Click on image to enlarge.

Is Arctic Ice recovering?  Let us count the ways.  In just the last 13 days, Laptev Sea doubled its ice extent from 400k km2 to 870k km2.  That is 97% of its March maximum, leaving only 30k km2 to fill in absolutely.

Then we can observe the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) adding 200k km2 over the same time frame.

Click on image to enlarge.

The Laptev wall of ice is in place, and the Northwest Passage is full of ice.  The Arctic ocean is now effectively divided into two parts, Pacific and Atlantic sides, with refreezing underway independently.