Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sliding at Cemetary Hill

Last Sunday, we went sliding with Marty and Ellen at the only hill in town. It's not a big hill but it was fun. We tried to recruit more people but they were all busy for some strange reason.


Laura getting pulled around in a toboggan by Kayuq and Toby. The dogs love pulling people around.


Look how happy she looks!


I got more speed when I was sliding head first down the hill.


Marty getting pulled around by the dogs.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

10th Annual Nunavut Quest

Monday afternoon was the beginning of the dog sled races. They left Igloolik around noon on their way to the finish line in Arctic Bay. The trip will last about 10 days with each team travelling about 50 kilometres between camps. There are over $60,000 dollars in prizes with the winner taking $15,000.


All of the community showed up on the ice to see the start of the dog sled race.


A musher standing beside his dogs with a whip to keep them relaxed before the race begins.


Two young boys from town holding up the starting gate sign.


An elder watching the crowd before the race while enjoying his trusty corncob pipe.


A team relaxing before the race. The female (standing up) gave birth to a litter last week and is already racing.


Joey, a hockey player on my team, is anxiously awaiting for his race to start. Joey is also the musher who brought my parents on a dog sled ride.


A team taking off from the starting gate. Sometimes, one dog would fall and get dragged for a few feet before regaining his balance.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Arctcirq performance

Last night, Laura and I went to see Arctcirq. It is a circus troup from town that has members from the highschool. This circus travels all around the world performing and demonstrating Inuit traditions to other cultures. The storyline is based on traditional Inuit situations. This year, the group travelled to visit the Tuareg in the Sahara desert. Next month, they are heading to Europe to perform.


This scenario of the performance involved four hunters being approached by a polar bear inside their tent. The polar bear suit was amazing.


Troup leader Guillaume hosting up one of the Inuit performers.


Another feat of strength by both individuals.


One of the performers using the silks. He twirled and fell all the way down these silks, always stopping right before the floor.


His final descent down the silks before retiring for the night.


Another display of balance and power.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Hamlet Day: April 1st

It is a holiday today in Igloolik and it is also the day that Nunavut became it's own territory. We have the day off of school today and there were some activities organized by the community.


The was a seal carcass brought to the ice and people could eat as much as they wanted.


One of the locals cutting up the meat.


People eating the raw seal. Pay special attention to the lady in the white coat. That's not ketchup!


There was also a 2-snowmobile parade. Apparently, somebody forgot to advertise so only 2 snowmachines showed up. This is Mary, a teacher at our school, with her sled all decorated.

Trip to Avaajaa

On the weekend, we took advantage of the "warm" weather and went for a snowmobile ride to Avaajaa. It is an island about a 1 hour drive away from Igloolik.


The group is getting ready to go. Laura and I, Marty and Ellen, Dan and Kim, Kayuq and Toby (the two dogs), Larissa and Paul all went on the trip.


About half of the way there, we stopped for a break to let the dogs stretch their legs.


That is when we noticed that Dan's snowmachine was on fire! Marty and Dan quickly put out the fire before it spread.


Here I am enlarging the hole in the side of his sled so that the burned plastic would no longer touch his muffler.


Laura and Marty posing for a pic.


The group photo. This was the best effort we could make to get the dogs to settle down.


Laura and myself in front of a huge piece of ice that had broken upwards.


Our principal Paul posing for a pic while we were climbing up the mountain. You can just see our snowmachines in the background.


The long trek up the mountain, K2 style!


Nice to see some mountains for once!


A little pool of melted/slushy salt water.


Laura posing with Kayuq and Toby. The dogs are much bigger now that they are older. They are now trained to pull Dan and Kim around town on skis.