Baffin Island Ski Mountaineering Expedition 2016
Location: Gibbs Fiord and Clarke Fiord areas, nr. Clyde River, Baffin Island. Lat & Long: 70.844°N, 72.194°W
Leader: Ross Hewitt Members: Evan Cameron, Stephen Windross, Simon Christy
Objectives: To travel to the North East Fjords of Baffin Island to search out and ski some of the best couloirs on the planet (up to 1500m) deep in the Gibbs Fiord and Clarke Fiord region. This area is rarely visited and there are hundreds of potential first descents. In Baffin Island 2014 we visited the Scott Island, Gibbs Fiord, Strewart Valley, Walker Arm and Sam Ford Fiord region, skiing 26 lines and climbing over 20,000m. The incredible wilderness and magnificent big walls make this a very special place.
Dates: mid-April to mid-May 2016
Website: Baffin Island Ski Expedition 2016 Blog: http://rosshewitt.net Instagram: ross.hewitt Twitter: @ross hewitt74
Contact (emails forwarded through the Arctic Club): arctic.club.uk@gmail.com
Supported by: Gino Watkins Memorial Fund
Published on Nov 21, 2016
I've had the privilege of organising 2 expeditions in 2014 & 2016 to Baffin Island deep within the Canadian Arctic to explore and ski steep new lines amongst the legendary big walls there. White Lines, Exploratory Skiing on Baffin Island is the culmination of the best images and a reminder of the good times in the far north of the planet.
May 26: Ross tweets: 'just back from a 2nd adventure there; bears, chest deep pow, skiing faces, blizzards, kiting, amazing people, humbled'
@ross_hewitt74 @offpisteskiing
May 28: Ross writes: 'We are just back from Baffin. An adventure of a lifetime enjoyed by the whole team. From 2 base camps in Gibbs Fiord we skied 18 lines, only 1 of then was a known repeat, with the others first known descents. The weather was not so good with many overcast, snowy and windy days however we did manage to benefit from the wind and travel by kites more frequently which was good as the fiords had deep snow on them making travel slower.
We drove through Clark Fiord on the way in and saw some good couloirs. However they were spaced long distances apart which would have made for scant pickings and an area with big walls that I had high hopes for didn't hold anything. We also had an encounter with a bear and decided to put some distance between us and continue to the 2nd target area deep in Gibbs fiord.
So you know, getting out of the fiords was not straightforward with only one machine arriving in the middle of the night. We drew straws for who would go with 2 leaving and 2 staying. The other machine was due to leave Clyde about the same time so when we got back we expected the remaining 2 to arrive 12-15 hours behind us - but it broke down near Scott Island! A blizzard rolled in and it took 4 days to get everyone back to Clyde. Alls well that ends well!'
Photo Gallery from 2016:
