At one point last week, I woke up with my heart racing. 'Foot steps,' I thought. 'I hear polar bear foot steps.' Instinctively, I reached out to unzip the tent door and grab the shot gun but stopped short when I realized I wasn't on the Arctic Ocean, there was no shot gun lying in my vestibule and what I was hearing was only the wind blowing the tent fly. I lay back down in m y sleeping bag relieved beyond belief. I was just on Lake Winnipeg for the polar training course I teach every year and not, thankfully, on a North Pole expedition.

Although it's hard to tell at times. With the week's lowest temperatures bottoming out at -40 with the wind chill, it felt pretty darn Arctic.

Overall, it was a great week. Gearing up for five days on Lake Winnipeg in February with relative novices is a fairly daunting tasks. However, as with all other big problems we work piece meal to break the big problem up in to manageable pieces: starting out with basic skiing and sled hauling techniques, then progressing to travel styles, camp set up and menu preparation. It's a crash course in everything polar but after a intensive two and a half days we hit the ice.

Unlike mountaineering, in polar travel we set up and take down camp EVERY DAY. Therefore, I focus a substantial amount of time teaching the skills to help us set up camp efficiently and safely. Mother nature decide to create her own 'final exam' on our last night when bitter cold 35 mph winds threatened to blow all our gear down the lake (and us with it). Not surprisingly, the everyone 'passed'. Tents were set up, sleds tied down and snow walls built. In no time, dinner was served.

I'm not going to lie, it's a lot of work to prepare, run and manage these style of courses. That said, I consider it a privilege to be able to share my skills and help others become more adept at traveling in the cold. Lake Winnipeg is a beautiful place and the experience of skiing, human powered across it a once in a life time opportunity.

The next morning it was clear and cold. The wind had sculpted the snow into small hard drifts and we skied the mile back to the cabin quickly.

Looking back, at everyone skiing effortlessly toward shore, I couldn't have been more proud.

Image: Skiing south on Lake Winnipeg