Warning: This post contains images
that some viewers may find graphic.
I
was unable to participate in this year’s Fishing Derby over the Victoria Day
Weekend because I had to prepare final exams.
I should have gotten them done ahead of time but I guess procrastination
got in the way. Many people left town on
their skidoos & qamutiks, eager & excited to get out on the land and
fish for arctic char. I wished I could
have joined them. The derby officially
began on Saturday, May 19, but most people left on the Friday to get good spots
at the designated fishing lakes. You
were allowed to fish around town but I didn’t have time to jig either. There’s always next year.
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| Arctic Impact players. |
ArcThe
awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, May 23 at the local community hall. The place was packed. The community was also celebrating its local
hockey team, Arctic Bay Impact, for winning the Qamutik Cup this year. This was the second time in a row they won
the tournament between Pond Inlet & Igloolik. The Impact team logo is based on the Edmonton
Oilers. The team was publicly
congratulated and given grey hoodies. I
sat at the back of the hall and listened to the organizers announce the winners
of the derby. There were several
categories, the most popular being the longest fish caught at Ikpikituarjuk
Lake. All the lucky winners received
cash prizes. Unfortunately, there was no
skidoo grand prize like last year.
3045
Army Corps held its annual spring Field Training eXercise (FTX) on the last
weekend of May. Operation Spring Fix 18
officially began on the evening of May 25.
Eleven cadets, civilian volunteers, rangers, and I, loaded four qamutiks
(sleds) full of supplies & equipment, and left the town of Arctic Bay
pulling the sleds with four skidoos. Our
destination was Ijuyuarjuk, a landlocked lake 70km to the south. We had camped there before in 2016. Everyone was excited including me. I hadn’t done any travelling outside the
community so I was really looking forward to being out on the land for a
weekend.
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| Tea Time |
The
two Rangers led the way. We drove at a
steady 50km/h, making sure the qamutiks didn’t flip over. My mind quickly drowned the sound of my loud
two-stroke skidoo engine as the convoy snaked its way along the frozen ice. An overcast of low grey clouds hovered above
us for the first leg of the journey. The
halfway mark was a well-known crack in the ice that always forms near Levasseur
Inlet. Everyone from Arctic Bay usually
stops there to have tea & go to the washroom. I stuck to hot chocolate & granola bars while
the cadets munched on Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs). I refueled my skidoo while the cadets played frisbee. We were back on the main trail after a
45-minute tea break.
The
clouds began to break apart as the convoy continued driving south. Even though the sun peeked through the
clouds, the weather was still cold.
After a while, I let a senior cadet drive my skidoo the rest of the way
because my fingers felt frostbitten underneath my Canada Goose gloves. (They
weren’t). We arrived at Ijuyuarjuk at
10:30pm.
We
found the old camping spot from 2016 and immediately went to work setting up the
tents. Three tents were set up: one for
male cadets, one for female cadets, and the third was the command tent/mess
tent. All the food and emergency
supplies went into the command tent. The
cadets took their sleeping bags & personal belongings into their respective
tents. The rangers set up their own
tents. I filled up the gas & oil
tanks in my skidoo so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it the next day. By the time the camp was set up, the time was
11pm. What was strange was that the sun
was still out and shining brightly. The
land of the midnight sun. The cadets
were dismissed to their tents to get much needed rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
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| 11pm and the sun is still out. |
Breakfast
consisted of MREs and Canadian-made Individual Meal Packages (IMPs). Most of the cadets went with the MREs but I
felt patriotic and went with the IMPs. I
always liked the Canadian rations better.
The
seal hunt happened later in the morning.
The convoy consisted of three skidoos and two qamutiks. The cadets piled into the qamutik that had an
iglutak (box hut) on it while I rode solo on my skidoo. I turned on the Tracker feature on my Garmin
GPS to record the route we would create.
The Rangers led the way and watched our backs.
The
seal hunt mostly consisted of driving around on the open ice and stopping to
look for seal and seal holes. At first,
luck was not on our side. We spotted
several seals but they either escaped down the hole before a shot was taken, or
managed to slid down the hole after a shot was fired. Finally, our luck changed and one of the
rangers managed to catch a baby seal.
The cadets tied it to the open qamutik and the hunt continued. Blood trickled out of the seal, creating a
red line along the white ice.
