From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Former Yukon Quest champ and Iditarod veteran Sebastian Schnuelle was in Churchill, Manitoba, this month, and boy does he have some photos to share.

Located on the shore of the Hudson Bay, Churchill is famous for polar bear viewing. Schnuelle shows why, in these photos made Nov. 11 through Nov. 13 and posted here with permission.

All pictures and video courtesy of Schnuelle, who helped us cover the 2012 Iditarod by driving a snowmachine the length the trail. Check out some of his all-access race photos here

"These are the first three bears. There is an old wheat dump, where they feed on the fermented wheat.
Here they are having an afternoon nap and some sparring."

"Old fort."

"The ship is the Ithaca which wrecked in 1959."

"Sea ice forming."

"Churchill at sunset, from Heli."

"The Northern Lights shots where on the same night as the lights lit up over Alaska on the 13th. It was neat to think, that this was the night where the bears headed out in mass exodus onto the ice.

"The next morning, except for a few stragglers, all there was left was tracks in the snow."