Operation Spring Fix 24 – Part 2

Warning: This post contains images that some readers may find graphic.  Viewer discretion is advised.

I woke up at 8am feeling refreshed.  Sleeping in the iglutaq was a success and I’d do it again.  I got dressed and emerged from the iglutaq, ready to seize the day.  The campsite appeared quiet, but I could hear some movements in other tents.  I stretched my legs and walked around to remain awake.  I woke up the cadets in the tents and told them to get ready for breakfast.  I took pictures of the campsite while cadets slowly emerged from their tents.  Overcast clouds hung in the sky. 

The senior cadets collected water from ice holes drilled into the lake the night before using large grey pots.  They fired up the Coleman stoves and boiled the water.  I opened a few MRE boxes, and the cadets lined up to select their breakfast meals.  Junior cadets go first, senior cadets second, and officers last.  We labelled our main meals with Sharpie markers and placed them in the pots.  Our meals were ready to eat after 15 minutes.  The hired adult driver also enjoyed an MRE while the Canadian Ranger prepared his own breakfast.

I taught two lessons after breakfast, one about no-trace camping, and the other about predicting weather through cloud formations.  The cadets then enjoyed a short snack break.

The cadets then spent some time fishing at the nearby ice holes.  Arctic char can be found at Ijuyuarjuk, but you must get through a thick layer of ice before you can jig and/or set nets.  The thickness of the ice can be as much as 9 feet!  It’s a good thing the Canadian Ranger brought a gas-powered ice auger with additional poles. 

Lunch consisted of MREs and lasted an hour. 

The Canadian Ranger showed the cadets the process of laying fishnets.  Quite a few pieces of gear are required: ice auger, shovel, wooden ice jigger, metal rods, and ropes.  A minimum team of 3 makes the drilling process fast & efficient.  Two people operate the ice auger, and the third person clears & shovels the snow & ice.  The metal rods & ropes secure the nets to the surface. 

We continued to jig for char and a few cadets managed to catch some.  I didn’t.  We were briefly interrupted by the sounds of geese flying north, possibly towards Arctic Bay.  A cadet tried his best goose call, but none of the birds responded.  The hunting of geese is permitted in Nunavut.

The Canadian Ranger & hired adult driver took the cadets seal hunting at 2:30pm.  They left before I did because I had to use the washroom.  I’d catch up to them on my skidoo.  When it comes to “using the facilities”, you find a secluded spot away from the campsite, like a hill, and do your business.  Just remember not to go near a fresh water source.  Skidoos are used as privacy walls or people build a half igloo: a semi-circle wall with no roof. 

The skidoo convoy was long gone when I entered Admiralty Inlet.  All I could see was endless kilometres of ice & snow, and distant mountains.  I had brought binoculars but gave them to a cadet before they left.  If this was my first time to the area, I would have felt like I was looking for a needle in a snowbank.  But this was my third time, and I have previous experience travelling out on the land.  These were most likely the reasons why I didn’t panic and wasn’t concerned.

I scanned the horizon from south to north and decided to drive west; straight ahead.  I spotted a skidoo track after several minutes and decided to follow it.  Driving out on the land feels like travelling in space.  You’re moving but it looks like you’re not.  I’ll admit the longer I drove, the more my mind began to question my decision to head west.  But I stuck to my guns and kept driving.  I did stop briefly to take a picture of Ijuyuarjuk behind me.

Eventually I spotted two black dots in the distance.  That had to be them.  I kept driving, slowly closing the distance.  Beyond the black dots I saw a large iceberg that had to be close to a hundred feet high.  I wondered if we would have time to visit.  Eventually the two dots became two qamutiks and then the two skidoos came into view.  The convoy had stopped to look at some seal breathing holes.  I joined the convoy, greeting the cadets & asking them if they caught anything.  They said no. 

We drove around the area, found a few seal holes and had several cadets stand by them with niksiks, large metal hooks attached to long wooden sticks.  The skidoos drove away, attempting to fool curious seals into thinking we left.  Unfortunately, no seals surfaced after 20 minutes.  I’ve been told that some hunters have stood by a seal hole for up to an hour before scoring a kill.  Not all was lost because the Canadian Ranger managed to get a small seal.  The convoy converged and we all looked at the catch.  He tied it to his qamutik. 

The Canadian Ranger led the convoy back to Ijuyuarjuk, but we stopped at a few seal holes along the way.  He shot another seal, but it escaped through a breathing hole.  We returned to camp with one successful catch.  The hunt had lasted 2 hours.  The large iceberg I mentioned before was too far away to visit.

