Storm followed storm. Gravity-sped cold dense air rushed vertically off the Greenland Ice Cap and down cliffs here to create colossal coastal piteraq winds. New house foundations have tension bolts that must be tightened periodically. The first two years of a new house’s life are critical ones. The one new house built here this year has no occupants yet.  Not all new houses remain standing after their first winter.

I want perfect vision and get it. A CIBA Vision contact lens/ski goggle or CEBE sunglasses combination enables me to work at the best of my ability to achieve seemingly impossible tasks and protect my peepers from dangerous UV light, chronic tear flow, spindrift, and airborne stones.

On journeys when sleep is out of the question I wear CIBA Vision Night & Day 30-day continuous wear contact lenses. Otherwise I wear CIBA Vision Focus Dailies. Thawed from forty below zero they’re easy to insert and so comfortable I never know they’re in.

It was during December when my dog-training runs were bisected daily by fresh bear tracks. A helicopter flight mechanic had a polar bear walk up just feet away from him one  weekend. My next move is to try and get  a pair of eyes surgically implanted eyes in the back of my head.

We had a tree here in December, the Christmas variety.

I was training lead dogs through deep snow and thought I’d nudge Frank up to see how he’d perform. He’s a massive dog and immediately bolted for home, I tripped in snow up to my thighs and was left stranded. Not good. I was bothered but knew they'd get the sled hung up somewhere. And they did, on the edge of town three miles away. Jan from the gas station must have seen my dogs return without me. He followed my dogs’ trail to give me a ride back on his snowmobile. You don’t have to be an egghead to work out Frank is therefore not lead dog material.

Hunters checking their seal nets set under the ice sometimes see their dog team bolt for home. I saw two teams come back without drivers this season. It’s haunting to witness. Here everyone is looking out for one another, even kids do. I watched five children turn around a dog team of 12, jump on the sled and head back out following the trail back to the hunter.