Nunavut Canada Exped – Day 9

Blog by Mikhayla and Valentin

We woke up at 4:30 this morning and found ourselves floating in our sleeping bags on our portal edges. No one got much sleep, as you dare not move too much when you are hanging 200m above the ground. A blanket of fog had settled over us throughout the night making every part of our bodies, sleeping bags and portal edges soaking wet.

While we were packing up our campsite in the clouds it is a reminder that safety always comes first in the vertical world. One by one we abseiled down the rock face, this gave us all an adrenaline rush and was sometimes scary. Eventually we made it back onto Pangaea and managed to change into warm and dry clothes and gobbled down a delicious breakfast.

Mikhayla, Zula and Rici treated everyone to a batch of decadent chocolate muffins that were enjoyed by all. The learning never stops and this afternoon we started with Doctor Roswitha Stolz from the University of Munich on our environmental tests. Research in the Arctic region is extremely valuable and gives a clear indication of the effects of climate change.

After a short briefing we headed to shore to set up our 100m by 100m grid. In this grid we will be completing Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM), a standardized method of measuring the active layer and permafrost in the polar-regions. Within our grid there are 121 marked points, each 10m apart. We have recorded the coordinates using a GPS, this will allow people to return to the same points to continue any tests.

We are continuously taken back by our surrounding’s indescribable beauty, the turquoise water, the towering fjords, the unforgiving glaciers and the mystical fog.