey warmed our bellies as well. Then, we all left and promptly crashed hard asleep. Turns out driving skidoos in -50 will wear your ass out! lol.Read more