Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

EMAIL POLAR BEAR ALLEY

Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
Polar Bear Alley Expeditions

Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts

Polar Bear Photo Gallery
Beluga Whale Photo Gallery
Polar Bear News 
Polar Bear Attack Page

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba

Tide Table for Churchill Churchill Aurora Forecast Hudson Bay Sea Ice Update

If you like the Polar Bear Blog, check out my first book, Polar Bears of Churchill. It combines eight years of guiding experience in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada with the latest scientific research, local history and a bit of cabin fever. Independently published. Available online for $14.95! Click BUY NOW to purchase a copy and support Polar Bear Alley!

Polar Bear Blog 

Today's Blog 
December-January12, 2007
December 1-10, 2006
November 20-30, 2006
November 5-20, 2006
October 27-Nov5, 2006
October 19-26, 2006
October 9-18, 2006
October 1-October 9, 2006
Sept 24-October 1, 2006
Sept 15-23, 2006
Sept 1-8, 2006
August 20-31, 2006
August 8-17, 2006
August 1-8, 2006  
July 25-31, 2006  
July 18-24, 2006   
July 12-17, 2006   
July 2006   
June 2006  
May 2006 
Archived articles

Polar Bear Blog - Read All About It - February 15th, 2007

The winter edition of the Hudson Bay Post is out and about - in Winnipeg anyway, it is still in transit to Churchill. Churchill's monthly newspaper published occasionally is chock full of not-necessarily-true-stories about not-so-late-breaking news but the cover looks awesome!

The web-version is available here in pdf form (you need Adobe Reader to view - most computers have it though so just try clicking on the links below)

Hudson Bay Quest
Arctic Bridge
Sweat Lodge
Ed & Ithaka
Caribou & Lichen
IAEP & Research
Whats up in Churchill

One of the stories in this month's Hudson Bay Post is about the Road to Nunavut and Churchill. The consultants will be holding an information session on February 20th updating their progress and discussing some route alternatives. Here is a link to the original presentation - it is pretty neat - there are a series of slides that cover everything from historic sites to river crossings. Looking at how how many river crossings there are between Churchill and Rankin Inlet, it might be a while before we are going for Sunday drives to Nunavut. Click here for the Road to Nunavut maps.

Polar Bear Blog - Training for Dave's Trapline - February 13th, 2007

Tis' the season to be dogsledding in Churchill. With the cold spell receding (relatively speaking), everyone is out tending to their dogs. Yesterday, I stopped by Charlie's dogs (on the way back from Goose Creek, past Dave's dogs but not quite to George's dogs). He was just back from another training run for the Wat'Chee 100 and the Hudson Bay Quest (March 24).

Charlie's dad used to trap north of Churchill, everyone called him Uncle Dave (not to be confused with Dave of Dave's dogs). He sounds like he was a pretty good guy. He would regularly travel by dog team along the route used by the Hudson Bay Quest. Quite a feat before GPS or anything like that. It is a pretty amazing feat when you consider that there is just not much up there to survive on - one trip, he lost his ax in the snow and had to travel back to Churchil for three days without any fire or source of heat. He carried two axes after that.

This is a picture of Charlie getting his dogs ready for last year's Hudson Bay Quest. He runs it just to see where his dad travelled and experience, in some part, what he did. Last year, a dogfight cut his race short but this year, he figures his team is a sight better - more females this time.

Visit the Official Hudson Bay Quest Site

Maybe one more Hudson Bay Quest photo - this is my favourite photo from the 2005 Quest - a picture of John Stetson's team as we bombed by them on a bombarider full of Inuks, gerry cans, potato chips and muktuk. It was a wild ride - apparently, Inuit know two speeds - go and tea time. Basically, a trip between Arviat is hammering over snowdrifts at full speed until our bladders are so battered that we have to stop, relieve ourselves and then drink more tea!!!

Polar Bear Blog - A Day of Rest and Chainsaws - February 11th, 2007

High of -21C with -28 windchill - its like summer! These are the winter days when it feels good to be outside and the day I have been waiting for to finish bucking up some firewood. We sort of limped thru that last cold spell - I think I burned every possible chunk of wood possible to avoid wading into our woodpile in -40 whatever... Splitting wood is fun in severe cold, running a chainsaw (and keeping it running) is less so.

