GUIDES: Leon Chartrand, PhD, Frank Ebersole
ACTIVITIES: NOTE: In order to preserve the uniqueness of this experience and to minimize overuse impacts upon a sensitive arctic landscape, specific locations of our hikes and basecamp will only be given to the finalized roster and will not be listed here. Students will be expected to avoid tagging specific locations of activities upon their return to cellphone service and thereafter.
We arrive in Fairbanks, Alaska for an overnight. After “gearing up” and “fooding up”, we meet Wright Air Service the next day and take an air charter service flight to Bettles Airfield where we will spend the night.
From Bettles, we will fly using Brooks Range Aviation into Gates of the Arctic, the least visited of all national parks because of its location and that access is by floatplane only. Here, Brooks Range Aviation will drop us off at a lake along the North Slope of the Brooks Range somewhere 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.
Once Brooks Range Aviation drops us off by floatplane, we we will set up a basecamp, our home for the next seven days. From basecamp we will explore the vast arctic tundra in all directions via hiking with access by satellite phones only. We will fly fish for grayling and salmon and gather edible berries (learning to identify the different kinds). We will develop skills in communal survival techniques and live as a small community in one of the most remote places on Earth. We will have plenty of food and plenty of crystal clear glacial water to drink. There will be coffee, too! We can expect to see grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, wolverines, arctic fox, stoats, Dahl’s sheep, porcupine, Eagles, and migrating birds on this expedition. We will learn about the impacts of climate change and energy usage on caribou migrations in this region as well.
On the seventh day, weather permitting, Brooks Range Aviation will come to pick us up and return us to Bettles Airfield. From Bettles, we will return via Wright Air Service to Fairbanks for our last two nights, feeling a sense of great accomplishment.
FACULTY: Leon Chartrand, PhD; Kelly Swope, PhD
COURSES: 6 Total CORE Credits
PHIL 200 (Swope), 3 Credits, CORE PHIL Perspectives, Humanities Elective, Free Elective
THEO 388 (Chartrand), 3 Credits, CORE THEO 200 Perspectives, ERS, Env Sci/Studies, Peace Studies, Humanities Elective, Free Elective
PROGRAM FEE: $3,590 includes roundtrip airfare to Fairbanks, Wright Air Charter Service to Bettles Airfield, Brooks Range Aviation transport into Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, Permits to access GOTA, all lodging (in Fairbanks), group gear (including tents, sleeping pads, cooking gear, tarps, fishing equipment, ground transportation, meals, snacks, beverages.
TUITION: $3,342 ($557/Credit Hour) for 6 Total Credits (separate from Program Fee)
DEPOSIT: $400 Nonrefundable deposit secures student’s spot. Deposit deducted from Program Fee.
LIMIT: Maximum 12 Students
VALUE: Attempting this program on one’s own would cost ~$10,500/person. For THIS expedition, a student’s total cost is $3,590 (Program Fee) + $3,342 (6 Credits Tuition) = $6,932 total. For questions on payment plans, contact Xavier University’s Office of the Bursar. For questions on grants and scholarships, contact Xavier University’s Office of Financial Aid.
