2 minute read
TUNDRA GIRLS
Spotted on a hike: woolly lousewort, my new favourite mini flowering plant.
Fashion editor and TV host Jeanne Beker trades her stilettos for muck boots and steps out of the spotlight and onto the Arctic tundra for a mother-daughter journey they’ll both be reminiscing about for years to come.
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PHOTOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATIONS BEKKY O’NEIL
Here I am, looking ATV-chic en route to find some musk oxen.
Me and my daughter Bekky O’Neil proudly posing on a floe.
wimagine a more exhilarating journey to see the sun still shining.
The next morning is spent learning
Jeanne Beker’s
PERFECT PACKING LIST FOR THE ARCTIC TUNDRA
A fleece jacket A fleece or merino-wool pullover A thin down- filled vest Long underwear Lightweight hiking boots Waterproof pants Waterproof mukluks Gore-Tex gloves Heavy socks A neck warmer Sunglasses Binoculars Sunscreen
NOTE: Quark Expeditions supplies its adventurers with great waterproof parkas (they have a thin puffy inner jacket you can zip out if you’re too warm) and waterproof muck boots (which you’ll practically live in, says Jeanne).
On board the Unimog, excited to go whale watching.
Our brightly coloured tour group standing on ice.
Rafting through the incredible canyon on the Cunningham River.
bright blue sea and push our kayak into the sparkling water, me up front and Bekky steering from the stern, dipping our paddles into the salty water in perfect sync. It’s magical, and made better by the comforting fact that my girl has my back; when my shoulders ache from all the paddling, Bekky cheerfully picks up the slack. looking musk oxen—with their imposing stature, pass a desolate stretch of land, akin to the desert in Arizona, where we’re in awe again as we pass a prehis toric whale skeleton comprised of large bones jutting out of the ground, estimated to be 8,000 years old. a spectacular canyon where I’m astounded by the guide is doing the work, and it’s a relaxing time for most go out as far as we can to watch whales. Countless my binoculars, their gorgeous faces smile back at me.
artist-not-in-residence
BEKKY O’NEIL’S TUNDRA-INSPIRED WATERCOLOURS
Jeanne and her daughter spent the first evening of their trip on the shore drinking wine, with Bekky painting the landscape before her and Jeanne trying to describe it in writing. We’d say both were successful.
Tall boots and big puddles are tempting my inner child to go puddle jumping!
The air is filled with nothing but love and wonder.
FUN FACT
Arctic explorer Richard Weber and his wife, Josée Auclair, both former members of Canada’s cross-country ski team, transformed this exotic locale— originally founded in 1992 as a beluga whale–watching station—into Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge in 1999.
Beluga whales bobbing up and down in the distance—an incredible sight on our second-last day.
