Polar Bears, Musk Oxen and Huskies

A polar bear and her cub playing in the water

I had two years in the Arctic in 1985 and 86 as a member of the Steger International Polar Expedition. What an amazing chapter in my life. Face to face with polar bears, attacked by Musk Oxen and gliding over the Arctic Ocean with dogs and sledges. Nights in Igloos and homes of Inuit (Eskimo) and surviving at minus 70 oC.

With Will Steger and team, I did some remarkable journeys such as down the Mackenzie River Delta and across the Arctic Ocean to Point Barrow Alaska in 1985 and the following year as a warm up to our unsupported trip to the North Pole, spent 3 months on Baffin Island training in the middle of an Arctic winter, and the late winter on Ward Hunt island.

A camera-shy polar bear. He seemed wary of me when I took this photo in 1986



Mum playing with her two cubs


Musk Oxen near Eureka on Ellesmere Island


Driving the first team of dogs with Brent Boddy with the next team, en route to the North Pole 1986



Bob trying to contact base during training before heading to the North Pole



Walruses on Baffin Island in 1986



Caribou in Arctic Canada, near Demarcation Point.


A young Inuit girl playing traditional string games. Baffin Island.