Quttinirpaaq National Park
Quttinirpaaq - a national park located in northern Canada, it is the second largest reserve in this country and occupies 37,775 km2. The reserve acquired its name in 2001, which means « The peak of the world ». Kutinirpaak is in line for inclusion in UNESCO registries. A significant proportion of the park is located on Elsmir Island, which is 750 km. from the North Pole. The reserve covers the segment of the Arctic Ocean, as well as rivers, lakes, bays, islands.
From the southwestern outskirts of Prince Patrick Island to northern Greenland, a huge mountain range with the name Arctic Cordillera stretches.
The large half of Kuttignirpaak Park – are mountains with the name of the Mountains of the Earth of Grant, their height reaches 1100 meters, on them are inveterate glaciers. Close 36% of the park flies under glaciers, which are 125 thousand years old. Nunataki – are also common here, which protrude over the glacial cover that is on the ground, their height basically reaches 2500 meters. The highest point of the nanotack and one among the northern peaks of the world is considered to be McClintock with a peak of Barbo, 2616 m high.
The climate of the park is very harsh. It is characterized by cold winters with record low temperatures at a thermometer in Canada. The winds in the park area are not very strong, but the change in weather changes very sharply. From late autumn to the end of winter, polar nights last here. Summer is warm, but not throughout the park, the temperature is distributed equally, near Lake Heisen it is usually warmer. From late spring to late summer – the polar day period. Snow may fall at any time of the year, and visibility not for one day may disappear.
There are no conditions for the diversity of flora in the park. Low temperature indicators even in summer make it possible to develop only such plant species as lichens, fly-shaped, vascular. On non-cleared territory, you can find polar poppy and stone-breaking, as well as the highest plant of the park – willow Arctic, which is the main food of animals.
The animals of the Kuttignirpaak National Park include mammals, both marine and terrestrial. On the coasts of the park there is a hare of marine, walruses, ringed seal. Flocks of wolves roam the land, the extraction of which are reindeer and polar hares. On large ice floes, polar bears love to get their food from the sea. Here is the dominant marine floating bird species. In the lakes, in the park, there is only one species of fish - the Arctic char, which feeds on itself.
It is possible to visit the park, but from 50 to 200 people are recruited such tourists a year. This is due to the lack of tourist routes in the Kuttinirpaak Nature Reserve and the low cost of such an expedition. The most favorable time for tourist visits is in July and August.
