SKI BAFFIN: A DREAM TRIP TO THE ARCTIC
Arctic Heliskiing Baffin Island
May 20, 2019 | 
Baffin Island
SKI BAFFIN: A DREAM TRIP TO THE ARCTIC
One guest’s birthday adventure: to ski Baffin Island with 12 friends and family while staying in a completely custom lodge built by Weber Arctic.
We take our guest’s adventure wishes seriously. We love a proper adventure. It’s something we’ve chased in the Arctic for more than 30 years. A little over two years ago, we began an ambitious project - a dream for a guest of ours. A birthday wish to ski Baffin Island with 12 friends and family from a completely custom lodge. Using our heli-ski tenure on Baffin Island, the goal was to create a comfortable basecamp in the fiords of Baffin. Design and custom build a lodge for friends to ski “from the doorstep” into the mountains of Baffin Island. A lodge to retreat to after a day of adventure - hot showers, massage therapy, comfortable rooms, a lounge, proper dining and more.
Baffin Island’s Arctic cordillera offers unique skiing - a collection of mountains, glaciers and fiords with (many) that have never been skied nor set foot upon. As spring starts to settle into the Arctic in April and May, the temperature rises and Baffin’s mountains become a place for great skiing, spectacular views with hundreds of kilometers without a soul in sight. Truly exploratory skiing.
An adventure such as this requires a massive logistical undertaking. 17 team members invested nearly two years of effort. Designed in Oregon, built in Ottawa, the team at Weber Arctic created a lodge that packed into two 40-foot metal shipping containers plus a snowcat and helicopter. The lodge was transported by ship from Montreal to the community of Clyde River, on the shores of Baffin Island. It was a project that was greater than just the team at Weber Arctic. Special partners such as world-class helicopter pilot, Patrice Bellerose from Panorama Helicopters, the community of Clyde River and others helped make this project come to life.
From Clyde River, using the snow-cat, the team built a road into the precise location of the camp - roughly 60km from Clyde River, into Baffin Island’s mountains. Building a snow-road in winter, moving the 45,000 pounds of equipment and constructing a lodge is no small feat. Once onsite, storms, cold weather and heavy shipping containers meant the entire process took 6+ weeks of effort. Starting in the winter months of March meant braving storms like this:
Hard work, dedication and commitment meant it came to life. Comfortable sleeping accommodation, a shower and massage house, main lodge with lounge, kitchen and dining hall where we could provide the best possible comforts for our guests to enjoy Baffin in a truly unique manner.
Over the course of the following several weeks, guests skied, explored, swam(!!) and took in the sheer beauty of Baffin Island. While our days were filled with great skiing, the evening were spent laughing, enjoying great meals, singing and most importantly - sharing a great adventure. On one special evening, we had a polar bear wander past the lodge!
We’re honoured to have had the opportunity to create this adventure for our guests. The sheer confidence and trust from our guests, belief and support from our team alongside the thrill of adventure means we get to explore the best of the Arctic every year. Thank you!
Looking forward, we’re very excited to announce a new ski-adventure for 2020. Stay tuned!
Nansen, Richard, Josee, Tessum and the team at Weber Arctic.
We're here to help.
We understand that booking a trip like this is a big endeavour. Please reach out to us with any questions that you might have regarding your upcoming adventure.
