BAFFIN ISLAND SKI-MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION, 1998.

Summary acl 27020

Between the 16th April and 6th May, the seven member expedition succesfully
completed an exploratory journey on alpine ski through the mountains of the
Cumberland Peninsular, to the east of the Weasel Valley and to the north of Kingnait Fjord.
The Expedition from the point of drop off by skidoo was entirely self-sufficient with the
supplies and equipment being pulled and carried with a combination of rucksack and
specially adapted children's sledge.
After a few days around Mt Asgard the team moved South-east out of the Auyuittuq
National Park Reserve into a very dramatic area of large glaciers and steep rock walls. A
fairly circuitous travel of some 150km was made back to a pick-up at the head of
Pangnirtung fjord and fourteen peaks were climbed en route. Of the peaks climbed three
had names on the map and a further four appeared to have had previous ascents. Most
summits involved a combination of ski and foot, generally by the easier looking ridges and
never exceeded more than alpine PD+ in technical difficulty. Various peaks were ascended
and descended entirely by ski with one noteable extreme descent.
The weather was generally high pressure with clear skies and little wind with daytime
temperatures of -10°c to -15°c and nightime lows of -30°c. During 20 days, travel was
restricted on 3 days.
Snow cover was good but of dubious quality with approximately 30cm of windpack
layers overlaying lm of depth hoar. It was apparently a high snowfall year for the area.
One team member (John Kentish) broke a back molar tooth in half on day four and
decided to retreat alone down the Weasel valley, in some pain-, to get treatment.