Storyline: Dogsledding Nunavut Apr. 2000
Sunday April 23 2000—9:45 p.m.
My seatmate on the plane was one of my co-adventurers. Bob was retired and was spending what seemed to be most of his time on adventure trips. He was an accomplished paddler and had canoed or kayaked in many wonderful, remote places. He’d also traveled by foot in places as readily accessible as Antarctica, and had dogsledded in western Canada. He introduced himself to me as I read the NorthWinds instructions on driving dogs.
We stopped in Kuujjuak for an hour. I deplaned to enjoy the crisp -14° air and lightly blowing snow. Took a couple of pictures to prove I was in Nunavik for the first time.
At Iqaluit airport, we were met by our guide Denise Martin and co-adventurer Patricia, a resident of Iqaluit and CBC reporter. Also joining us from our flight was Shawn, owner of a Canoe and Outdoor Expeditions company in Ontario.
Denise drove us the short distance to the hotel (In this town of 5,000, everything is fairly close) and after Bob, Shawn and I checked in (Shawn and I were rooming together), gave us a presentation/demonstration on clothing systems. This was followed by us arranging our clothing on our beds for Denise to check out. We started with thin polypro sock liners, followed by a vapour barrier liner (plastic bags supplied by NorthWinds) to keep our perspiration from getting our warm sock layer and felt boot liners wet. High-wicking long underwear top and bottom formed the first body layer. Fleece pants (medium or heavy weight) and a fleece top followed. NorthWinds provided a non-waterproof, highly breathable anorak for a wind layer. The company also provided a fleece neck warmer. Waterproof and high-wicking jackets are useless in the arctic as they retain moisture which can freeze, with potentially devastating results. I’d brought a selection of headwear, from fleece headband through light toque, balaclava to fleece-lined winter cap with neck and ear flaps. For the test run, Denise wanted me to dress in my warmest combination. Too hot, as I expected – I am always on the warm side – but Denise still looked a little concerned when I started delayering later.
Then it was back to NorthWinds for lunch with co-owner Paul Landry, who had returned the previous night from his first trip to the North Pole. Lunch was smoked arctic char, paté, fruit and crackers. Mmmm.
We discussed the adventure to come and enjoyed Paul and Denise talking modestly about their respective accomplishments. It’s all so matter-of-fact for them. Then it was back out to prepare
the qomatiqs and push them down to the dog yards. The qomatiqs are about 10’ long and 2½’ wide. The runners are laminated wood with plastic gliders that run from end to end. They are rocker-shaped to enable turning on the snow. The plastic is similar to ski bases. Napu, or cross boards, are lashed between the runners and then covered with a thin layer of plywood. Two milk boxes are attached to the front of the plywood deck. The boxes have wooden lids that are lashed to the box at the front, and kept in position with a bungee cord. There are handlebars at the rear, similar to those seen on most pictures we see of dogsleds, although they are not used on Inuit qomatiqs. There are no nails or screws to come loose on the structural parts of the qomatiq. For today we lashed caribou skins over the plywood deck, and hung our handlebar bags (and my camera bag) on the crossbar, then pushed the surprisingly light qomatiqs down from the NorthWinds driveway onto the sea ice into the dog yards. The dogs saw us coming and set up an incredible barking and howling as they jumped and strained at the end of their chains. They were obviously looking forward to getting moving.
Patricia and I were to take one team; Bob and Shawn the other. For the practice run, Denise went out with Patricia and me, and Paul Landry, went with Shawn and Bob. We pulled a set of traces out of its box and were shown how to lay them out fan style. This is traditional Eastern Arctic style where there are no trees to snag…and is totally different from the tandem style of one main trace with pairs of dogs harnessed that most people have seen on TV or at the movies. The traces are attached to the pituq (a webbing strap attached to the qomatiq) by a locking carabiner. The harnesses, which were already linked to the traces, are attached through a loop in the end of the trace by an ingenious crescent-shaped toggle, and are easily detachable. The traces were colour-coded by length with the lead dog on a single yellow line. Behind are pairs of red, blue and purple. In all we had a seven-dog team. Denise gave us a ‘cheat sheet’ with our dogs’ names listed by position. It would be a help, but many of the dogs looked alike. They were all mid-sized, about 60-80lb (27-32kg) balls of muscle and energy. From a distance, they looked somewhat wolf-like, and their howls were eerily akin to their distant cousins’. There are differences in coat, however, for some of the dogs. I assumed I’d get to know them by name when we’d been on the trail for a while.
Before harnessing the dogs, the brakes had to be set. There were three braking systems on the qomatiq. (Did someone say that these dogs are strong?). Snowmobile fan belts were placed over the front of the runners. These were to be used on fast downhills on the trail to prevent the qomatiq from overrunning the dogs. Then there was a two-pronged snow hook that looked like a grappling hook. It was attached via a short rope to a loop over the pituq, and was to be set by placing it over the side and standing on it. At the back of each runner was a stand-on pad that dug into the snow, and which had been added that year to help the second passenger steer and brake.
Harnessing for the first time was a hoot. First, Denise showed us how to orient the harness so that it slipped easily over the dog’s head before pulling each leg through a loop in the harness. It was that easy. Sure. Then we got to try it ourselves with an 80lb bouncing ball of excited fur. The trick was to get the dog between your legs and squeeze gently just ahead of the dog’s hips. This theoretically left the head, shoulders and forepaws of the dog free for harnessing. The dog, meanwhile, was trying to get in position to lick you to death. As we slowly got Heather, Wilson, Oats, Zeus, Zazu, Qimiq and Savik harnessed, the challenge was to keep them “down”. To these dogs, “down” means sit or lie. If the dogs aren’t down, they may just start running. They want to run NOW, so Denise controlled them while Patricia and I struggled with the harnesses.
It’s still -18° this afternoon, sunny and a little breezy. Perfect conditions.
To start off, Denise drove from the front. Patricia stood at the back, and I prepared to grin and take pictures. Denise had the belt brakes off and stowed under the bungees on top of the front boxes, waved to Paul, who waved back as a signal that he was ready to hold his team back while we started. The dogs were up, the hook released and as Denise said, “Ready…Hike!” we were off and running. After the initial ten-second sprint, the dogs settled in to a steady trot. The trail we were on was the main snowmobile trail south from Iqaluit. Once out of the harbour, the trail branched southeast towards the floe edge beyond the mouth of Frobisher Bay, or southwest—the route we’d take the following morning — across the bay to the Meta Incognita and on towards Kimmirut.
Then it was my turn to drive. With some patient coaching from Denise, I started to get the hang of it. And yes, the dogs looked back at me a little confused at first. We practiced stopping and all the dogs come back to the qomatiq for a look. This was a definite no no, so we spent some time getting them “down”. After we got going again, Patricia and I changed places on the fly. Patricia ran up one side of the qomatiq while I dropped back along the other. Patricia ended up on her back behind the retreating sled. The big Sorel boots we were wearing were hard to get used to!
All too soon we were back unharnessing the dogs (another circus), feeding them and heading back to NorthWinds for a debrief and super slide show on the all-woman North Pole trip mentioned in my previous post. Wow. Then it was back to the hotel for chow and a chat before bed.
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