Christian left after a great one week survey. We travelled 800km in Qikiqtarjuaq region with two icemeters, an auger and a snow probe. Local hunters are already interested by the results, like Jaypootie who guided us for five days up to Home Bay. He welcomed us to his various huts (Nedlukseak, Ekalugad, Ilutalik). Fortunately, at our first stop, he found his two dogs lost for 3 weeks! Then one of them accompanied us for the rest of the journey.

On the first day we met Charlie and his daughter Nadine, on their way to Clyde River, located 350km north of Qikiqtarjuaq. But their snowmobile broke down shortly after and they had to ask for help to return to Qikiqtarjuaq, cancelling in the same time Charlie's underwater exploration projects (there is no diver Clyde River).

Hunters keep in touch between themselves using HF radio. This is how we could follow the difficult progress of Jaypootie's father, who was driving a brand new snowmobile from Iqaluit back to Qikiqtarjuaq, through the western and central Baffin Island, in the absence of snow on the more direct route. A deposit of food and fuel was our small contribution to this amazing trip!

We saw a few polar bears on the way, also some of the first birds, we visited the amazing Cape Hooper station (DEW Line), there were spectacular cliffs and icebergs, and sometimes very thin ice! Christian wants to develop a slush detector, when deep snow is accumulating on thin ice...

During this time, France did main field and lab work for Takuvik, then took Aurore and Leonie out camping for the weekend. And they had adventures in the slush!