100 km on snowshoes: Harrowing Arctic journey bonds military and civilian women

As a flight service specialist, Teresa Griffith monitors weather conditions from her office in Leduc, south of Edmonton.

But this week, she's trekking through snow and wind in Canada's North.

On Thursday, Griffithbegan a two-weekfemale-led expedition through Nunavut's Baffin Island.

The group of 14 women, along with guides and support staff, are snowshoeing 100 kilometres through Akshayuk Pass, anatural corridor cutting throughmountains and ice.

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They're hauling 60 pounds on sleds and carrying another 20 pounds in their backpacks.

"I love a good adventure," said Griffith, who once captained a York boat along the Peace River for three-weeks and snowshoed five days a week when she lived in the Northwest Territories.

During her Christmas break she read about the Akshayuk Pass in a copy of Explore Magazine.

The next week an issue came in the mail containing an adfor a trip to the Arctic with True Patriot Love, an organization that sendsmilitary members and civilians on trips together to raise money for veterans training for new careers.

Griffithsigned up andbegan fundraisingthe $50,000, herportion of the group's$1 million goal.

The next month, she flew to Hamilton to begintrainingfor the adventure.

There she discovered not everyone had the same amount of wilderness experience.

For some of the women, this would betheir first camping trip.

"We had to practise putting up our tents and sleeping outdoors because some of the ladies had never done that," she said.

But for others, this is yet another expedition.

Kathryn Logan, a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Canadian Navy, is part of the team.

"When I was deployed in the past, it's always 'Canada says go so I go,' but many of the practical aspects are the same," she said."Do I have everything I need? Am I going to starve? What could I bring to make myself more comfortable?"

Logan has beendeployed on a Navy warship in the Arabian sea, serveda tour in Afghanistan and another in Libya.

But this trip will come asa shock to the system,Logan said.

"Coming from Victoria where I'm currently in the sunshine and wearing a T-shirt, I think I will have the biggest weather shock because I haven't had that -30 Cweather in a while, so the Ontario folks might have an acclimatizingedge on me," she said.

"But I think it'll be great for the military people and the civilian participants to get everybody out of their comfort zone."

Bonding through adversity

Griffith and Logan have been paired together to mentor one another.

The two were matched upthrough a personality test.

Griffith will help Logan learn about the business world and Logan willhelp Griffith during the expedition.

"[It's about] bonding through adversity," Griffith said."In many cases on this expedition the military members have the expertise so they mentor the civilians on the trip and then after we bond and become friends, then we mentor them to transition back into civilian life."

At 36, Logan is approaching retirement age from her military career.

"I've spent my whole adult life in a military setting," Logan said.

She had enrolled in the Royal Military College of Canadaat age 17.

"I was just looking for something different and the idea of a challenge.I think my 17-year-old self was just like, 'Oh yeah cool, a university that will make me do push ups,'" she said.

Soon Logan, as she puts it, will have to decide what she wants to do when she grows up.

"I hope that I can expose some of the civilian women to what military women live with in our jobs and we can hopefully learn from each other," Logan said.

"There's something to be said for going through a bit of hardship with people;living in close proximity in tiny six-man tentsin freezing Arctic.

"I think that will definitely make us closer."