Discover 5 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Auyuittuq National Park (Canada). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Mount Asgard, Mount Thor, and Akshayuk Pass. Also, be sure to include Coronation Glacier in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Auyuittuq National Park (Nunavut).
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Mount Asgard
Peak in Canada. Mount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped, cylindrical, rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the Æsir in Norse mythology. Mount Asgard is perhaps the most famous of the Baffin Mountains.[1]
Mount Thor
Mountain in Canada. Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak, is a mountain with an elevation of 1,675 metres located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountain is located 46 km northeast of Pangnirtung and features Earth's greatest vertical drop of 1,250 m, with the cliff overhanging at an average angle of 15 degrees from vertical. Despite its remoteness, this feature makes the mountain a popular rock climbing site. Camping is allowed, with several designated campsites located throughout the length of Akshayuk Pass. For climbers looking to scale Mount Thor, there is an established campsite a few kilometres north of its base, complete with windbreaks and emergency shelters.
The mountain was named for Thor, the Norse thunder god.[2]
Akshayuk Pass
Mountain pass in Canada. Akshayuk Pass formerly Pangnirtung Pass is a mountain pass in the Baffin Mountains of Nunavut, Canada. It is found within Auyuittuq National Park. To the southwest is Mount Thor, about 17 km, and Pangnirtung, about 64 km and to the northeast is Qikiqtarjuaq, about 109 km.[3]
Coronation Glacier
Glacier in Canada. Coronation Glacier is a glacier on southeastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The glacier is on the northeast coast of Cumberland Peninsula and is an outlet glacier of the Penny Ice Cap. The Coronation Glacier lost its connection to the Elena Glacier between 1943 and 1949.[4]
Penny Ice Cap
Ice cap in Canada. The Penny Ice Cap, formerly Penny Icecap, is a 6,000 km2 ice cap in Auyuittuq National Park of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It forms a 2,000 m high barrier on the Cumberland Peninsula, an area of deep fjords and glaciated valleys. It is a remnant of the last ice age. During the mid-1990s, Canadian researchers studied the glacier's patterns of freezing and thawing over centuries by drilling ice core samples.
The ice cap has been thinning and its valley glaciers have been retreating in recent decades related to rising summer and winter air temperatures across the eastern Arctic.
The ice cap is named after Captain William Penny, a whaling captain from Aberdeen in Scotland who pioneered over-wintering with native Inuit at Cumberland Sound in order to be able to start whaling (in the 19th century) much earlier in the season. He was also engaged by Lady Franklin to search for John Franklin, lost with all his crew in the search for the Northwest Passage.[5]