Inuksuit Expedition

by Erik Boomer

Sego Skiers and Epic Adventurers Erik Boomer & Sarah McNair-Landry

As the sea ice beneath my feet gave way, my legs plunged into the arctic ocean. I quickly spread my arms to stop me from falling deeper into the ocean, I had two thoughts. First, I wish I had my dry suit zipped up. Second, I wish I was wearing my skis to spread my weight out over the thin ice. I used my elbows to break the weak ice until I found a surface strong enough to support my body weight and crawled out of the water and onto solid ice. Luckily buoyancy from my dry layers and the saltwater kept me from a full-on soaker. I wrung the water out of my shirt, zipped up my dry suit, and kept moving towards shore with my girlfriend and badass expedition partner, Sarah McNair-Landry.

Sarah and I had been walking across the thin pan of ice, dragging our white-water kayaks. With the sea ice quickly melting, we had gotten ourselves “stuck” in Inuksuit Fiord on the east coast of Baffin Island. But this is exactly what we wanted. We had enough food, climbing gear and white-water paddling gear to keep us busy exploring new rock-climbing lines, rivers, and waterfalls in this remote fiord. This was the beginning of a new yearly mission for us. Every year from here on out we are adding new objectives to the list. We'll report back on this spring's adventure as we take our Big Horn 96's back to explore some remote couloirs. 

By the numbers:

Expedition days: 42
Miles skied: 62
Miles hiked: 40

Feet climbed: 6,350
Whitewater rivers kayaked: 4

Erik Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry live halftime in Teton Valley, Idaho when they aren't living in Baffin Island. Their Kayaking, skiing, and climbing expeditions have taken them around the world and have earned them both nominations for National Geographic Adventurer of the year. This year it's been awesome to see them getting into the high alpine of the Tetons on our skis in our backyard. Sarah and Boomer will be touring deep into the Baffin Island Wilderness on their Big Horn 96s this spring climbing big walls and skiing long couloirs among other activities. They'll be checking in with us with updates from their adventures. For more background on this backcountry power couple, check out their amazing 2017 movie, Into Twin Galaxies, about whitewater kayaking and kite-skiing across Greenland.