Coppermine (Mar 24/03) - A huddle of Canadian reserve troops, perched on a wind-blasted knoll, follow a moving target below with their eyes.

One shouts a quick signal and the group opens fire, strikes the target--a sled pulled 400 metres behind a snowmobile--and completes the ambush simulation.

It's hard enough to crouch in the snow all afternoon when windchills are pushing - 60 C. Try firing a chilly metal rifle accurately in a combat situation without taking your mitts off.

The 74 Canadian soldiers were posted to the unforgiving tundra outside Kugluktuk last week to practise their winter survival skills.

The group spent eight days close to the frozen shores of Coronation Gulf with 12 Canadian Rangers, learning to operate equipment in an extreme environment.

"This training is important because the North does encompass a large part of Canada's land mass and we don't have a lot of people up here so it's important for the military to be able to work effectively in this environment," said Gray Shanahan, a reservist from Ottawa.

Shanahan said the Rangers showed them the best spot to camp out of the wind, how to build an iglu and basic extreme-cold survival skills. He said his colleagues love the opportunity to spend time in the Arctic.

"A lot of the troops jumped at the chance to come because you don't really get a chance to come this far North."

The purpose of the exercise is to assert Canadian sovereignty over the vast and largely uninhabited land in the North and prepare the forces for deployment in extreme conditions.

Ranger David Nivingalok said after the group survives a week under these conditions, they'll be ready for anything.

He said the soldiers also teach the Rangers new skills.

"They show us how to use their equipment and some of the skill they've learned and we show them how to live on the land," he said. "It's a good exchange."

Nivingalok was the only Ranger from Kugluktuk to participate in a sovereignty expedition to th magnetic North pole last year.

"We're here to make sure Canada's North stays safe and sovereign," he said.

"Rangers patrol some of the most important hunting ground of the Inuit people."

He said a lot of the skills involve just basic survival--like avoiding frostbite--in such an extreme environment.

Ranger Sgt. Roger Hitkolok said he loves any opportunity to get out on the land and teach survival skills.

"You know, I just got back to town from my job in the mines and came straight out here without a chance to relax," he said. "That's okay. Out here it's always a holiday for me."