Some of you have Snowmobiles I bet. And I also bet some of you have wished that you could still use it in May. For us southerners living in the arctic, the fun doesn't really start until May, when temperatures improve and the wind doesn't try to kill you anymore. I mean, it's still trying, but sometimes there is almost a warmth to the breeze. Something very refreshing after we enter our 7th month of below freezing temperatures. In the wilds of the North we still have snow to spare. Soft blankets line the bottoms of valleys providing an excellent terrain to "go for a rip."
Avvajja island is a place of cultural significance to the Inuit that call this landscape home. I cannot speak too much as to the traditional use of these hilly islands, but I can speak to two modern uses, both of which I will be bringing here to show you at a later date. The first and most important use of this area that you will find labeled Coxe Islands on google maps, is Fresh Water. Inuit Elders prefer not to drink chemically treated water that we have in our houses, and instead travel to a freshwater lake on the island to cut huge chunks of frozen water out of the lake. The ice in these lakes freezes so unbelievably clear that you can hold a very thick piece up and easily make out your fingerprints on the other side. Ice Carvers would kill to have access to this ice lol.
The other use is a recreational area to have fun in a more traditional way. Tobogganing down hills, playing Inuit games such as high kicking or leg wrestling. And most importantly, sitting down to share a meal and listen to the elders tell stories of a time, not forgotten. Yeah, you expected me to say long forgotten, but I didn't! Because there are still elders alive that were born in stone and sod houses, raised on dog sleds made from bones instead of wood, standing above a seal hole for a dozen hours, motionless, patiently waiting. And then, what was that? Did you just see something move in your peripherals? Was that a Polar Bear? No. The dogs would be barking if it was. Maybe it was an Ircinrraaq, one of the Little People of the Arctic, perhaps?
They have some of the coolest mythical monsters. But I digress, this is a blog about my ride to the island.
I left you a video below to showcase the trip across the ocean to Avvajja Island. I am a prairie boy through and through, and that puts an awful fear in me when it comes to ice that moves up and down. I don't like it. It's weird. Tides, I can get. Tides with a layer of ice on top....
shivers to himself
I always have this fear that I'm going to drive across a section of fractured ice that will tip over and swallow me into the abyss. With the ice, then righting itself, trapping me below. I don't think it's a totally irrational fear. So I tend to drive a little faster than necessary across the ocean. Turns out my machine can do 130 km/h and it was still accelerating before I had to let off for a turn. Polar Bears can run 60 km/h. So, that's good to know.
Here is the approximate path that I took in the video. Finger drawn, so not all that accurate, but good enough to get my point across. I really like maps, so when I am sending my friend photographs I will often send them the accompanying location from my shoot. I do not use GPS or anything to figure this stuff out as I find that to be cheating and I'd much rather study the topography of the terrain to make educated guesses as to where I am. It comes in handy this far north when GPS can be quite a bit off. We almost lost a friend in a blizzard because her GPS was lying to her and leading her out towards what is called the flow edge. The new, thin ice at the edge of open water where Inuit go to hunt for seals. She was with some military ranger expedition, got separated from the group and thankfully got stuck in a snowdrift, preventing her from driving into the ocean. There's an article on CBC and a whole military investigation now. Oops.
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