Canadian Military Conquers the Arctic

It sounds like a quagmire to me.

"One night was so bad our escort planes couldn't land, and we were out of fuel and kerosene," said Maj. Chris Bergeron, 48, who led the expedition. "But they flew over the storm until there was an opening for our resupply."
Conditions at times were so poor that it took hours simply to pitch a tent, Maj. Bergeron added. "The last day, it was like someone was trying to stop us from achieving our goal."
Canada has always fiercely guarded its sovereignty over its Arctic archipelago the triangle of more than 36,500 islands that reaches from its Arctic coast almost to the North Pole. Some of the islands are no larger than a man could stand on, while others, like Baffin Island, are nearly the size of France.
But as higher global temperatures peel back the ice casing from the land and ice-choked waterways give way to lapping waves, what was once seen as a wasteland now offers a potential mineral bonanza including gold, diamonds, oil, emeralds and a long-sought northern sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific.