On top of the world

Photo of This Land arctic expedition, courtesy Diane Whelan, National Film Board of Canada.

The north can grow on you.

If you enjoyed the documentary “This Land”, here is Diane’s interactive story of her trip giving a day by day account of her journey, showing distance travelled, temperatures, and hours of daylight.

To quote Diane “I had never ridden a snowmobile before. I arrived in Yellowknife a few days early to teach myself the basics. After just a few hours on a rented machine I was doing well, so, I set off for one last quick ride across a frozen lake. The machine stalled. After 20 minutes of struggling to get the machine to start, I knew I was in trouble. In a half hour it would be total darkness, and I had at least an 8 kilometre walk back to town, no flashlight, cellphone, or water. Just 100 useless dollars in my pocket. I was thinking “great, my journey hasn’t even started, and I’m going to freeze to death in Yellowknife, how freaking embarrassing." In the dimming light I noticed a small black speck in the distance. I jumped up and down waving my hands in the air and, sure enough, 10 minutes later a local 10 year old boy named Henry was there. He said “My mom saw you in the telescope in her kitchen and sent me to help”.