Several
cadets & I stood guard over a few seal holes, holding niksiks, and waiting
for any seals to pop out to breathe. I
pondered what would I do if a seal did surface for air? Would I immediately hook it or pause to take
a photograph? Unfortunately, no seals surfaced. We continued driving around for some time
before returning to camp for lunch. The
lead ranger cut open the seal while the MREs cooked on the Coleman stoves. The cadets took turns eating the seal. I tried some.
I wasn’t a fan of the liver but the “regular” meat was alright.
The
cadets & I went hiking up the nearby hills after lunch. A ranger came with us, packing a .303 rifle
in case we came across any polar bears.
I had my trusty machete with me in case I had to go down swinging. The main goals of our hike were: to find the
inukshuk we built in 2016, build a new inukshuk, and slide down the same hillside
as we did two years prior.
Progress
was slow but we made our up a rocky hill, retracing our steps of the previous
hike. I made the unfortunate mistake of not marking
the 2016 inukshuk on my GPS. I would
mark the spot this time, that is, if we found the rock formation. I stopped several times during our ascent to
take pictures of the distant campsite and surrounding landscape. The mountains had not changed at all.
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| 2018 Inukshuk |
Similar
to our experience on the seal hunt, we weren’t having any luck finding the old
inukshuk. We decided to take a break
from our search and build a new & larger inukshuk. When it was complete, I set my camera down on
a nearby rock and set the 10-second countdown timer. Then I ran to join the cadets for the group
photo. I marked the location of the 2018
inukshuk on my GPS.
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| 2016 Inukshuk. |
We
continued our ascent up a neighbouring hill and suddenly a cadet yelled out my
name. They had found the 2016 inukshuk! It was still standing but much shorter. The top half had fallen over, most likely
from wind. I photographed it and marked
the coordinates.
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| Sliding hill. |
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| Sliding hill. |
It
took another hour to get to the sliding hill.
The slopes were covered with soft white snow. The hill would be perfect for alpine skiers. I filmed several cadets sliding down the hill
and even let one of the civilian instructors (CI) hold a GoPro camera while they
slid. From where I was standing, it looked
like the CI took a serious tumble but it was not so. I wondered what my GoPro recorded? I slid down as well and joined the cadets
waiting at the bottom of the hill. The Ranger-in-Charge
& two senior cadets were waiting for us.
They had brought two sleds for us to sit on and ride back to camp. I filmed the six-minute ride with my GoPro
camera.
The
rest of the day was spent on downtime, dinner, one more class about wilderness
survival, and more downtime.
The
cadets learned how to shoot the .303 Lee-Enfield rifle on Sunday morning after
breakfast. We drove out and set up two naphtha
cans filled with snow & rocks. I
stood back and let the rangers do the instruction. Once all the handling & safety precautions
were explained and demonstrated, the cadets took turns shooting the cans. The sounds of the bullets leaving the rifles
echoed off the neighbouring mountains. I
shot a round for the experience but missed my target.
The
rest of the morning was spent tearing down the camp, packing everything onto
the qamutiks, and doing a garbage sweep.
It took us one hour to get it all done.
We drove onto the main skidoo trail at 12:45pm and headed north towards
Arctic Bay.
We
stopped halfway for tea and one of the drivers tried to catch a curious seal
but was unsuccessful. The drive back was
mostly monotonous, but I enjoyed looking at the beautiful arctic scenery. At one point in the return trip, the convoy
split into two groups. The first group
drove onwards while the second one broke off to hunt more seals. These things can happen several times. If you see sunbathing seals, why not take the
chance? The convoy came together again in
Adam’s Sound. The time was 6:00pm when
we arrived in Arctic Bay.
I snapped
a quick picture of the tired looking cadets before we all went to work
unloading the supplies from the qamutiks.
Frank had his two pickup trucks waiting for us. One was to be loaded with the corps equipment
while the other was to be filled with personal belongings. Frank drove the cadets home while his
grandson transported the corps kit to Frank’s shop at the Gas Station. I hopped on my skidoo and drove over to the community
hall but left my skidoo out on the ice.
There was not enough snow on the ground for me to drive it up to my
place. I walked the rest of the way. A long hot shower was waiting for me at home.
Overall,
Operation Spring Fix 18 was a success.
Everything worked out well and everyone came back alive.
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