IQALUIT - The fall was bad enough, but nine hours on the ground in freezing temperatures was likely worse.

Inuktitut teacher Mick Mallon is recovering in an Ottawa hospital after a nasty fall on the outskirts of Iqaluit last week.

Mallon, 73, was walking near the Arctic Winter Games arena with his two dogs when he took the tumble, his daughter Amanda said by telephone from Yellowknife.

The fall occurred in the middle of the afternoon Feb. 19, and while details are sketchy, the result was several broken bones, a punctured lung and severe frostbite.

Rescuers found Mallon at about 11 p.m. Searcher Jimmy Noble said fellow searcher Matthew Akavak and another man located Mallon at the base of a slope lying face down. He said Mallon's hands were frozen "rock solid." He was transported from the scene by qamutiiq.

"He was in pretty bad shape," said friend David Wilman who went to Qikiqtani General Hospital with Mallon's wife Alexina Kublu.

Mick's dogs stayed by him during the ordeal, Amanda said. He thought the fall meant his end, and later thought sundown would be too, she said.

However, Mick dresses for the cold when he goes out, she said.

"He's always dressed incredibly warmly for the weather to the point that people would tease him," she said.

Mick faces a long road to recovery she said, and it's possible he may lose some fingers and toes to the frostbite.

With eight broken ribs he may have to take a break from entertaining guests, Amanda suggested.

"You know how much it hurts to laugh when you have broken ribs," she said.

Born in Ireland, Mick has taught Inuktitut in Iqaluit for more than 40 years, after coming North in 1959.

He once told News/North that he prefers to teach the language with an Inuk so his students can get an ear for proper pronunciation.

"It keeps me honest and people really get to hear what the words sound like instead of hearing them from a displaced Irishman," he said.