David Arbeau home safe after snowshoe trip ends in calamity

David Arbeau had planned to spend his Christmas holiday snowshoeing alone from Yellowknife to Hay River over Great Slave Lake, a distance of nearly 200 kilometres.

Instead, he had to turn back just a few days in and arrived home with nine frozen fingers, five frozen toes and frostbite on his nose and face.

“The first few days were great actually,” he says. “Everything worked like I expected it to work. It was beautiful.”

• AUDIO | Click the link on the left to hear David Arbeau discussing his trip with Allison Devereaux on The Trailbreaker
• ​RELATED: David Arbeau launches solo snowshoe journey across Great Slave Lake

In three days, he snowshoed about 55 kilometres on the lake. He spent Christmas Day on a remote island with some canned ham and a roaring fire.

The next day, things took a bit of a turn.

“I got sick. Right after Christmas. Really really sick.”

Arbeau was throwing up repeatedly, unable to keep anything down.

He decided to set up camp and spotted an island off to the east. He made a fire and started boiling water, still unable to eat. He set up a lean-to about four or five feet away from the fire and went to sleep.

He awoke in the middle of the night to find the flames had crept over to where he was sleeping. He used a shovel to put out the fire, but two pairs of gloves were destroyed. He had a third, thinner pair that he’d planned just to use in camp, but knew right then that he’d have to turn back.

Heading home, he came across a giant pressure ridge, about 15 metres across, that he had to cross. He’d made the same passage on the way out, noticing how the ice would shift and crack. This time, it took him almost two hours: every time the ice moved under his feet, he would throw up.

He knew he could use some help, but says he could see the lights of Yellowknife and didn’t think he was that far out. Eventually he pulled out his Spot device to call for assistance, only to find it was frozen solid. So was his satellite phone.

Later that night, he flipped over the sled that he’d been towing with his supplies, laid a tarp under and over it, threw in his blanket and curled up to sleep.

“That was probably the scariest moment because I didn’t know if I was gonna wake up the next morning.”

'Well, I'm alive'

Arbeau woke up around 4:30 a.m. and thought, “Well, I’m alive,” then proceeded to look for his Spot device to send a signal for help. He found it, half an hour later, frozen to the back of his hood.

He made his way back to town slowly. At that point, he’d gone about three days without food.

Arbeau says he found a cabin near Yellowknife where he spent a night, then he made his way to the city and straight home, where he went straight to bed.

The next day he went to the hospital where a doctor told him he had nine frozen fingers, five frozen toes and frostbite on his nose and face. He still can’t feel much in one of his middle fingers.

On the day he left Yellowknife, temperature were about -14 C. The next day, they dropped to -27, plunging to -33 in the middle of his ordeal. 

But when asked how the trip was overall, he’s optimistic.  

“It was actually a lot of fun. I find hardship like that makes for a more interesting and challenging adventure. More rewarding, really.”

Arbeau still hopes to complete the trip, but perhaps not this winter.

He says everything would’ve worked perfectly if he hadn’t got sick.

“I shouldn’t have been out there when I was sick. I should’ve called someone right away.”