
Despite the beauty and power of winter months at the cabin, breaking the occasional monotony became necessary for our mental well-being. No matter how active you are, the isolation and silence combined with 20 hours of darkness has a way of getting into your head. It was during such times we would pack up and leave the cabin. For us these trips were akin to a space walk, stepping away from the comfort and safety of the cabins and venturing into the unknown in an unforgivable and inhospitable environment.

Explore
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Checking the map
Scott picking out a potential route.
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On the Churchill
Reviewing the map on the Churchill River.
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Taking a Break
Taking a break along the bank of the Churchill River.
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COLD
Not sure what the temp was in this photo but I usually didn’t get this bundled up unless it was well past -20ºF.
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Ptarmigan
Ptarmigan for dinner. This was an extremely hard day of snowshoeing. After seeing these ptarmigan we decided to call it a day. Certainly one of the top meals we had (perhaps the suffering made it that much better).
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A Winter Portage
Scott punching through the trees. Occasionally we’d need to hike up into the trees to portage around any fast-moving open water.
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Adventure within an adventure
Headed upstream from the cabin with the goal of exploring off the edge of our map. We had a couple very close calls during this trip.
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Beauty, Danger, and Hard Work
One of my all time favorite photos. At this point we're currently 25 miles up stream from the safety of the cabins. It’s like our own version of a space walk.
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Packing
Early morning tent break down. Setting up and breaking down the tent was always the coldest part of these trips.
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Raw Wilderness
A tiny spec of a human hugging the left bank.
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The Rocky Pose
On the Churchill river, the only real elevation we encountered. You can see me doing a "Rocky" pose in the upper left of this image.
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Fun Way Down
We took the hard way up and the fun way down.
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Wipe Out
Title pretty much sums up this one.
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Hydration
Was surprised to discover open water in such incredibly cold temperatures. Taking some time out here to hydrate.
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Bliss
Couldn't be happier.
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No Fuel
Ran out of white gas on our last night of this trip. We built a huge fire to try and warm up but to no avail. Wasn't bad once we got in our bags but the following morning was brutal,
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Sketchy Skiing
Nothing like skiing on some shelf ice next to some open water miles away from any help.
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VERY sketchy skiing
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