This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

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Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
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Polar Bear Alley Expeditions
Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts
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Beluga Whale Photo Gallery
Polar Bear News 
Polar Bear Attack Page

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba
Tide Table for Churchill 
Churchill Aurora Forecast 

If you like the Polar Bear Blog, check out my first book, Polar Bears of Churchill. It combines eight years of guiding experience in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada with the latest scientific research, local history and a bit of cabin fever. Independently published. Available online for $14.95! Click BUY NOW to purchase a copy and support Polar Bear Alley!

Churchill on Hudson Bay is a mix of Churchill history and stories from the trapline. Written by longtime Churchill residents, Angus and Bernice MacIver, it is the best resource about Churchill, Manitoba available. Published by the Churchill Ladies Club. Available for $16.95

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October 1-14, 2007
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Archived articles

Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

EMAIL POLAR BEAR ALLEY

Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba Links

Polar Bear Alley Expeditions
Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts
Polar Bear Photo Gallery
Beluga Whale Photo Gallery
Polar Bear News 
Polar Bear Attack Page

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba
Tide Table for Churchill 
Churchill Aurora Forecast 


Polar Bear Alley

Polar Bear Blog - How Hudson Bay Freezes - October 19, 2007

Foggy day today, there's a few bears out in buggyland, a couple by Miss Piggy, a moderate start to bear season but really not too bad. Pretty busy with books and newspapers and sheds today, so here's an excerpt from Polar Bears of Churchill about how the ice forms and basically why the bears are here...

Salt water becomes heavier as it freezes. This leaves a greasy soup of ice washing in and out with the tide, each wave leaving just a little more ice clinging to the shore. In Churchill, high tide returns every 12.5 hours and it does not take long for the shore ice to extend well out into the tidal zone.

As well, Hudson Bay’s watershed extends west to the Canadian Rockies and south to Minnesota. This means that a tremendous amount of fresh water pours into the bay from several northern rivers. This inflow results in brackish water (a mix of salt and fresh water) along the coast and surface of Hudson Bay. Since freshwater begins to freeze at a higher temperature than salt water, this further contributes to the speed of freeze up.

All the while, the ice builds along the northwestern coast of Hudson Bay. Soon, the ‘grease ice’ forms into little ice floes called pancake ice. A strong north wind and consistently cold temperatures of -20C (-4F) or lower will push this ice together and pack it onto the coast of Cape Churchill.

Once these sheets have frozen together, it signals the bears’ departure. They will venture out to hunt seals even with only a few kilometres of ice. As winter progresses, the ice continues to encroach eastward until the bay is completely frozen, usually occurring in early December.

Almost every year, initial freeze up occurs around mid-November. However, in both 1991 and 2002, conditions prevailed for an early freeze. The freeze up was so sudden in 1991 that the bears departed near Halloween night. In other years, winter takes its time – 1999 and 2003 saw the bears remain ashore well into December. While a late freezeup is not as critical to the bears’ health as an early breakup, it does result in an extreme increase in polar bear occurrences within the community of Churchill.

Polar Bear Blog - Bear Season Morning - October 18, 2007

After hitting 14C yesterday, there is frost clinging to the sedges and grasses this morning, even the tiny pond next to my cabin has a layer of ice on it. The day starts with purple and gold, and light spreads slowly across the tundra, sending shivers up its frozen spine. As 'magic hour' is drawn out, the morning sky turns the frost to dew, and the bearberry and caribou lichen turn vivid reds and greens. Its a colourful day in the north.

These are the mornings when I miss being a Buggy Driver. Getting the machines ready as the sun rises, breathing in the crisp air and diesel fumes really is one of the best feelings , especially capped with a stolen instant coffee. Of course, there are other days when I miss it a little less... And, really, chain saw oil and sawdust are a pretty good combination with this morning too.

This is day two of clear skies in Churchill and day two of some pretty nice northern lights. Tuesday saw aurora peak around 12:30 and last night, at 11pm, I had the luxury of watching an unbelievable display of lights from my living room window. Starting off as kind of a treble clef hanging in the sky, it was soon swept into Piano Sonata Number Fourteen with green e-flats and purple f-sharps. Wolfgang careened along, ABACA ABACA ABACA, soon jumping up to spin and scissor kick the ol' walrus skull across the sky, engaged in a brief and rhythmic game of soccer with Inuit spirits and maybe a Valkyrie or two. Worth the price of admission.

Polar Bear Blog - Days of High Adventure - October 17, 2007

Today was a nice day. I think we peaked at 14C, sunny with a very light breeze. So nice, that a few sand flies were actually roused from their winterized state to buzz around my head. This is a day where bears are too warm, they start overheating around 10C... or so they say. I mean, I have seen bears being pretty active on days like this but I guess you can still spar even though research papers say you shouldn't.

