By Margo Pfeiff

‘Oh, for just one time, I would sail the left: lee narraway right: ERI C MC NAIR - LAN D RY Northwest Two siblings. Two sails. 3,000 kilometres. One epic pilgrimage – blow by blow. >> 46 up here maY 2012 PassagE’ maY 2012 up here 47 KITE-SKIING: NORTHWEST PASSAGE

LEE NARRAWAY

technicolour butterflies against a deep blue April sky, six kites soar across the flat white landscape of Vic- toria Island. Behind them they tow skiers, zigzagging and whooping in the spring sunshine as the community of Cambridge Bay dwindles to a speck in the Likedistance. Then, four of the kite-skiers – an “escort party” of locals – turn back, shouting wishes for good wind. The remaining two, siblings Eric ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY and Sarah McNair-Landry, wave and keep moving east. Just a few kilometres further on, they spot half a dozen muskoxen. Sailing slowly over the rough sea ice, their options are limited: They have no choice but to move directly toward the herd, thinking they’ll Matty remembers the kids pitching run in the other direction. Surprisingly, they gallop closer, then stop. ding, skiing and kayaking, bivouacking in 20, they skied with Matty to the South buggies. It was an epic a tent on the back deck, lighting up Each time the skiers approach, their kites billowing in the sky, the ani- tents on the tundra, and meeting up with Pole, becoming the youngest people to do trek, powered entirely by the MSR stove for dinner, checking mals run briefly, then stop to watch. “Herding muskoxen with kites,” polar bears. “When they were little, they’d so. Three years later they joined Ameri- the wind – and at night, Eric says to his sister. “That’s gotta be a first!” Finally, they pause to let watch [a leading polar can explorer on a 2,250-ki- bunked down in their their GPS unit and radioing their ABOVE: For the three the muskoxen amble off. guide] training for a trip, ski- lometre dogsledding expedition from dusty tents, they began co-ordinates to their base camp inside. months it took brother The siblings haven’t been able to pause much on this trip. It’s Day ing back and forth across the sea ice on Resolute Bay, Nunavut, up and down the discussing other kite- and sister Eric and Sarah McNair-Landry to trek the 36 of their quest to kite-ski the length of the Northwest Passage – 3,000 Frobisher Bay outside our back door,” says length of . They’ve also powered adventures. When they were growing up, explorers and expe- Northwest Passage, home kilometres through the most legendary corridor in the Arctic. Eric, 26, Paul. “They’d beg to go out and join him, crossed the ice cap four times, ditions were the stuff of dinner-table conversation, and few treks were as was an expedition tent and Sarah, 25, had left from the Beaufort Sea village of Tuktoyaktuk, and we wouldn’t see them the rest of the for which National Geographic named revered as ’s groundbreaking Northwest Passage trip. pegged to the ice. RIGHT: Northwest Territories, and expect to arrive in , Nunavut, at day.” Matty remembers the kids pitching them its 2008 Adventurers of the Year. Sailing west from Davis Strait in 1903, it took Amundsen three winters When winds weren’t in their favour, they stowed their the edge of Baffin Bay, two months from now. Their next stop is Gjoa a tent on the back deck, lighting up the Ironically, though, the first seeds of to become the first person to navigate that legendary route, arriving in kites and man-hauled east. Haven, 400 kilometres away. MSR stove for dinner, checking their GPS their Northwest Passage expedition were the Beaufort Sea in 1906. Eric and Sarah decided they would re-trace unit and radioing their co-ordinates to sown not on ice, but sand. In 2009, Eric Amundsen’s path – but would do it in the opposite direction, and in a Despite their youth, Eric and Sarah are old hands on the ice. their base camp inside. and Sarah were traversing Mongolia’s single season, using kite-skis and going flat-out from west to east. They’re the wunderkinds of famous polar guides Matty McNair and Paul Over time, their make-believe became 1,200-kilometre-wide Gobi Desert, rid- They assembled sponsors: Ozone Snowkites would provide 14- Landry, and were raised in , where family outings meant dogsled- real. In 2005, when Sarah was 18 and Eric ing over the dry plains in kite-powered metre paraglider-style kites, National Geographic would supply some

