'When you're good to the land, the land is good to you.'

Cold winds blew as Andrew Alainga, a Grade 8 student from Aqsarniit Middle School, shuffled forward on his skis. It was day one of a 12-day journey to Kimmirut, and well over 100 kilometres lay ahead of him. He was already exhausted.

So when a passing snowmobiler stopped, he saw it as a blessing.

"Can I get a ride?" he asked.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Ahead."

No such luck.

Meanwhile, Maleetoo Fortier lay collapsed nearby. He was so tired, he decided to take a 20-minute nap while stragglers in his group, comprised of six students and three adults, caught up.

But by the trip's end, these same students would be ready to do the journey all over again.

They learned how to set up camp, tie knots, and even got lessons on how to build an iglu from Moosa and Pitsula Akavak, two guides who followed the group with a snowmobile and what was possibly the world's largest qamotik, fully loaded with camping supplies.

Moosa Akavak first travelled the trail from Iqaluit to Kimmirut with his family by dogsled when he was 14. Now 56, he's done the route hundreds of times, and shared his insights with students.

The Akavaks once walked the route, in the spring of 1997, but had never seen it skiied before. They were impressed.

Over the course of the trip, the Akavaks watched as the students gained confidence and helped each other through challenges. By the trip's end, everyone glowed with pride.

"You could tell from their faces, they did something that they probably would never do again," says Pitsula.

Leading the expedition was Maxine Carroll and Mitch Leblanc, who hail from Quebec. They‘ve taught cross-country skiing to students at Aqsarniit each spring for several years now, under the name "SKIqaluit," but no trip to date has been this ambitious.

The goal, Carroll says, is to encourage students to follow a healthy lifestyle and learn to love the outdoors.

The students had no trouble appreciating the beauty of the frozen Soper River, which glistens with turquoise-like veins of lapis lazuli. Avoiding junk food was more difficult.

In mid-trip, a hunter passed on a snowmobile and delivered Jacob Kunuk-Blackburn a package of mail from his mom, including a much-celebrated two-litre bottle of pop.

And while the kids enjoyed arctic char, caribou and whole-wheat pasta along the way, the first stop upon arrival in Kimmirut was the Co-op Store, where everyone loaded up on pop and chips.

Everyone helped set up and tear down camp each day, as well as cook and clean. While some days left the students exhausted, after covering more than 10 kilometres, the least popular task was not trudging up steep hills, but washing the dishes.

Once the group reached Kimmirut, they went ice-fishing. Many students caught their first cod.

By then, the ski guides and the Akavaks all noticed a dramatic change in the students. They bonded with each other, opened up and became more self-confident.

"It's like a medicine. When you're good to the land, the land is good to you," says Moosa, who, with Pitsula, has taken children out on land trips for several years now.

"It makes you feel good, when you help someone like this."

Students raised money for the trip over the last school year with bake and clothing sales, with the help of teacher Maxine Mesher, who also joined the group during the trip. The money was largely to pay for the flight back to Iqaluit.

Carroll also noticed big changes in one skiier, and "it wasn't just a technical thing," she says. "It was a change in his frame of mind."

She hopes the trip will remind students, "It's important to take steps every day towards your dreams."