Resolute (Apr 17/06) - When Alan Pogotak pulled into the ice-covered harbour of Resolute last weekend, his face was covered with polar bear kisses.

The dark patches on his weather-beaten cheeks came from two weeks of travelling across some of the harshest terrain on the planet - part of an ambitious mission to stake Canada's claim to the High Arctic.

"I'm glad to be back," said the soft-spoken Ulukhaktok (Holman) native. "The first thing I'm going to do is take a shower."

About 50 Rangers and armed forces personnel received a hero's welcome when their column of snowmobiles pulled into the small bay off Resolute Sunday afternoon.

The Rangers were among the best from the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon.

Their mission, code-named Operation Nunalivut, was designed to test Canada's ability to operate in the High Arctic. The Rangers crossed more than 5,000 kilometres of sometimes brutal terrain, weaving their snowmobiles across sections of jagged sea ice that broke skis and splintered wooden sleds.

The patrol concentrated on the western islands of the High Arctic, a huge swath of uninhabited land that stretches from Resolute on Cornwallis Island to Prince Patrick Island. The area is so far north, it was home to the ever-shifting North Magnetic Pole in 1999.

"This (was) by far our most challenging exercise," said Lt-Col Drew Artus, Chief of Staff for the northern wing of the Canadian Forces.

The region is dotted with abandoned buildings, airstrips, oil wells and test-mines.

In an area with almost no infrastructure, the meagre remains are a bonanza for the Canadian military. Part of the Rangers' mission was to catalogue what was out there.

Some of what they did find, they used. Several Rangers and soldiers weathered temperatures that dipped to -40C in an abandoned Environment Canada weather station, while pilots landed Twin Otters on airstrips built decades ago by prospectors.

The mission comes while critics question whether Canada has the money and manpower to keep tabs on the Arctic, a region that is home to a wealth of resources including gold, diamonds, oil and natural gas.

Some believe Canada's claim to those riches could be jeopardized without a strong presence in the North -- something Nunalivut was designed to address.

"It is important for us to go up there and show we can do things," said Artus. "It says this land is ours."

While there is no immediate threat to Canada's Arctic sovereignty, missions like Nunalivut send and important message to the international community, say military officials.

"If we don't go to Isachsen - a remote weather station - for two months, will the Americans plant a flag there? No. But we have to be able to operate in the North."

For about $100 per day, the Rangers braved treacherous sea ice, brutally cold temperatures, raging blizzards - including one storm where visibility was reduced to a couple of metres - and polar bears.

"It was a fun trip," said Repulse Bay's Merrill Siusangnark, after arriving in Resolute. "But it feels good to be back."

That sentiment was echoed by Hall Beach's Ike Angotautok. "I'm a little tired of the cold," he said.

The Rangers, who travelled by snowmobile, covered more than 100km on clear days. Sometimes the Arctic ice was as flat "as the Collisee in Quebec," said Major Chris Bergeron, commander of northern Ranger units. But rough sections and storms could ground the patrols to a complete halt.

The military took over a Co-op store house - which was originally built for exercises like Nunalivut - where they set up communications gear to keep in touch with the Rangers as their five separate patrols weaved across the Western Arctic.

With years of experience living on the land, Bergeron said the Rangers are important part of Canada's defence plan for the North. "I learned so much in the last 15 days from them," Bergeron said Sunday after reaching Resolute.

"Like how to light a stove at -50C in a blizzard."

Despite temperatures so cold "you could not have any exposed skin", the Rangers emerged from trip more or less unscathed, said medic Rick Mackwood.

The cold did play havoc with medical supplies and Mackwood had to wear rubber surgeons' gloves over his mittens in the field.

The military budgeted $1 million for the exercise, but poor weather drove up the cost at least an extra $500,000, Artus said.

There are 1,700 Rangers in the three territories, according to the military.

Created in the aftermath of the Second World War, their job is to keep an eye on a 300-km circle of land around their home communities and - about once a year - embark on patrols like Nunalivut.

With only a handful of permanent bases in the North and shortage of satellites concentrating on the polar region, they have become the eyes and ears of the army in the North.