Polar Training Course Outline
There are 3 stages to the Polar Training:
• 6 days of inside & outside workshops
• 4 day mini expedition
• 3 day final expedition
Pre Polar Training
Day 00 2 days before the course start, fly from home to Ottawa , overnight in Ottawa
Day 0 the day before the course starts, fly from Ottawa to Iqaluit, you have the afternoon to acclimatize, recover from jet lag and see Iqaluit (museum, visitor center, Inuit art, etc.) You are responsible for your own accommodations. (see www.northwinds-arctic.com and go to links on the top bar, and that will take you to accommodation information.)
WORKSHOPS
Day 1
9:00 Your first initiative task is to arrive at NorthWinds at 9:00 am . You can take a taxi or walk to house #728, which is 3 doors to the west of NorthMart, along the frozen sea ice. We recommend that you bring a note book. We start with:
• Welcome to Polar Training
• Introduce yourself and your polar dreams
• Introduction to NorthWinds, course review program, expectations
9:45 Workshop: Polar Clothing
• Traditional
• Moisture Management
• Vapor Barrier System (VBL)
• “The System”, layers
• Material, what is does or does not do
• Polar Modifications & Expedition repairs
10:45 Check personal clothing, out fit with NW clothes
11:30 Break/ Help with Lunch
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Workshop: Introduction to Polar skis options:
- back country skis, skins, bindings, boots & ski poles
- Check personal ski systems /outfit
1:30 Ski Introduction to classic back country skiing
• ski efficiency on the flat, up hill and down hill
3:30 Set up tents
- look at tent modifications
- dead-men, ice screws, snow bollards
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Workshop: Sleeping Warm
• Sleeping systems
• Down vs Fiberfill
• VBL's
• Sleeping pads
• Tricks to sleeping warm
Sleep out in tents
Day 2
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Review: How did you sleep?
9:30 Workshop: Cold Weather Injuries
• Hypothermia
• Frostbite
• Other common trail injuries: Chill Blains, cuts, burns, blisters
• How the dominos line up for a disaster
10:30 Coffee Break
10:45 Continue Cold Weather Injuries
• First Aid kits
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Depart for skiing in pressure ice on Frobisher Bay
3:00 Workshop: Navigation
- Review of basic Map
- Compass: magnetic variation
- Navigation with watch and sun
4:00 Coffee Break
4:15 Continue Navigation
- GPS
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Evening Program: On thin Ice, a woman's journey to the North Pole
Day 3
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Workshop Introduction to Polar travel with dog teams
• The art of driving dogs: harnessing, running fan hitch, commands, steering & breaking the sled, maneuvering through pressure ice, care & feeding
• Norwegian method of driving dogs on skis
3:30 Workshop: Stoves, how to blow-up your tent
• Trouble shooting
• Rebuilding your stove
4:30 Time out: get personal things organized, check out the library, help with dinner
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Evening Program: Kites on Ice, a journey to the South Pole and return
Day 4
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Workshop: Communications
- Base support, roles and responsibilities
• Daily sched. calls
- Iridium phones
• Argos
• Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)
• Website updates
• Daily logs
• Solar recharging
• Working with electronics in the cold
10:00 Coffee Break
10:15 Continue with Coms.
10:45 Workshop: at look at pulk designs & harnesses
11:15 Ski on the bay with pulks
- Pulling techniques through pressure ice and sastrugi
3:30 Workshop: Public Relations
• Selling your soul to the media
• Getting sponsorship, fund raising
• Responsibility to sponsors
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Evening Program: North to Know Where
Day 5
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Workshop: Photography in the cold
• photography 101
• keeping cameras operating in the cold
10:00 Coffee Break
10:15 Intro to Kiting
• Choosing the right kite
• The Wind Window
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Kiting: ground school with 1 – 3 meter training kites
• Launch & recovery techniques
• Maneuvering in and out of the Winds Window
• Kite management: untangling lines, rolling up lines & kites
4:00 Workshop: Travel Styles
• Travel by time vs. miles
• Breaks, how long how many
• Leading, route finding
• Equal weight of pulks?
4:45 Coffee Break
5:00 Workshop: Polar Bears
• Travel in Polar Bear county
- Polar Bear protection options
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Evening Program: Kite Video
Day 6
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Workshop: Nutrition & Expedition Menus
• Protein complementing
• Calories to Weight
• Menu planning, food selection, packing
10:00 Coffee Break
10:15 Pack out Mini & Final Expedition food
11:00 Kiting: Ski Kiting on Frobisher Bay
• Ski Kiting: cross wind, down wind & up wind techniques
• Ski Kiting with a pulk
• Lunch on the ice
3:00 Finish Packing for Mini & Final Expedition
• Food
• Kitchen box: stoves, pots, etc.
• First Aid & repair kits
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Evening Program: (to be announced)
MINI EXPEDITION
Day 7 – 10
7:30 Rise and Shine
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Depart on Mini Expedition
On the 4 day expedition we will put the skills learned into action. (Except perhaps polar bear defense?)
Expedition members will be responsible for:
• Travel style
• Navigation
• Camp selection
• Cooking
• Daily communication with Base
On Expedition we will also cover:
• Setting up a run way for Twin Otter planes
• First Aid simulations
• Trail repairs
FINAL EXPEDITION
Day 11 – 13 Group will travel back to Iqaluit on your own. You will be responsible for both your own safety and that of your group.
Day 13 last day of course
2:00 Return to Iqaluit
Clean, dry, repair and put away gear
4:00 Course Wrap up
- Debrief Course
• Evaluation forms
5:00 Course End
• Drop off at your Hotel or B & B
• Or catch the First Air evening flight to Ottawa