Iberville Base Camp

August 4, 2018

After some waiting around in the morning, Olivier picked us up in the truck and brought us to the airport. Right on time, a Twin Otter arrived containing the team that are planning to fly into the Koroc river tomorrow for a guided trip into the mountains. They unloaded and we got on, but not without a slight mishap. Paul dropped his bear spray while unloading his pack from the truck and it exploded in the parking lot. Olivier ran off and brought us another can of spray and three carrying cannisters to contain these weapons on the plane. We finally got airborne and enjoyed a bumpy ride down the Koroc river valley, plane fully loaded with thirteen passengers and two pilots. In about thirty minutes we circled an airstrip by a hiking cabin, where we then landed and everyone disgorged from the plane except for us. Debbie had to jump off and save her pack from being unloaded as well, but in no time we were airborn again for another fifteen minute flight further up the valley, where we made another circle of this primitive airstrip and then landed. We marveled at how quickly these planes can land and come to a complete stop. We unloaded and met another group who was flying out, being stranded an extra day as they were supposed to be on our cancelled flight yesterday. We chatted a bit with a couple who had made an attempt on Iberville a few days prior, but had to turn back due to high winds. Even today, the wind in this place was howling and it was a serious struggle to get our gear sorted out and hitched up for the hike. We stashed some emergency food in the park domes and then just as we were ready to leave the Twin Otter sped off, leaving us alone in this beautiful land. We hiked across the tundra and soon were stopped to change shoes to cross the Koroc river. It was only knee deep and not too cold, so this was easily done, keeping ourselves dry by taking our pants off. We dressed and had a quick lunch in a small scoop that was a little bit sheltered from the wind and then continued. In about another kilometer we came across a second branch of the river and had to undress again. This crossing was deeper, almost to the crotch, but at least we had taken off our pants again so still remained dry. We decided to hike a little further in our skivies in case there was another braid of the river, and true to form, which can only happen when you are half naked, a helicopter peeled out of Base Camp valley and buzzed over us, meters above our heads. It turned out that there was no more water to cross, so we got dressed again for the rest of the hike. Walking was fairly easy as it was tundra, however we encountered the occasional boulder field making for some tricky footing, and patches of thick greenery sometimes required some forceful wading action to push through. Paul tripped at one point and broke a hiking pole, but fortunately was otherwise unharmed. As we moved up the valley we spied the park base camp in the distance with four big white domes and three colourful tents? This had us puzzled as there was not supposed to be anyone here. A few hours later we were close enough to discern some people moving about along with a helicopter parked in front of the domes. Just as we hiked the last stretch into camp the helicopter that had buzzed us in our underwear earlier roared overhead, landed in camp, took off again, and scooted up valley to pick up a couple of people walking. After returning again, we chatted with the pilot, a young fellow who owned the machine. There were two pilots and two clients who were sight seeing, fishing, and camping in the park. They had caught too much Arctic Char today on their adventure, so offered us some for our supper. Finally, they reported that they had seen a bear, so they jumped back into the helicopter and spent the next half an hour buzzing up and down the valley trying to scare it off... helicopter fuel must be cheap in the north. Upon return the pilot stated that they had not found the bear, but he had a gun so he would shoot it if it came close to camp. We looked into the kitchen dome to see if it was suitable for eating (and to get out of the bugs), but it was so full of junk as well as the heli group, we moved over to a pile of lumber to set up our stove and have supper outside. The pilot fellow brought us a huge couple of filets of the char, which Debbie poached and we had a feast. I even tried a bit of the fish out of curiosity and found it quite tasty. As we were finishing up with the cooking, the stove sprang a fuel leak, which made for some excitement, but fortunately it did not catch fire. I disassembled it, finding an o-ring for the main valve in very poor shape. I dug through the repair kit and could not find a matching one. I spent some time trying to jerry rig a repair using several other sizes to no avail, losing a lot of fuel in the process which was not good given we had already blown our budget for today while cooking the char. Just as I was about to give up I found the correct size o-ring and quickly repaired the stove in short order. This is a great relief as a week of eating cold freeze dried food did not sound very appealing. We cleaned up, stashed our food bags in one of the domes being used as a utility shed and then escaped from the bugs into our tents within the bear fence perimeter. The weather looks promising, so we get up early tomorrow for our first summit attempt.

Circling our landing strip.

Chatting with the departing group as we get ready to begin.

After almost a year of planning, we are actually doing it!

Stopping to admire the view.

Crossing the Koroc.

Crossing the tundra of the Koroc river valley.

Hiking into Base Camp valley.

Arrival at Base Camp. A great place for heli-glamping.

Master chef Deb cooking up a feast of char.

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