“Last Hike With Philip” story in Explore magazine wins gold at the 2011 Society of American Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas Awards

Mt. Thor, an Inukshuk and Philip, Pangnirtung Pass 1995

“Last Hike with Philip,” Explore magazine, June 2010.

As I peer over the edge of the sheer summit of Mount Duval, I see the waters of Pangnirtung Fjord far below, snaking  dramatically into the distance through snow-capped rock walls. The last time my best buddy, Philip Kibler, and I were in this part of Baffin Island was 1995. We had finished a 10-day, 110-kilometre trek through nearby Auyuittuq National Park, and had then motored by boat past the base of this peak en route to the small Inuit community of Pangnirtung. Now we’re back, perched atop this mountain in the middle of the Arctic on a gloomy June 20, 2009, four days short of what would have been our 16th anniversary. I pour a splash of Philip’s favourite seven-year-old Cuban rum from his old Soviet hip f lask into my indispensible Lexan wine glass and plunk myself down. No one could ever put a character like Philip in a box when he was alive, yet that is where he is now, in a small white cardboard container beside me. Read more…