Few Canadians have heard of Ellesmere Island, and even fewer have been there. Trekking across the ice-and snow-covered Arctic Island on skis has been a dream for North Vancouver architect Kevin Vallely, a fellow with the Royal Canadian Geographic Society who has already traversed The South Pole and Siberia. “It’s way up there. The northern tip of Ellesmere, you can’t go any further north. I mean, then you’re basically on sea ice going to the North Pole,” said Vallely. “It’s like Mars. Very, very few people travel there.” After failing in their first attempt, 60-year-old Vallely and his expedition partner Ray Zahab set out again in March on the 500-kilometre trek from a far-flung weather station to the island’s only town. The goal? To see arctic wolves in the wild. “There are only 200 wolves in all of Ellesmere Island, and they’re called the ghosts of the Arctic. They’re just this elusive animal, and if we could actually run into one… that was our objective,” said Vallely. On their 28-day journey the pair encountered dozens of wolves who approached their camp. “One wolf in that pack took down an 800-pound muskox by itself. So these things are agile, effective hunters. And if that group of ten wanted to eat us, well, we would have been eaten. But fortunately for us, they didn’t want to eat us,” Vallely said, who was also grateful they saw polar bear tracks, but no polar bears. Each day, he and Zahab skied for eight hours straight, pulling their supplies on sleds, in temperatures that dipped down to – 70 C with the windchill. “You often hear about frostbite in minutes when it’s really cold. Well, it’s frostbite in seconds up there. I kid you not,” Vallely said. “So, it’s like, desperate. You can’t have exposed skin, it will frostbite immediately. You’re always being careful, and you’re doing this 24/7.” When they made it to the tiny town of Grise, with a population of 140, they were overwhelmed. “You get this well of emotion. You’ve got to the end of your journey, but it’s just overcoming so much to get there,” he said. “It’s just awe. The vastness of it, and to realize how small we are in the massiveness of our country.” Vallely hopes his journey inspires other Canadians to consider exploring the untouched beauty of the Arctic. “There’s a reason there’s all this rhetoric about taking over our country, because there’s so much value up there,” he said. “There is so much to explore, and it doesn’t have to be hard core. Just push yourself a little out of your comfort zone, and go north.”