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SARAH MCNAIR-LANDRY

ling with a stranger.” Eric is “We have an unspoken truce that laid back, with a strong techie streak; Sarah, like her mother, we don’t rib or tease one is goal-oriented and competi- another about our differences on tive. Sarah likes to travel on a the trail,” says Eric. “It wears strict schedule; Eric calls her “militant” and refuses to wear down the morale very fast.” ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY a watch. “We have an unspoken truce that we don’t rib or tease one another about our differences on the “There are no surprises between cash in exchange for photo and the winds are in your favour, it’s a eu- less slogging – and, blissfully, windy days trail,” says Eric. “It wears down the morale very fast.” rights, and Canadian North phoric way to travel. Over the past decade of kite-skiing across landscapes buttered As they zigzagged eastward, friends, family and curious Northern- Eric and I,” says Sarah. would fly supplies into com- and a half, kite-skiing has become the with low, reddish sunlight. They quickly ers followed their progress on blogs and videos Eric beamed onto their “We know our strengths and munities along their route. On favoured method of transport for polar fell into a routine. They pitched tents and website. He described kiting past pingos, foxes and caribou. Near Pau- March 19, 2011, in Tuktoyak- trekkers. Eric and Sarah fell in love with packed them, rolled and unrolled kites, latuk, he wrote about the stench and surreal appearance of the Smok- weaknesses. It’s not the same tuk, they stepped into their skis it a dozen years ago, letting the wind pull gorged on high-calorie meals to stave off ing Hills – a perpetually burning coal-seam smouldering on the coast. as travelling with a stranger.” and strapped harnesses to their them across the icy expanse of Frobisher the cold, and downloaded weather and They encountered abandoned boats that hadn’t made it through the chests. Tethered to their waists Bay. In 2007, they formed Team Pittarak wind forecasts on their satellite phone. passage, one of them with magazines from the 1960s on board. At were sleds, weighed down with as much as 300 pounds of food and (the name means “fierce winds”) to kite Each morning, Sarah would spring out communities along the passage, they were welcomed with open doors, gear. To their fronts they clipped 60-metre lines, at the end of which 2,300 kilometres across Greenland from of the tent, ready to roll. Meanwhile, Eric hot meals and new friends. LEFT: In the tent, the siblings busy themselves were kites as broad as a house. Gusts filled the nylon sails, which rose south to north. During that trek, they would remain in the depths of his sleep- with essentials – gobbling into the sparkling sky. They were off. once covered 412 kilometres in 24 hours. ing bag, grumbling. On May 7, two weeks after leaving Cambridge Bay, they skied out calories, drying gear, plotting As they set out from Tuk on the North- Although the pair have their differ- onto the wide-open Gulf of Boothia. Lately, travel had been a challenge. their way forward. ABOVE: Kite-skiing in the Arctic can be either a blessing or a curse. west Passage, their distances weren’t ences, they travel easily together. “There Gjoa Haven to Taloyoak was brutal: They were forced to pick their way Eric, tethered to his kite. Once, in Greenland, he set a Where the wind and tides have churned the ice into a jagged battle- quite so impressive. Their aim was to av- are no surprises between Eric and I,” through boulder fields stretching to the horizon. Their sleds took a world record, kite-skiing 595 field, or when the wind dies and the kites are becalmed, progress can erage 42 kilometres a day, the equivalent says Sarah. “We know our strengths and beating. Some days Sarah would unpack dented pots and battered cups kilometres in a single day. be excruciating. But when a smooth white field unfurls in front of you of a marathon. There were days of wind- weaknesses. It’s not the same as travel- and bowls. >

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SARAH MCNAIR-LANDRY

Yet they knew they were about to encounter their biggest chal- lenge: crossing the sea-ice from the Boothia Peninsula to . Though only 100 kilometres wide, the crossing would be unpredictable – some years it freezes solid, other years it’s open, churned by swirling currents that give it the nickname “the toilet bowl.” To get a look at it, they ascended to a high point, “double-hauling” over rubble ice by first pulling one sled and then backtracking to get the second. They gained less than 150 metres in two exhausting hours. Fi- nally, Eric climbed up onto an ice chunk and peered east. “Hey Sarah!” he shouted. “You have to see this.” The ice was alive: a fast-moving slurry of “blunder ice” – unstable, compressed chunks – bobbing in the cold black water as far as they could see. They backtracked to a sheltered spot, set up a tent, made soup – and debated. “It’s a step up from what I came across on the North ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY Pole trip,” said Sarah, “but I think we can get across.” Eric disagreed, pointing out that “our sleds don’t float and the leads are struggled to unzip the half-collapsed tent By then, fumbling through the crum- see no blood. He was incredulous. She missed! But the bear turned and LEFT: The siblings survey the barricade: Between the Half-blind without his glasses, wide.” And Sarah had to and rushed to the rear vestibule for their pled tent, Sarah had grabbed the shotgun. trotted off. Sarah reloaded and fired a second slug into the air to encour- Boothia Peninsula and Baffin he smashed the bear across concede they didn’t have the shotgun. She aimed, then paused. She’d always age its departure. Island, the swirling currents right gear. Even the small raft Eric burst out of the tent close behind dreaded the thought of shooting a bear. Shaking, they packed up and fled the area. The trail forward was of “the toilet bowl” churn the the face. It backed up and then, She had only two slugs, and if a warn- unnerving. There were dead seals and bear tracks all over, and in the ice into an impassable slurry. they’d picked up in Taloyoak his sister. The bear, briefly frightened, ABOVE: Lured by strange as Eric waved the shovel, would never get them to Baf- paused, then charged. He stood in the ing shot failed, she’d have just one round following hours they spotted five more bears. “This place is like a sights and smells, a curious made a series of bluff charges. fin Island. For hours they dis- snow in his socks and long underwear, remaining. She pointed the gun over the sushi conveyor belt,” quipped Sarah. “The bears just sit here while the polar bear checks out one cussed their options – includ- wielding the only weapon he could find – bear’s head, pulled the trigger and ducked. moving ice delivers seals to them.” Then they came across two cab- of the team’s kites. ing quitting the trip and calling a helicopter to take them home. Eric a collapsible aluminum shovel. “Get the Eric, still brandishing the shovel, could ins, which they found to be ransacked – the windows shattered, the phoned their ice specialist, based in Belgium, for advice. He looked at fucking gun!” he yelled to Sarah. Half- the ice charts and reported just one way forward: by taking a huge de- blind without his glasses, he smashed tour, to on the Melville Peninsula, and crossing to Baffin from the bear across the face. It backed up and Fast Passage there. It would add 500 kilometres and weeks of travel. They decided then, as Eric waved the shovel, made a In all, Eric and Sarah kite-skied 3,300 kilometres, spanning nine NWT and Nunavut communities (plus a whole lot of ice and snow). They did it in 84 days, to sleep on it. series of bluff charges. Eric grabbed Pond Inlet 10 times faster than Roald Amundsen΄s landmark journey in 1903-06. At 4 a.m. Sarah was jolted awake. Something was brushing against a flare and, with the bear just a metre the tent, scratching at the fabric. She leapt up – polar bear! It pounced, away, pulled the pin. The deafening crumpling the tent and narrowly missing her. Screaming, she kicked at bang made the animal back off, but not Tuktoyaktuk it with both legs. It backed up and hit the trip-wire of their bear-fence, far: It stopped and watched them from a Taloyoak Kugaaruk Igloolik Paulatuk which automatically shot a flare into the sky. Sarah grabbed more flares, nearby chunk of ice. Campbridge Bay

