Good ending to this story that I have been following for a couple of days.

Larissa Liepins , CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, November 16, 2007

When the seal fat for the fire ran out, they'd been sleeping for five nights in an igloo in the middle of a trackless Arctic waste.

With a broken-down snowmobile and their cache of fish running out, Laimiki Innuarak, 63, decided he had no choice left - he had to walk until he reached a settlement, or he, his wife Rachel Aglak, and their adopted four-year-old son Noah Jonah Aglak would die in the freezing polar dark.

While little Noah and his mother wept and worried in the igloo Innuarak had made for them, the man finally set out on foot Thursday morning at 7:30. He walked for the next 10 hours.

Full article here.

Wow.

Snow knife. A knife, some seal fat, and some fish. OK, this guy is the real deal. Surviving for 5 days, then walking 10 hours to town. It ain't light for 10 hours at that latitude as I recall. And this guy is 63.

Like I say, wow.

Note to self: Don't forget seal fat.

Actually, what else WOULD you be able to burn on the arctic tundra?

Good man, and 63 years old!

Sue

Impressive, especially at his age, but lucky. I guess that works as both a nice ending and still a warning.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what's the big deal about walking for 10 hours?

sunrise was 05:50.
he began @ 07:30.
sunset was 10:58.
there was no moon.

so he walked 3 1/2 hrs in daylight and 6 1/2 in the dark.

no trails.

no 'aids to navigation'.

not mentioned in the story were any compass, maps, or gps.

it was probably somewhat chilly.

might have been windy.

polar bears live there.

no weapons.

the ice was soft in places.

he's 63.

he's got my respect.

bsmith

CBGC

What your missing is the fact that he was 63, there was a blizzard, it was bone chilling cold,oh yea don't forget it was in remote Alaska, no roads, no phones, no nothing.The SAR looked for them for 20 hrs with no success. He built an Igloo,oh wait two Igloo's ,did I forget to mention he built them in a blizzard. He kept his family alive for 5 days then walked 10 hrs to find help. Found help then directed them back to his family. Granted He did a lot of things wrong, but I won't go into them here. I think considering the conditions he was in he did a darn good job taking care of himself and family, oh yea and at 63 yrs old. I'm sure I missed a couple points but I hope you get the gist of it.

Ditto the respect part.

I agree with all your points, however to clarify, it was not remote Alaska, rather in Nunuvut which is a long ways from Alaska.

The real and sad truth is most people half his age cannot walk for 5 hours straight let alone the conditions this 63 year old man endured in the days before then walking for 10 hours...

I have spent time up in the far north and know first-hand what the weather conditions can be like this time of year. Even though I have a lot of wilderness experience, had I attempted this without any modern aids, I would of probably been found dead...if ever found.

My dad can't walk 100yds witout getting winded and he's a year younger than this man.