CCGS Amundsen

I love the North. I’ve filmed some of the most breathtaking scenes and landscapes of my career in the Arctic and this mission with the Canadian Coast Guard and the ArcticNet Research Institute aboard the CCGS Amundsen delivered the goods with stunning images of endless ice fields and magical lighting. Beginning in the North Beaufort Sea and venturing into the Northwest Passage, we filmed as science teams performed ice experiments to better understand the effects of global warming. In these images I’m being harnessed into the Amundsen helicopter getting ready to shoot aerials of the ship as it was ice breaking. Tragically, pilot Daniel Dubé (here in the photo helping harness me in) along with two others, were killed a few years later when this helicopter crashed while flying ice reconnaissance. Events like this remind me that although there’s a great beauty to remote areas like the Arctic, there is great risk as well, and you need to be well aware of that relationship and factor it in with every move you make.

Tech Specs

Type: Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker and Arctic research vessel
Tonnage:  5,911 GT
Length:  322 ft 2 in
Beam:  64 ft
Draft:  23 ft 7 in
Ice Class:  CASPPR Arctic Class 3
Power:  6 x Bombardier M251F-16v9, 13,200 kW (17,700 hp)
Propulsion:  Diesel-electric; two shafts
Speed: 16 kt