Flight from Grise Fiord to Resolute, August 9

The weather was amazing on the flight to Resolute.  There was some local fog, which made the pilots fly in a circle just outside of town to gain altitude quickly, which gave great views of the tops of mountains that usually the plane is below on approach or takeoff.

The next two are of rivers and canyons on Cornwallis Island, as we approached Resolute from north of town.

View from my hotel room in Resolute.

By the time I got out for my walk, the weather had become overcast.  The fuel ship was in town, so I went for a beach walk to have a look at it.

More good photos to come from the flight the next day from Resolute to Ottawa.

Flight from Iqaluit to Resolute, July 17, 2019

I did another work trip to Grise Fiord from July 17 to August 10.  I got some good photos on the flights, so I thought I should update my sadly neglected blog.

The first couple are of the airport in Iqaluit on takeoff:

River just north of Iqaluit:

I loved the pattern of these clouds over Baffin Island, around halfway between Iqaluit and Pond Inlet:

A river canyon as we approach Pond Inlet:

River near Pond Inlet:

Our plane on the ground in Pond Inlet:

Got some views of the glaciers in Sirmilik National Park as we flew out of Pond Inlet:

These photos are as we approach Arctic Bay (the flight was a bit of a milk run, which is good for sightseeing):

There is a waterfall in this photo, but it seems to go underground as it's not visible going over the cliffs:

I took this from the front steps of the airport terminal in Arctic Bay:

Next four photos are of the Uluksan Peninsula, flying out of Arctic Bay:

The St. George Society Cliffs:

Crossing a last lobe of Baffin Island before we head over the arctic ocean to Resolute:

Some broken up ice:

This is from my evening walk in Resolute, from the top of the hill behind town, looking southwest:

There is not a lot of vegetation around Resolute, but here are some tiny flowers on the hill:

View of Resolute from the hill:

I'll be back soon with some photos from my flight on July 19 to Grise Fiord.

Grise Fiord again

I'll take a pause from re-living last year's trip to Banff.  I am now in Grise Fiord, I have started working in the arctic again.  I've been away since July of 2016.  Feels good to be back.

For contrast, here is the Rideau River in Ottawa just after takeoff:

Ice between northern Quebec and Baffin Island as we fly north:

The new airport terminal in Iqaluit. It was my first time there, I think they opened it in late 2016 or early 2017:

I liked my lunch on the flight to Resolute.  The chicken club sandwich was great, and the Biscoff cookies and Laura Secord chocolate bar were delicious too.

The plane lands now in Pond Inlet on the way to Resolute.  This view is of a piece of Sirmilik National Park (I think, or close to it if not) as we fly over the north end of Baffin Island:

I ended up stuck in Resolute for a day due to high winds, here is a view from my hotel room on April 26 as I watch the flag on the RCMP detachment flap violently:

Here are a few photos of my flight to Grise from Resolute on April 27.  Here we are crossing the NW lobe of Devon Island:

Grise Fiord, the fiord itself and not the town, as we fly in:

Ice patterns in the tidal zone near shore:

I had around 7 feet of legroom on the plane!  Luxury.  There were only 2 of us on the flight:

Nice clouds as I was out skiing in Grise Fiord on April 30:

More nice clouds while skiing on May 1:

... that's all for now.  I'll update later if I get some more nice weather pics.

Ocean freezing up

Flying out of Grise Fiord a couple of days ago, I took these photos from the plane.  The window was repeatedly frosting up, so these pictures turned out rather well considering they were taken through a layer of frost that I kept scratching at to try to clear.

Here's Grise Fiord (the actual fiord, not the town), with the open water at the mouth of it.  The light is the "golden hour" of evening, even though it's just after noon.  It's only around a week from losing the sun for 3 and a half months, so the days are very short and the sun just scoots across the southern horizon for around 3 hours.  The sunsets are also long and beautiful at this time of the year.

Thin layer of ice, with some thicker pieces that have broken off freezing into it:

I love the patterns that broken ice makes on the ocean:

I loved this pattern, and the way it meets a cloud bank at the top of the photo:

This photo is from my hotel room in Resolute, of the sun setting in early afternoon: