up here: The Hungriest Holiday

ByJennifer Kingsley
up here cover, December 2013

“During a grim yuletide on Great Slave Lake, a team of starving explorers yearn for the gift of survival.”

This is the story of George Back’s first Christmas as commander of an Arctic expedition. Appointed by the British Admiralty, he was tasked with finding the Thlew-ee-choh, now called the Back River, and following it to the Arctic coast. His mission was to find some missing countrymen and to explore a blank on British maps.

The fall of 1833 was surprisingly warm. The caribou changed their migration pattern. Famine ensued. Read on to discover their story of survival. uphere_theHungriestHoliday[pdf]

This story appeared in the Christmas edition of up here magazine in December of 2013.

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