Preparing seal skins

Today has been a busy day talking with different people within the community and arranging meetings and talks.

Last night I had the pleasure of being invited along to a ladies adult education class. This was not your normal evening class but a class designed to promote traditional skills. This evening was learning how to treat and prepare seal skins before they can be made into clothing.

It was a fascinating opportunity to see a traditional skill being passed on. Two of the village elders were busy teaching this lengthy process to the younger women on the course. Once the skins have been scrapped and treated they can be dried and made into different items of clothing, from gloves to kamiks (traditional boots).

In the past seal skins were sold to over seas markets and brought in a extra source of income to Inuit communities. However, recently seal skins have fallen out of fashion with European markets which has had a massive impact on Inuit tradition and way of life. The village tannery closed and markets dried up, with that traditional skills, which make the Inuit who they are, have not been getting passed on.

Last nights evening course was a new scheme to bring back traditional skills within the community. Hopefully this will start a new source of income by selling beautiful items direct to tourist who visit during the warmer months.

Seals are traditional caught with nets under the ice which will be shown in a later dispatch this week.

Man and Sea

The ancient Inuit had a special bond with the sea. It provided them with most things needed for survival; meat for food, blubber for fuel, bones and ivory for tools and skins for clothing and shelter. To obtain these gifts, they perfected the skills of hunting whales, seals and walrus in open water and from the sea ice.

Arrived in Qikiqtarjuag

Today has been a very busy day.

Yesterday was spent having a much needed rest and adjusting to the fact that I was now heading out on my own. During the past two weeks I had got used to working within a team and as a team we over came many challenges and shared a great experience. Yesterday I had to wave goodbye and quickly realized that that part of the expedition was now over. I was more then a little sad to say goodbye.

This morning I awoke feeling fresh and determined to start my next part of the expedition. I started the day with my introduction and orientation of the Akshayuk Pass and Auyuittug National Park, ironically called the land that never melts.

I always enjoy this introduction as it helps highlight any issues I should know before entering the Park. It was also good to meet face to face with the parks personnel I have come to know via email.

It was also the induction for my team mate, flat Stanly from St Mawgan-in-Pydar Primary School near Newquay. Stanley is part of my school outreach project and is traveling with me to introduce himself to schools here on Baffin.

I quickly learnt that there is a number of new developments. First, that the park has under gone dramatic changes since my last trip due to the server flooding last year. Second, there seems to be a lot of surface water or thin ice which will need to be safely crossed.

Lastly and the most scary fact, is that polar bear sightings are very high at the moment. One has been recently seen in the pass and seems to have damaged one of the emergency shelters. A shelter which is a pretty sturdy cabin, what could it do to my tent? The park rangers are not sure if the bear has moved on or not.

Another fact I was told which really surprised me is that winds in the park can reach 175kmph! Last year I was stuck in my tent for 3 days due to high winds. Just 80kmph winds would add a massive wind chill factor to already cold temperatures.

This is a lot to think about and to plan for over the next week. I am now up at Qikiqtarjuag and looking forward to starting my film project tomorrow.

Last night of training

Well its now the final night of training and tomorrow is the end of the course. It has been a demanding and challenging time both physically and mentally.

Yesterday was a hard day covering over 10 nautical miles. To replenish our lost calories we had a tasty meal of pemmican. Pemmican is a frozen block of high calorie lamb stew which you boil and add noodles or rice. On an average day you burn about 5-6000 calories, about 5 large pizza's!

The day starts with a porridge breakfast and a number of hot drinks. You then break camp and walk for about 60 - 90 minutes and then have a 10 minute break to quickly eat and drink. This way you keep your body temperature constant and keep covering good distance. We then pitch tents about 16.30 and straight away start cooking.

It's with a sad thought that I write this surrounded by my team mates knowing that on Monday I set off on my next phase of my expedition. I will be spending a week at an Inuit village before setting out solo, for my 150 mile ski traverse.

Swimming Leads

Today's morning activities before the team split, was to go swimming. I know what your thinking .. Swimming! At - 40'c, you must be mad. Nope, more training.

If you want to do a north pole then you need to expect to get wet. There is no land under the arctic ice shelve, its just frozen sea water. Sometimes the ice breaks apart as well as collides together. These breaks of open water are called Leads and will have to be crossed.

There two different ways of doing this. Either raft your pulks together and paddle across or to go for a swim and pull your pulk behind you.

This was amazing fun swimming in deep dark sea water and leopard crawling over slushy surface ice. The reason I like the arctic environment to travel and live in is because it really is an art. To be able to navigate by the sun, to read the weather and snow conditions. To learn what equipment works and in what conditions, to make sure your eating enough calories and of course knowing how to over come obstacles safely.

Swimming leads is another essential skill and experience to be gained.


A challenging, physical and mental day .. Video to come ...

Frostbite

Day four now of our training and we have had a challenging time. Temperature today is - 28'c but with wind chill of 16kmph it feels like - 40'c.

Yesterday we covered 14km with full pulks which have slowly increased in weight. One of our team developed 2nd degree frostbite on his fingers. He didn't feel the change in his fingers but probably developed from having sweaty hands which soaked his gloves, which in turn then froze with the wind when we stopped. Its not serve and he will recover but will leave the team later today.

We are also losing another team member. Matty and our other instructor Eric Larsen, (savethepoles.com) will also be leaving us for 3 days. For 3 days we will be left to ourselves to put into practice what we have learnt.

Those that are left are in high spirits and are sad to lose our two team mates. I can't help but think how quickly frostbite developed and its really hit home that you have to look after your layering system and not sweat. As Matty keeps telling us, "you sweat, you die!" Food for thought as I start planning for my 2 week solo in a weeks time.

Tent life

A number of people have asked what happens when you make camp. So today's blog is all about arctic camp craft.

Once you have chosen a place to set up camp, I first get the tent out of my pulk and anchor one side of the tent down with a ski. This straight away stops it from blowing away. Next I go around unfolding the poles and anchoring the corners and guy ropes with ice screws, ski poles or stakes. Once up then snow is shoveled on to the snow skirts around the tent adding extra security. If the tent blows away then I would have no shelter from the cold. This is my most worrying time, especially in the wind.

The tent is now up and secure so I can start moving kit inside. Before I can get into my warm sleeping bag, I have to cook and rehydrate myself. The steam from boiling water would be disastrous if it got into my down clothing and sleeping bag. The moisture would just freeze and reduce the warmth from this essential kit. If I can't keep warm then the expedition is over.

Once I have eaten I can move my stove inside to dry kit and heat the tent. This is the only time in the day the temperature gets above 0'c and is a nice time to repair kit and write my blogs. After all this I can then get inside my sleeping bag. This normally takes a couple of hours and then I sleep and get ready for tomorrow.