52 up here maY 2012 Kugluktuk Gjoa Haven maY 2012 up here 53 KITE-SKIING: NORTHWEST PASSAGE SINGLE ISSUES Complete $4.00 Your EIGHT OR MORE Collection $2.00 Back issues of Up Here magazine are now available – order your favourite issue of Up Here today!

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ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY SOLD OUT SOLD OUT JAN/FEB 06 MAR 06 APR 06 MAY/JUN 06 JUL/AUG 06 SEP 06 OCT 06 NOV/DEC 06 Then they slogged northeast- ward, skiing narrow strips of doorframes torn off. Eric said skiing narrow strips of snow where they snow where they could find them, it looked like “a serious zom- could find them, dragging their sleds over bie attack,” but they cleaned tundra where the snow was gone. When dragging their sleds over tundra up one of them and bunked the wind came back, there was no way to where the snow was gone. down, sleeping with the gun set up their kites. They’d spent the past SOLD OUT between them. three days knee-deep in meltwater, their JAN/FEB 05 MAR 05 APR 05 MAY/JUN 05 JUL/AUG 05 SEP 05 OCT 05 NOV/DEC 05 The next morning, May 9, Sarah celebrated her 25th birthday with mangled sleds splashing behind them. a tiny set of candles. They’d made up their mind. They weren’t going That’s how they arrived in Pond Inlet to quit. They would leave the bears and the churning ice behind, and on June 11, skiing up to the beach just detour southeast, toward Igloolik. after noon. They were greeted by most of the town’s residents. The firetruck By May 28, after a week of dead calm and hard effort, they found flashed its lights and, that night, the themselves off their maps. The snow was melting and the food was mayor threw a dance for them. What had Back issues are available for every year quickly vanishing from their packs. So they cheered when the weather taken Roald Amundsen three years had Up Here magazine has been published. report called for wind. When it came, they kept their sails up for 24 taken Eric and Sarah 84 days – and eight hours straight, until they were within sight of Igloolik. smashed sleds. For a complete list of back issues, con- There, they sought advice. With no knowledge of local travel routes “It’s fun cheating death by kite-skiing tact our offi ce at (867) 766-6710 x307 to Baffin Island, they did what they knew was the quickest way to get through rough ice in low light,” said Eric, or toll free 1-800-661-0861 ABOVE: As the siblings help in the North: stand in front of the grocery store poring over a map. summing up the trip. And when asked approached the end of their Sure enough, within moments a group of elders had gathered to out- what’s next, he suggested “the other US and International orders plus S&H. trek, they found themselves racing to beat the summer line a traditional dogsledding trail to Pond Inlet. Northwest Passage,” across the top of melt, doing more wading On June 1, their 75th day on the Northwest Passage, a white-out . “We have a long list,” he said. “If than kite-skiing. storm shot them across Fury and Hecla Strait, 157 kilometres in a sin- one trip stays on it long enough, it gets gle day. Finally they were on Baffin. Then they slogged northeastward, done.”

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