Arctic soul

Explorer Gary Rolfe has travelled 11,000 miles through the Canadian Arctic with dogs. Alone, it's always dangerous. And cold. He's worn contact lenses in temperatures of -51ºC. Here he tells us why

I'm short-sighted. Without eye correction I wouldn't be able to build a snowman, let alone do what I do safely. Snow falls any month of the year in the Arctic. Spectacle frames freeze to my face up here, and it's not a good place for contact lens solutions either.

Why? By November, household freezers are no longer needed. Freezers run at -22°C, and outside it drops to -40ºC. Christmas is always white, lakes and rivers freeze with ice 16 feet thick and snow has to be cleared for trucks and cars to drive over. And then there is the wildlife. Wolves worry communities every winter, prompting dogs to be locked away and rabies posters to be plastered all over the town. Wolves slaughter dogs, or infect them with rabies. I've seen rabies, it's horrid and frightening. Children on their way to school are always at risk and loose dogs, infected or not, are shot on sight.