CFB ALERT, Nunavut - After nine days of slogging through blinding daily blizzards and at times measuring their progress by inches, eight members of an Arctic sovereignty patrol ended their mission at Canada's most northerly military base early Monday morning.
The team, made up of regular soldiers as well as Canadian Rangers, travelled 785 kilometres up the coast of Ellesmere Island in nine days, between Eureka and Alert, along a route believed never to have been taken before.
Maj. Chris Bergeron, the team's commander, said they worked through temperatures of -50 C and winds that regularly hit 80 to 115 kilometres an hour.
"Visibility was serious,'' he reported. "We fought our way inches by inches. It was hell. In seven years in the Arctic, I have never experienced anything like it. It was the first time I have ever experienced such rough terrain and bad weather.
"We were supposed to see some of the most beautiful scenery in Canada. All we saw was white.''
Bergeron's team was one of three that travelled a combined 5,589 kilometres over the last 17 days to assert Canadian sovereignty in the North -- the longest sovereignty patrol in Canadian Forces history, dubbed Operation Nunalivut.
At one point, they planted a metal Canadian flag on Ward Hunt Island, a rocky outcrop off the top of Ellesmere Island, which is used by explorers from all over the world as a jumping-off point for the North Pole.
"Anybody launching from there will have no doubt of the fact that they're launching from Canadian territory,'' said Sgt. Peter Moon, spokesman for the Canadian Rangers.
The team also visited Cape Aldrich, the most northerly point of Canada, between Ward Hunt Island and Alert. A cairn had been left there by Arctic explorer Robert Peary in 1906, and the team added a document listing all their names to record the fact that now, the Canadian Forces have also been there.
Moon said Bergeron and his men were exhausted by the time they arrived at Alert around 2 a.m. Monday and were getting some well-deserved rest.
The biting winds and blowing snow meant it would sometimes take them up to two hours just to put up their tents, and a simple task like putting gasoline into a snow machine became an ordeal. Some of their snow machines and their supply-laden komatiks, or sleds, were badly damaged along the way.
"It taught us how to operate in the North,'' said Bergeron. "You have to respect Mother Nature, or she'll crush you like hell. We faced challenges we had never had before. We had to fight those winds every single day.
"This shows that the Canadian Forces can operate anywhere in the world.''
Another eight-member team travelled earlier up the centre of Ellesmere to Alert, a considerably easier route. The third, which included an RCMP officer and fisheries officers, crossed from Eureka to Alexandra Fjord on the east coast to check for any signs of Greenland Inuit crossing Nares Strait to hunt on Canadian land.
"The three patrols did fantastically well,'' said Bergeron. " can say that we have done something that has never been done before. It's mission accomplished.''
Moon said the northern expertise of the Rangers on the teams, most of whom are Inuit, was key to the success.
"Chris will always tell you that the Canadian Forces simply could not travel in the conditions they've just traversed to get from Eureka to Alert, simply couldn't do it without the skills and the land knowledge of the Canadian Rangers."