This is also a day where people start talking about global warming. A good day for people planning to visit Churchill in mid-November, cutting it close to freezeup. Of course, 'bear season' is classic for being 'unseasonably warm' right up to the end of October, at which time, everyone starts talking about global warming and worrying that the bears won't get out on the ice on time. But, you can be guaranteed that as soon as you hear those rumblings, a week or two of -20C is just around the corner, and the bay will freeze up pretty much on schedule. (Contrary to popular belief, there has been no statistical change in the date of freezeup of Hudson Bay over the years...)

Now, I am not really one way or the other on the climate change issue any more, I have read too much on the issue to believe either side. Its funny how I came to Churchill nine years ago as a rabid and misguided mosshugger and now find more in common with 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' than with 'An Inconvenient Truth'. Strange that I still consider myself an environmentalist, whatever that word means now.

So, I don't know much. But I do know that there are a few figures that have emerged as climate change champions, specifically Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And the Governator has been a bit of a sore spot for me this year. Last winter, I predicted that the Governor of California would be visiting Churchill this year. My sources (mostly voices in my head) had heard as such and I was pretty confident, especially when Arnold announced a visit to Canada.

Well, that visit came and went and Manitoba was kind of 'snubbed' this March with Schwarzenegger spending more time with British Columbia Premiere Gordon Campbell than Manitoba's Gary Doer. It was strange considering that we had just signed an agreement of friendship or climate helping or something like that. I figured that Manitoba truly was a have-not province. And then when Stephen Harper showed up, I figured that was the 'big' visit.

But, I now have to retract my retraction of my prediction. Yes, my surprise announcement of the governator's visit is reinstated and it sounds like Arnie will be here soon! Probably for the last weekend of October (I have no confirmation of this but that's when I would bring him up).

My quest now is to gain a media pass for the Hudson Bay Post to interview Arnold. I think that would be pretty neat, I mean I like the planet too plus I still have all the words to Conan the Barbarian memorized. Actually, Good, Bad and the Ugly as well, but no word on Clint Eastwood's polar bear tour.

So, right now, I am just waiting for Arnold's staff to email me back with approval! If anyone would care to email the governor in support of my quest, CLICK HERE!!!

In the mean time, here's a bit of Polar Bear Alley trivia...

Did you know that this excerpt...

'What is best in life?'

'Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of the women.'

'That is good! That is good.'

...was not actually an after dinner conversation between Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush (or, to maintain Canadian content... Ezra Levant and Stephen Harper) but classic lines from the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian. Its true.

AND did you know that the tagline for Conan the Barbarian was...

'He conquered the world with his sword. She conquered HIM with her bare hands.'

I mean how can you get any better than that!!!

Not only the best polar bear information on the web, the best Churchill information but now the best insider information. And here I though Bill Ayotte would be the most famous person I would ever interview...

Stay tuned, I have five bucks riding on this prediction.

Polar Bear Blog - Polar Bears: What to Expect - October 16, 2007

This was a bit of a strange summer in Churchill, moreso than usual. The Churchill River broke extremely early (mid-May) but then June cooled off and temperatures were a bit closer to so-called normal. So, that means that there was a huge piece of open water near Churchill from early June but that the ice on the bay didn't really break up until mid-July (I think around the 17th or so... its in the blogs somewhere).

From what I can see, that means that there should be no real pattern in bears this year. What I mean, is there should be some very skinny ones, regular sized ones and even fat ones. There was a super fat bear at our cabin at Camp Nanuq on Saturday, despite some jaw-smacking and hissing it was easily dispatched by Milo and MoonUnit. It is possible that this was an almost pregnant bear, one with just about but not quite enough fat for her pregnancy to take. This is the time of year when one or two of those occasionally pass through.

Basically, if the bears were out on the ice near Churchill, they likely had a very bad year and are in dire need of an early freeze yet mild temperatures in December, since they will have less fat to deal with the cold. However, with killer whales cruising past Churchill on a hit and run mission on our beluga whales, some bears have found summer food and will be in good shape despite being on land longer.

Others have come off the ice at a 'normal' time (still earlier than in the 70s and early 80s but normal for the last 20 years). And still others have ridden the ice far south to the Manitoba/Ontario border and beyond. They should be in decent shape even if some of them will take their time getting to Churchill or just wait for the ice to form along the coast between Churchill and York Factory.

Polar Bear Blog - Fog and Coffee - October 16, 2007

Its been a while since I've sat at Camp Nanuq with my 'Don't Ask Me I Just Work Here' mug of coffee and waded through emails and blog entries for an entire morning. I think I've cut my account down from 1500 old emails to 150 - that's not bad for a morning's work, not to mention that any day now, I should be receiving my share of Prince Ibdib Sambudu's 21 million dollar inheritance. Good luck, prying a blog entry out of me after that, suckahs!!! ha ha ha

I got dropped off at the edge of Camp Nanuq last night and was all 'hey, no worries, I'll just walk to the cabin. Bears... whatever.' But, wow, I had forgotten how intense walking in the dark in bear season can be, especially without a gun - I had one of those little scare pistols but the loading process takes too long to be of any real use against a bear. But, I made it and Milo was on the porch - not that he came out to greet me or protect me from bears, but I am sure he would have come over once he heard my screams... after stretching and yawning a bit.