Its probably a good day to be out snowmobiling too - definitely better than yesterday. Three of Churchill's Rangers (a civilian arm of the Canadian forces) left Churchill yesterday morning for a 1600km roundtrip to Niskibi Lake in Ontario. They were meeting up with several other Ranger groups from Manitoba and Ontario for some cold weather exercises down there - wilderness first aid, ground search and rescue and a shooting competition. They stopped for a quick photo op (and coffee) at Goose Creek before heading out for a ten-day expedition. Looking at it now, they aren't dressed that different from people out on a Friday night in Churchill.

Polar Bear Blog - Blizzard Pics - February 9th, 2007

Here are a couple photos from the aftermath of Churchill's latest blizzard.

Taken on Thursday afternoon around 4:30 - at the peak of Churchill's rush hour.

Churchill's main drag - Kelsey Boulevard - with the ever-present Port of Churchill in the background. And ever-present hydro poles in the otherground.

The 'wooden chef' outside of Gypsy's Bakery did not enjoy the blizzard. It looks like he got so cold that his eyes crossed.

Churchill looks good after a blizzard.

Polar Bear Blog - Day Three is a Tough Day - February 8th, 2007

The north wind is no longer working on northern time but working on 'all the time'. Yesterday, one of our neighbours came over for a visit and actually had to dig us out of the cabin - a 3' drift had formed in front of our door! I have actually been meaning to visit another neighbour for about ten days now but the north wind manages to change my mind each time I step out to walk across the lake.

Our blizzard is supposed to end this afternoon. It is day three and time to actually leave the cabin and see what life is like outside. Day One of a blizzard is fun because you spend much of the day getting ready for the storm, cutting wood, banking snow, renting movies... important northern stuff like that. Day Two is equally as good because you have no choice but to hunker down inside your cabin to wait, write and watch movies. Day Three is a tough day. You start getting a bit stir crazy and realize that all the things you were avoiding on Day Two have now become twice as mwork as they would have been yesterday. (Read: Crawling under the house to thaw out the composting toilet drain, even as I write this, I am in denial as to the wretchedness of this task.)

Not to mention that you have this knot in your gut over whether the winter road to the cabin is still clear or if a new 4' drift has formed where it once was. Of course, men have this wonderful ability to build a mental block if something seems really complicated and to just sort of push it back on the schedule (sometimes for two or three years...) So while I can delay finishing the stonework behind our woodstove for a couple years, I suppose I should head into town today - right after this blog entry and after another coffee and maybe I will answer some emails...

Polar Bear Blog - A Couple of Mushing Pics - February 4th, 2007

Stopped by Dave's dogs on my way back from town today and snapped a couple pics while they were training for the Wat'Chee 100 and the Hudson Bay Quest (250 miles from Churchill to Arviat, Nunavut). I got another really good one of Dave's team where only one dog on the whole team actually has a paw on the ground - but I am saving that one for the cover of the Hudson Bay Post.

Scruffy is one of my favourite dogs in Dave's kennel (Wapusk Adventures) - he is a really friendly dog but his ears are always up and back and he is not necessarily averse to causing a bit of trouble. Here, he is pretending to share the lead with Smoke, Dave's lead dog (to the right of the photo).

I like the way, Leah - the youngest dog on the team - is looking up over the leaders to see just who this is sitting next to the trail. That and Ernest, the musher, kind of looks like an arctic samurai in this shot.

The Wat'Chee 100 runs from Churchill to Wat'Chee Lodge (50 miles along the train tracks) and back. Mushers head out on February 24th. Check back here for race updates and results.

Mushers head out of Churchill on the Hudson Bay Quest, one month later, on March 24th. Find moreinfo and keep up to date at the Official Hudson Bay Quest website.

Polar Bear Blog - Maybe, It's Cold Outside - February 4th, 2007

Another day another -51C windchill. Cost of living goes up when its cold - you have to run your vehicle for twenty or thirty minutes just to warm it up (after it has been plugged in for an hour or two), you leave you vehicle idling for most of the day if your are 'running' around town, your tires start going low, etc... Basically, these combine to allow you to watch the fuel gauge tenaciously sink to 'E'. With gasoline at $1.45 per litre, that fuel gauge takes just a bit of the enjoyment out of a Sunday drive.

