Another blizzard finds the dog teams out on the Ivakkak trail


Ivakkak course de traîneau à chien edition 2010 journee white out

After only one day out on the Ivakkak trail, another blizzard found the dog teams participating in 2009 edition of the race this morning. It seems as if wherever they go, the bad weather follows them. Although they are stranded out on the trail, the men and their dogs are far from being in danger, as they are shacked up comfortably in a few cabins and canvas tents, 65 kilometres (40 miles) away from their starting point of Inukjuak, and another 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Puvirnituq, the next village on their itinerary. When the race officials called off the departure scheduled for 10:00 AM this morning, some of them went right back to their sleeping bags, taking this opportunity to rest up and conserve their energy. Near noon, the visibility had improved a bit, but it was still too windy for the dog teams to take a chance out, as only light snow would have soon found them in a complete whiteout, not to mention that their sleds and equipment were completely snowed in, and they would have only been ready to head out late afternoon, not able to cover much distance before dark. But at the end of the day, although it was still quite windy, the sun was shining through, making everybody hopeful for the race to resume tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the racers and support crew enjoyed their day playing cards and listening to the entertaining stories of Lucassie Echalook, a knowledgeable elder and apparently great storyteller from Inukjuak, accompanying them as part of the safety patrol on snowmobile. The race officials also took this day off as an opportunity to shed some light on how to use the SPOT tracking devices each team carries, so that they will know what to do in case they ever need help when on their own out on the trail, and for the racers to be able to send out a signal at all times, so that the interested public can track their actual progression on the Ivakkak 2009 trail from the link on the homepage of the race’s official website.

_______________________________

More news to come tomorrow…

Search

RSS

Subscribe now!

The return of the Inuit Dogs

At the end of the last century, the pure-breed Husky dog was nearly extinct in Nunavik. Nowadays, Inuit people mostly travel by snowmobile. Yet, the memories of another time when dogs were man’s most reliable partners are not so far behind. Long known to be man’s best friend, dogs were once essential to the survival of Inuit in the merciless arctic environment. In fact, only a few decades ago, sled dogs were a foundation of the Inuit nomadic way of life.

These brave allies were central to seasonal Inuit movements, especially in the winter.Strongly built with a thick fur, huskies can withstand bitterly cold temperatures and are capable of lugging their share of supplies during long hours travelling across the endless tundra. Harnessed to a sled or simply keeping pace alongside their master, dogs made it possible for Inuit to cover great distances in their search for game to provide for their families, and to transport heavy loads (...).

Read more...