No snow yet, but a fair bit of wildlife around now, a few arctic hares can be seen and an immature snowy owl lit near the cabin this morning - grabbing another unlucky lemming. No foxes really but a few juveniles should be appearing soon, there were a few active dens this summer and the lemming population has not completely crashed.

I saw my first polar bear of the season yesterday, sleeping by a clump of trees near Brian Ladoon's dog pound. There are a couple places where older, wiser bears can hang out during the day, relatively inaccessible from tourists and conservation officers alike.

One of these places used to be in behind the Churhcill garbage dump. There were some pretty deep willow banks where bears could enjoy some pre-ice siestas. Of course, the dump is gone now and we are storing garbage in the L5 building until our new incinerator gets built, so here's a little tribute to the good old days of dump tours - stealing the Tundra Buggy driver's van to go see bears and sparring arctic foxes at the dump at midnite - 'Dump!!! Dump!!! Dump!!! Dump!!!'

The Churchill garbage dump was established in 1959, seven years after 3,900 hectares of provincial land had been transferred to the Department of National Defence, their military base Fort Churchill. The original dump site was to serve only the military base but was transferred to the town once the armed forces pulled out of Churchill aroud 1964.

By 1972, the Canada-Manitoba Agreement on Churchill (bet you didn't know there was one) surplus federal lands were supposed to be transferred over to the province, except of course, the landfill site and a few other contaminated sites ('I don't want it, you take it - 'no you take it' - 'hey, you touched it last...'). This was also the era when the International Fund of Animal Welfare helped establish Churchill's first attempt at using an Incinerator to solve our northern garbage woes. Of course, bears soon outsmarted the incinerator and could be found either inside it eating garbage or be seen running towards it as the garbage truck pulled up.

Of course, 35 years later this is finally happening, and the Churchill dump was finally closed and 'remediated'. And 35 years later, we are about to build another incinerator (this time called the Orverter) to solve our garbage problems and failed waste transfer/recycling program. I hope the Orverter works but forgive me if I am a little 'on the fence'.

So, that leads me back to Stephen Harper and Omnitrax. My latest Hudson Bay Post covered a bit of the background of the money given to Omnitrax over the past decade and this latest round of promises. I sounded a bit skeptical but I mean when Churchill is looking $2 million for our waste program, $2 million for the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, $2 million for the Destination Churchill marketing whatever, $2 million (probably) for new water lines. etc.

It seems a little strange (albeit predictable) that we hand $40 million over to a private corporation to fix a line that was condemned under their 'watch'. I don't think we sold the Port for $7 ten years ago only to put $8 million more of government money into now? Or the rail line for $11 million only to give $40 million to the new owners? In fact, how do I buy a used car from the government? There must be some beater that I can buy for $100 and then get $10,000 to restore it in 2017.

Polar Bear Blog - Northbound Freight - October 15, 2007

Well, for better or worse, I'm headed back to Churchill today. This has been a long run in civilization (partially anyways, Hecla Island and the Bloodvein River are still pretty remote). But, civilization nonetheless and my credit cards can prove it. Natural Habitat Adventures was kind enough to help me out in my quest to head home and I am pretty grateful - one less thing to wrack my brains about... should be in Churchill for lunch!

There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of Churchill's 'bear season' and this morning is a pretty good example. Guides are scurrying around, loading luggage and covering last minute details at the hangar, first Frontiers North and now Natural Habitat. There are endless radio calls, phone calls, last minute details, takeoffs, landings, buses, more buses, buggies, and that sort of thing plus a bunch of disoriented tourists top it all off. Brief conversations with new people and old 'bear season' acquaintance and then off to the next stop. There are good days and bad but either way you still have to turn around and smile for the clients, after all, its your vacation. Sometimes, it all seems a little surreal.

One thing, I should mention though. Natural Habitat has done a pretty fair job over the years at trying to integrate a bit more eco into their ecotourism. This year, they are one of the few (if not the only) company that is using carbon offsetting credits as part of their package - basically, a program that 'atones' for the emissions involved with holiday air travel. You can see more details on their website.

They have also rented the Northern Soul grease van for the season. Winnipeg-based Northern Soul Adventures, a wilderness canoe tour company and my partner for summer hiking tours, converted their tour van to run on used vegetable oil. So far, its worked out pretty well for Northern Soul, as long as you don't mind dumpster diving for used vegetable oil. Its messy but fun, albeit a little suspicious looking as we idle our way down various backlanes. A small price to pay for helping out the planet I suppose.

We have also set out 'I Walked With Polar Bears' tour dates for next summer so I will be posting those on the site in the next couples days for those of you interested in swimming with whales, hiking along old fur trade routes and, of course, walking with bears... in the distance, naturally.