The Arctic Ocean has seen a remarkable reduction in sea ice cover, sea ice thickness and sea ice age since the 1980s.  These changes are most pronounced in the Beaufort Sea with this region having undergone a  recent transition from a multi-year sea ice production site resulting from containment within the Beaufort Gyre to one where during the summer, there is over 50% open water.  Here we show that during the summers of 2020 and 2021, the Beaufort Sea was characterized by anomalously large extents of old and thick sea ice.  Furthermore, we show that the sea ice motion and atmospheric circulation throughout the Arctic were very different in the months leading up to the summer maxima.  In particular, the winter and spring of 2020 were characterized by cyclonic ice motion and surface winds across the Arctic Ocean that were the result of low sea-level pressure associated with the collapse of the Beaufort High. This reversal of the normal anti-cyclonic ice motion transported sea ice from the Chukchi Sea into the Beaufort Sea and then northwards into the Last Ice Area. The conditions leading up to summer 2021 were markedly different.  In particular, there was an enhanced anti-cyclonic ice motion and winds across the Arctic during the fall of 2020 and the winter of 2021 that were associated with positive sea-level pressure anomalies and a stronger Beaufort High.  This enhanced anti-cyclonic circulation lead to an increase in the transport of thick multi-year sea ice into the Beaufort Sea from the Last Ice Area. The contrasting circulation anomalies that both lead to maxima in Beaufort Sea ice conditions provides additional support for the important role that variability in the Beaufort High plays in the climate of the western Arctic.  Furthermore, the observed variability in ice motion and conditions may become the norm as thinning Arctic sea ice leads to enhanced mobility resulting in additional impacts on already stressed regional ecosystems.