While RCMP say they have their eyes on the fast-moving Hayes River, a group from a northern Ontario First Nation paused their search for a missing Norwegian trekker in a remote part of northern Manitoba on Tuesday because of mounting costs.
People started to worry after it was reported one of Steffen Skjottelvik’s dogs arrived at his expected destination of York Factory, Man., alone. The 29-year-old had left on foot with his two dogs from Fort Severn, Ont., late last month.
Skjottelvik had aimed to travel from James Bay to Alaska, according to a Facebook page documenting the journey called Steffen’s Great Canadian Journey.
The coastal land between the two, consisting of soggy muskeg, is home to polar bears and wolves.
“People think that Steffen shouldn’t have been doing that but we all make … mistakes and we’re all human beings and that’s what we look at it from,” Fort Severn First Nation Chief Matthew Kakekaspan told CBC News on Tuesday.
“He’s a human being and he needs our help…. He’s somebody’s child.”
Kakekaspan said searchers from his community were forced to pull out Tuesday morning. In the roughly two days they searched, the group incurred $70,000 in helicopter rental costs, something Kakekaspan says they could no longer sustain.
Police say Skjottelvik is considered an experienced wilderness traveller. RCMP and Kakekaspan have also said the terrain in the area, and the threat from wildlife, make his planned trek path dangerous.
Skjottelvik left Fort Severn on foot on July 25 with his dogs hoping to get to York Factory last Friday — a 300-kilometre distance over a three-week timeline.
He arrived in Nanuk camp, about 40 kilometres from York Factory, on Aug. 13. He said he had lost one of his dogs along the way, according to RCMP.
Skjottelvik last touched base with a contact in York Factory on Aug. 14, saying he planned to arrive the next day.
RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre previously said one of Skjottelvik’s dogs may have been lost in an attack by wolves. But someone from Fort Severn has posted images on Facebook of a husky resembling one of Skjottelvik’s dogs that wandered into that community on Monday.
On Tuesday, Manaigre said the search thus far has been by boat, drone and helicopters because of the treacherous boggy terrain.
He said on Tuesday the police force has one Mountie in the area presently.
An RCMP officer flew a drone Monday night equipped with thermal imaging capabilities to look for hot spots that could be Skjottelvik, said Manaigre.
He said Manitoba Conservation is in the area with a helicopter conducting aerial searches to complement efforts by local searchers, including a Gillam, Man., resident familiar with the area, and is searching by boat.
Manaigre said Tuesday there was a focus on the Hayes River — one of the fastest-flowing in Canada.
“It’s just an extremely hazardous river to cross and basically, with all the rain coming, everything is going into the bay right now so that current was extremely swift,” said Manaigre.
It is “highly suspected” that Skjottelvik may have tried to cross to an island about one kilometre out from the shoreline, which Manaigre says is about another kilometre or more from the other side of the river.
“If there’s low waters you can technically navigate it by foot, but the tide does swing up and down … four metres,” he said.
“We actually had one of the searchers in hip waders today, tethered, trying to just see if he could walk in the river and he wasn’t able to stand. It’s just the current. It’s just too strong.”
RCMP initially said the Canada Rangers were requested to attend, but they decided against it because “it was just too dangerous.”
“You need some very experienced people to be going through this terrain, it’s basically muskeg bog…. It’s almost up to your waist. It’s just soft,” Manaigre said.
“We don’t have a lot of resources up in play just due to the logistics involved,” he said. “That’s probably been the biggest challenge of this is just due to the remoteness, the dangers with polar bears and wolves.”
Kakekaspan said Skjottelvik’s family back in Norway are trying to raise money, some of which would help Fort Severn cover the costs it has already incurred in the search.
He also thinks RCMP have not responded with sufficient resources quickly enough based on the harsh terrain and urgent nature of the search for Skjottelvik.
“It is treacherous, but somebody should go — somebody needs to go — and the RCMP are the ones who need to spearhead it,” Kakekaspan said.
