Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

CORAL HARBOUR - An overnight trip turned into a three-day saga as four travellers found themselves stranded in the middle of a June blizzard.

Casey Paniyuk, Ricky Kakoolak, Tommy Paliak and his 17-year old son David Paliak left Coral Harbour June 1, a Friday night, expecting to return home the next day.

They were travelling 60 miles north of the community to pick up Paniyuk's shack and bring it back by snowmobile.

A blizzard hit the area, bringing 20 centimetres of snow over the weekend, more than the area usually sees in the entire month of June.

"It was horrible in a way, but we were all right," said Paniyuk.

Luckily they had packed enough emergency supplies to last through the ordeal.

"We were quite prepared for it," said Paniyuk.

They stayed in the tent Friday and Saturday night.

"Visibility was zero, you couldn't see anything in front of you," said Paliak.

By Sunday their tent was dripping wet, and they used a GPS to find a cabin by Ivitagulik fishing lake so that they could dry off.

As food was running short on the extended trip, the group shot a caribou on Sunday to keep them going.

Paliak, a little distressed, said he thought of his loving wife Jean Paliak to get him through the weekend.

Paliak said he is concerned that these record low temperatures and blizzards may kill the geese this year.

More than 20 centimetres of snow hit the Coral Harbour area over the weekend, even though the June average is 7.4 centimetres.