At home, the baseboard heaters get turned up to max and you burn massive amounts of firewood, knowing that if you play it right the house will only be 'cool' in the morning. Of course, it is too cold for me to stand outside (not to mention, I think my front door might be frozen - that can wait for another coffee or two...) and watch the hydro electricity meter - but I have an idea it is the only thing that is working perfectly in the cold.

On the other hand, splitting wood in -30 temperatures is great (as long as your back is to the wind). The wood is so brittle that you feel like a woodchopping rockstar, that is until frostbite sets in and it feels like someone is driving a nail into the 3mm of face that peaks out of your ski mask and goggles - although you kind of get used to that. (Camp Nanuq Advice: Don't buy an ax with a skinny plastic handle - that gets pretty brittle in -40 as well... and you hurt your back when it breaks - although not enough that you can't get up and slowly scan the horizon to see if anyone saw you fall face first into the woodpile.)

The skies are pretty nice too - the north wind has been working on northern time, lately - a little erratic, usually showing up late in the afternoon, if it shows up at all but working hard when it does. This combined with the cold temperatures has meant a wide range of sun dogs (parhelion), misty red skies, feathered and eery northern lights, crisp moon halos and lots of good stuff like that.

Of course, we would get most of that if it was five or ten degrees warmer, but humor me..

Look, I'm an angel! A smelly old, disgruntled angel complaining about the government!

Bird note for the day: It seems we can add snow buntings to the list of birds overwintering in Churchill. Usually they do not show up until early spring but I am sure that I saw a flock of them weaving their way between the Port and Goose Creek (just outside of Churchill). If it wasn't so insert expletive here cold today, I would chalk that up to climate change.

Polar Bear Blog - Ravens and Dinky Birds - January 30th, 2007

Skies are clear but pretty busy today. Ravens, gray jays and redpolls flitter around, joining the sun dogs and ice crystals of a Churchill morning. It is pretty calm today after a bit of gusting wind and snow last night and usually on a day like this the birds, of which there are only a few hardy or crazy enough, to spend the winter up here, head out and likely try to find as much food as possible before the next blizzard sneaks up on them. Although the ravens might just be out cruising because they are out in pretty much any weather, any time of year, any time of day - except for afternoon coffee time, when they settle in their roosts to gossip and scheme for the next day.

Still busy with the newspaper which will be posted here in mid-February, so pretty busy writing and slacking off on blog updates for a bit. Things are pretty quiet right now apart from one set of polar bear tracks heading by a musher's camp along the coast. There will likely be the odd polar bear around in a few weeks, either leading here cubs to the coast or heading back out to hunt after a failed pregnancy. Not enough bears that we have to be armed and hiking but enough to be checking your back and hiking.

Polar Bear Blog - More Soccer - January 18th, 2007

They're kicking the walrus skull across the sky again tonight. And its looks like its going into overtime.

Northern lights have been going on for almost two hours now - starting off as a gentle, rolling arc they soon became a white picket fence of green solar energy, leaving the feeling that suburban sprawl had actually entered the ionosphere. The green white picket fence gradualy caught on even greener fire and gave way to a big puddle of fire hose water, globbing and ebbing to gutters floating somewhere above the treeline. Just when the show seemed to end, a big and blurry hawk emerged from the remnants of the puddle and swept across the sky, still dripping and disheveled. It finally crashed into a giant cinnamon roll spiral that rolled across the sky until someone or something ate it.

Confused? Well, I just got sick of using curtains and ripples to describe the energized and magnetized solar particles we call aurora. Anyway, here are a couple pics to help clear up any confusion as to what a Thursday night at Camp Nanuq is like.

This is just after the firemen put out the picket fence fire.

A note to nothern lights photographers - husky dogs and long exposures do not mix. Trying to keep wrestling dogs away from your camera and tripod while holding everything still for 25 seconds definitely adds a new dimension to things. Maybe I will add that to the end notes of my coffee table book - Photograph 26: Nikon D70 - F8, 25 second exposure, broken Made in China tripod, $0.99 gardening gloves and one dog biscuit.

