Twenty-six soldiers from the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment in Thunder Bay are thinking warm thoughts this week, while filling their duffel bags with plenty of fleece sweaters, and heavy wool socks.

On Friday, they're heading to Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to participate in Exercise Arctic Ram.

Captain George Romick will be part of Task Force Headquarters in Yellowknife, NWT during Exercise Arctic Ram. (Amy Hadley/ CBC) The mission scenario is to recover a satellite which has crashed near Resolute Bay, said Captain George Romick of Thunder Bay, who will be part of the Task Force Headquarters in Yellowknife.

However, the bigger objective is to train soldiers in Arctic survival and navigation.

The troops conduct regular winter training exercises in Manitoba, and northern Ontario, where it's certainly cold and snowy, but there are still trees, and shelter and it's an area that is familiar to most, said Romick.

'No trees.. barren landscape'

That won't be the case in Exercise Arctic Ram.

"There is no trees. It's barren landscape. It gets down to possibly -50 to -55 below zero. You have whiteout conditions, and we also have Inuit people with our company to support us there, because they're the ones who know the Arctic and they're the ones that will help us with our training on how to survive better in the Arctic as per their ways of living up there," said Romick.

"Keep moving those little fingers and toes, and you should be good to go - Master Corporal Taylor Crozier

Challenges like those are exciting for Master Corporal Taylor Crozier, also of Thunder Bay, who said he's excited to get any helpful hints he can on how to stay warm in the intense cold.

"Keep every body part covered. Keep moving, and keep moving those little fingers and toes, and you should be good to go," he said.

But Crozier said he is also looking forward to learning new skills, since part of the Arctic training exercise involves a mock search and rescue drill.

"It's going to be highly valuable, especially bringing back what I'm going to learn to my new troops, teaching them the tricks that I'll learn to keep warm and how to survive in the winter environment," said Crozier.

Soldiers from Thunder Bay, are seen learning how to pack a qamutik sled during Exercise First Run in Gimli Manitoba, January 15-17 2016. The sled will carry all the equipment they need to survive, including tents, food, stoves, lanterns and all personnel winter clothing, during Exercise Arctic Ram February 12-20 2016. Exercise First Run was the preparation exercise for Exercise Arctic Ram in the Arctic. (Captain George Romick/Lake Superior Scottish Regiment) The military exercise is part of the Canadian government's Arctic sovereignty plan, and soldiers who have completed the training, may be called upon if there was an emergency, or incident in the Arctic, said Romick.

The exercise runs from February 12 to February 20.

It begins with troops from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry parachuting into Resolute Bay and will be followed by other soldiers, including those from the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, moving to the wreckage site overland to relieve the jump unit, said Romick.

The exercise will expand west into Intrepid Bay and north near the former Polaris Mine site on Little Cornwallis Island.