POND INLET - Over rocks, rivers and jagged ice, Titus Allooloo and Sam Omik arrived by snowmobiles at Pond Inlet two weeks ago, completing an extreme 4,320-kilometre journey that began 21 days earlier in Yellowknife.

Driving winds and hard-packed snowdrifts kept the pair at speeds under 30km/h for much of the trip according to Alloolo, but their knowledge of the land and its unforgiving environment helped them prevail.

"It was blowing snow and blizzards the whole time and sometimes I couldn't see the ground," said Alloolo, adding that most days were colder than 40 below with the wind chill. "You have to know how to make shelter, like igloos and stuff because you cannot totally rely on tents because of the strong winds."

While they never had to make a complete igloo, each night Allooloo and Omik cut snowblocks to make wind barriers to ensure their tent would not be swept away.

With the help of Raymond Bourget at the NWT's department of Environment and Natural Resources, the group plotted their route on a Global Positioning System but harsh conditions forced the travellers to alter their path, relying on snowdrifts created by prevailing winds to stay on course.

As for supplies, Allooloo and Omik departed the NWT capital with 80 gallons of sled fuel, 25 litres of stove fuel, sugar, bannock, tea, lantern, satellite telephone and a short-wave radio. After passing the tree line, they bagged a caribou and that kept them in meat for the remainder of the trip. In addition to caribou, they came upon muskox, Arctic hare, and wolverine.

"But no bears, grizzlies or polar bears, just tracks," said Allooloo

Logging between 240-kilometres and 480-kilometres per travelling day the pair were on the move only 10 days of their three-week adventure. In addition to the elements, the generosity of communities they stopped at along the way added to the trip's duration.

"I didn't tell anybody that we were going to Repulse Bay and when we arrived they were so proud of us, they wanted us to stay an extra day so they could hold a community feast and dance," explained Allooloo. "The love of the people (in all the communities) was so real and it's been a very good trip."

Getting to Pond Inlet required crossing the Fury and Hecla Straight but Allooloo said that was not a problem as it was frozen.

What did provide the pair the most trouble, however, was the Burnside River, which pours into Bathurst Inlet. Allooloo said the river was not completely frozen and he and Omik had no choice but to run the overflow.

"It was flowing, but we managed to cross it and followed the river until we were able to get on top of the mountains," he added.

Allooloo, who runs Narwal, a Yellowknife outfitting operation specializing in outdoor adventures, said the trip was inspired by conversations he used to have with friend Jobie Nutarak, a former MLA and speaker of the legislative assembly, who passed away last year.

"When I moved to Yellowknife back in 1984 (Nutarak) used to ask every year if he and I could go from Pond to Yellowknife by snowmachine so this trip was done in his memory."

Already, Titus is talking about making the trip again, this time accompanied by his wife Cathy and their 11-year-old son Devon.