Members of 41 Canadian Brigade Group (CBG) held a training exercise for an ice rescue on Friday (February 20) as the army deployed for "Operation Nanook-Nunalivut", an annual series of drills designed to demonstrate the military's ability to defend the country's section of the Arctic.

The drill was held in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and intended to train different parts of the Canadian military to operate in the Arctic.

The exercises included practising what would happen if troops fall through ice while on patrol, and going through drills to recover themselves.

Troops experienced temperatures that went down to -50 degrees Celsius with a wind chill on some nights, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Bryn Wright, Task Force Grizzly Commander and Commanding Officer of The Loyal Edmonton Regiment.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA (FEBRUARY 20, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF TRAINING UNDER WAY IN ICY LANDSCAPE

2. ICY WATER

3. MILITARY MEMBER STANDING IN FRONT OF FROZEN LAKE WITH PIECE OF ICE CUT AWAY TO EXPOSE WATER, JUMPING IN AND MOVING BACK TO WATER'S EDGE

4. MILITARY MEMBER CRAWLING OUT OF WATER AND STANDING UP, PERSONNEL RUNNING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CORPORAL KAMERON NAYANG ZINCHE, SAYING:

"Just jumped into this cold water after spending the week cutting it. It's about 4 degrees (Celsius), and it's definitely a shocker. Once you get in, you think you'll be alright, you think you'll manage your breathing and everything, but you're in there, the cold hits you and you realise it's really cold, it's not just cold. But no, you kinda just like handle your breathing and come on out, and just move on, I guess."

6. MILITARY MEMBER SHOUTING FROM WATER

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERGEANT ALANNAH WILLIAMS, SAYING:

"I think the hardest part is initially before the jump, that moment that it takes, where you're really standing on the edge and having to think about everything that you're about to do."

8. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BRYN WRIGHT, TASK FORCE GRIZZLY COMMANDER AND COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE LOYAL EDMONTON REGIMENT, WALKING TO PERSONNEL WHO ATTACHES ROPE TO HIM

9. WRIGHT STANDING AT WATER'S EDGE, WRIGHT JUMPING IN

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TASK FORCE GRIZZLY COMMANDER AND COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE LOYAL EDMONTON REGIMENT, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BRYN WRIGHT, SAYING:

"All in all, it was really fantastic to bring together the troops and really what we wanted to do is, we hadn't done a lot of Arctic operations in the last few years, and to come up here and rebuild. We've got a lot of new troops, as the army tries to grow, and bringing them out here, training them, and doing it within a safe environment where we actually learned. And next time, maybe we can go further north, maybe we can push out further and project somewhere else."

11. PERSONNEL PICKING UP PRETEND "CASUALTY" AND WALKING / PERSONNEL PUTTING "CASUALTY" ON STRETCHER ATTACHED TO SNOWMOBILE / RIDER ON SNOWMOBILE DRIVING OFF WITH STRETCHER AND MEDIC BEHIND