Temperature: 3 °F/ -16 °C
Wind: 30 MPH/ 48 KPH
Cloud Cover: Low clouds and blowing snow
Sunrise: 6:35 a.m.
Sunset: 8:07 p.m.
It’s a stormy day here in Qikiqtarjuaq. The wind is kicking up snow in swirling gusts and dumping it in big drifts on our front porch. Street lights came on early across town this afternoon, as did the headlights of snowmobiles braving the wild weather. Inside it is warm and cozy. Lukie is making caribou for dinner, and there’s chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. We are planning to leave tomorrow morning if the weather improves and are spending our last quiet day here tying up loose ends.
Temperature: 3 °F/ -16 °C
Wind: 30 MPH/ 48 KPH
Cloud Cover: Low clouds and blowing snow
Sunrise: 6:35 a.m.
Sunset: 8:07 p.m.
It’s a stormy day here in Qikiqtarjuaq. The wind is kicking up snow in swirling gusts and dumping it in big drifts on our front porch. Street lights came on early across town this afternoon, as did the headlights of snowmobiles braving the wild weather. Inside it is warm and cozy. Lukie is making caribou for dinner, and there’s chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. We are planning to leave tomorrow morning if the weather improves and are spending our last quiet day here tying up loose ends.
In the short break between stormy days in Qik, several planes were able to land on the remote airstrip on the edge of town. With them came mail, supplies and Sarah McNair-Landry, explorer and film student from Iqaluit. The daughter of well known Arctic explorers Matty McNair and Paul Landry, Sarah met Will during his last visit to Baffin Island. She will join the team for the three week trip between Qikiqtarjuaq and Clyde River.
No stranger to cold weather, Sarah grew up in Iqaluit from age three. Shortly after turning 17 she went on her first extended expedition, crossing the Greenland ice cap, with her parents and older brother Eric. A year later she traveled to the South Pole on a 71 day kite-ski expedition with her mother and brother. In 2005 she traveled by kite-ski again joining her father and brother in setting the speed record for crossing the Greenland Ice Cap, east to west. Most recently, Sarah traveled to the North Pole on a 100-day dogsled expedition with her father and two British explorers.
When she’s not off chasing the winds across the Arctic, Sarah is busy chasing her dreams of becoming a filmmaker. After graduating from high school in Quebec, she took courses at the New York Film Academy studying digital filmmaking in New York City. She plans to apply to Full Sail next winter, a school for the entertaining arts in Orlando, Florida.
Sarah and her 22 year-old brother Eric are returning to Greenland to cross the Ice Cap vertically by kite-ski, traveling 1429 miles/ 2300 km over the course of 2 months, leaving in mid-May of 2007. The goal of the expedition is to inspire youth around the globe to reach their dreams. We are lucky to have someone with Sarah’s qualifications join us on the expedition, and encourage our online audience to follow her expedition this summer. You can read more about Sarah and her upcoming adventure at www.pittarak.com.