Polar Risks

The research on Climate Change has made me think. Rather than looking on this trip as an SAS style Survival Challenge (Will I, or won’t I, survive the freezing temperatures?) I should perhaps be thinking more in global terms. The University of Toronto is planning a major weather research expedition to Baffin Island in 2007.
Instead of reading about Climate Change from the comfort of my own home, I should be looking on this trip as an opportunity to find out how the local communities are coping. The idea of doing interviews and gathering data from the research station appeals. But I can’t do this if I’m frozen cold trying to drag a sledge across a non-populated area such as Auyuittuk National Park. I have be realistic.
I suspect my best chance of talking to the locals will be at the beginning - before I’ve embarked on the biggest physical (and mental) challenge of my life.

Polar Risks include:

· Cold temperatures ie. sub-zero - up to minus 40
· Wind chill factor - ffreezing, inability to move
· Hypothermia - shivering, possible death
· Frostbite and loss of digits - my fingers go yellow when I go for a walk in Richmond Park. What will happen to them in the Arctic?
· Polar bears - I love that cuddly one in Raymond Brigg’s Walking On The Snow, but I don’t like the look of them when they turn nasty
· Thin Ice - Don’t want to die this way
· Bulking Up - Put on weight before the trip – and then not lose it
· Losing too much weight - A girl’s dream. Is this a terrible risk?
· Physical training - going for a walk in Richmond Park and getting attacked by a nutter. Ever since a cyclist was murdered in the park last year I’ve found myself constantly looking behind me to check for weirdoes.
· Catching the Yukon Bug - You love it so much you want to go back