The demise of the giant cinnamon roll in the sky and spruce.

Polar Bear Blog - Hello from Antarctica - January 17th, 2007

I was walking across the lake last night, back from having some tea with my neighbour. It was one of those great nights where it feels kind of 'arctic muggy', the temperature is warming up a bit, snow falling and you can feel just a little bit of moisture in the air. I nice change from the nose-bleed dry cold of arctic winter.

Its also great because snow and overcast always makes Camp Nanuq look like some kind of antarctic research station and it lets me imagine, at least briefly, that I am Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's The Thing. That is a great movie and I mean who wouldn't want to be a deadbeat helicopter pilot who wears a sombrero in the Antarctic. I should have been a helicopter pilot, not sure why I didn't pursue that dream - it might have been the fear of being attacked by aliens, hard to say.

So, as you may have guessed, my mind is a little mushy right now after writing a few articles for the next issue of the Hudson Bay Post. For the past couple days, I have been researching Arctic Bridge, it is this plan to link Murmansk, Russia with the Port of Churchill and ship grain and ore over the north polar with the help of several nuclear-powered icebreakers.

It is a much bally-hooed solutions to the port's woes and is trumpted as a legitimate option because of climate change. In fact, the New York Times predicts that Pat Broe, the owner of Omnitrax, will make $100 million per year if this works. Omnitrax corporation that bought the Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay railway for $5 and a few hundred thousand change.

So, this research has led to two questions:

1. Why is climate change mentioned in any of the articles? The route from Murmansk to Churchill goes through the only part of the arctic where the amount of ice is predicted to increase rather than decrease. And if the ice finally decreases in this area (Baffin-ish) and disappears altogether, Murmansk and Churchill will be underwater!

2. Why do so many articles talk about the need to lobby the Canadian government to fund the Port of Churchill? HELLO?!? The guy who bought it for $5 is going to make $100 million a year! I could have sworn that Omnitrax was supposed to take responsibility for upgrading the port and railway as part of the buying it for $5 deal... isn't that why you sell a PORT for $5? Ah well, I must be over-tired, no government would give away tax dollars to ultra-rich, non-resident CEOs, that's crazy talk.

NOTE: Message to Joe Stover - co-host of Shot for Shot on Radio Churchill - Wednesdays at 9pm: You had me until the Chipmunk's version of ABBA's 'Take a Chance on Me'.

Polar Bear Blog - Hello from Mars - January 14th, 2007

Waking up the morning after a two day blizzard is a little like waking up on another planet. After hours and hours of whiteout conditions and high winds and hibernation, a clearing morning is refreshing, even if you still feel anxious prior to scouting what new snow drifts have formed and just how much shovelling is in order.

This morning was a little more extraplanetary due to that fact that two suns rose at Camp Nanuq. Dreary clouds still dominated the north half of the sky but were beginning lift to the south, allowing half of a 'sun dog' to peek through at sunrise.

The two dots on the left of the picture are not UFOs but actually snow on my living room window because I was too lazy actually go outside the house to take a picture. Cabin fever has not set in (especially with our recent travels) so it is still quite easy to settle into pure hibernation mode right now. Of course, it is only -42C with the windchill today so maybe I should head out for a walk.

And of course, our few days in New York are added incentive to hide out for a bit - its a really neat city and people are surprisingly nice there (someone actually flagged us down on the street to tell use we had dropped $15) but it is really big. When we got back to Toronto, it actually felt spacious.

I like these shots because the 'skyline' is approximately the same distance away from the camera, except New York looks huge and close while Camp Nanuq's trees seem like they are miles and miles away. That and at the time of the pictures, there were about 15 million people within 100 miles of me in New York and right now there are about 1500. On a good day.

And for one more New York v. Churchill entry - the Coney Island Polar Bear Swimmers staged a silent protest against the incredibly warm temperatures (its was 72F when we were there - eleven degrees warmer than the previous 1950 record) and the lack of action on climate change. The Naked Cowboy, a New York busker and fixture of Times Square, however, was quite pleased. Naturally.

Here's a link to the Gothamist article