The Canadian Ranger harvested the seal and slow cooked half of it in a large grey pot.  His wife added vegetables to the mix.  He left the rest for everyone to eat raw.  I tried both.  I ate a few raw pieces and enjoyed a large piece of cooked seal.  Cooked seal is called uujuq.  The only part I couldn’t finish was the fat.  Birds would consume the leftovers.  The seal provided a good dinner.

The local Hunters & Trappers Association built a wooden cabin at Ijuyuarjuk as an emergency shelter.  The cadets & I moved our camp site to this cabin after dinner.  The cabin is located closer to Admiralty Inlet.  The cabin is a simple design.  There’s one door, one window, a wooden floor, and a raised wooden floor for sleeping.  There’s also a raised wooden shelf.  The male cadets & I would sleep in the cabin and the female cadet would stay in the green tent.

We spent the remainder of Saturday ice fishing and hanging out at the cabin.  I photographed a distant iceberg that looked like warship before going to bed.  The midnight sun shined brightly in the sky.

                                                                       To Be Continued . . . 

Operation Spring Fix 24 – Part 1

Operation Spring Fix (OSF) finally returned after a 4-year absence.  It’s a fancy name for a weekend field training exercise (FTX) the army cadets of 3045 participate in late May.  The purpose of an FTX is to give cadets the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned at the corps level out in the field.  There are lessons specifically made for FTXs, such as, safe camping, map & compass, fieldcraft, wilderness survival, hiking, first aid, predicting weather, and leading a group.  Cadets also participate in hunting and fishing, under guidance & supervision of the Canadian Rangers.  Rangers are also required for polar bear protection.

Planning for OSF24 began three months before the start of the FTX.  A fair amount of paperwork is required to receive approval from headquarters.  Some of these are schedules, equipment lists, travel plans, and safety plans.  I was relieved when I got the news that the FTX had been approved.  Headquarters mailed several Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) boxes while I worked with the local Rangers to procure skidoos, qamutiks, and gas.  The cadets assisted me in gathering the necessary corps equipment.  The cadets received a kit list of what to bring for the trip.

The FTX began on Friday, May 24, in the early evening.  The cadets & adult staff assembled out on the ice in front of the Northern Store to pack the 3 qamutiks (sleds).  It took about 45 minutes.  Three qamutiks sound like a lot but unfortunately, it wasn’t.  We had to leave several items behind, deemed non-essential, because there’s wasn’t enough space.  If my old skidoo was working, we could have gotten another driver to pull a 4^th qamutik.

The most senior cadet assembled the cadets to take roll call.  Once that was done, I did a quick welcome briefing and explained how we would proceed to the camp site.  The driving would last several hours.  The cadets were dismissed to find empty spots on the qamutiks.  The skidoos were fired up and the convoy proceeded south towards Uluksan Point.  We briefly stopped to do a final check of our gear and then continued southwest, across the Adams Sound, towards Admiralty Inlet.  It was at this time I found out my new skidoo wasn’t as strong as I thought it was.

My skidoo causing problems.

I bought a 600 EFI Backcountry Skidoo in late November 2022.  This was my first time using the machine to pull a fully loaded qamutik.  I had removed a side panel to expose the exhaust pipes & engine to the cold weather for additional cooling.  Well, that wasn’t good enough.  A loud beeping noise sounded, informing me the engine had reached a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.  I slowed the snowmobile, not sure what to do, and then the engine shut off automatically.  The skidoo came to a halt and the qamutik I was pulling came within an inch to hitting the back of my skidoo.  Unlike my first skidoo, the 600 EFI is liquid cooled and doesn’t have a cooling fan.  As the convoy pulled up to check why I stopped, I made the mistake of opening the small liquid coolant tank.  The coolant inside was boiling and exploded outwards.  Thankfully, I stepped back in time and wasn’t burned.  I placed the cap back on and explained the situation to the Canadian Ranger.  He suggested I wait a few minutes and then drive ahead of the convoy at a faster speed.

The advice worked for a little bit, but I was forced to stop two more times before reaching the entrance of Admiralty Inlet.  I was not impressed by my skidoo’s performance and by this point I was contemplating abandoning it and picking it up at the end of the FTX.  The Ranger vetoed that idea because we couldn’t rely on 2 working skidoos.  He suggested that I pull a lighter packed qamutik.  The one I had been pulling was packed with MREs.  I agreed to give it a try.

The qamutik switch appeared to work as we entered Admiralty Inlet and a northern wind blowing in our direction was also a bonus.  I still had to keep a close eye on the engine temperature.  I had also been told to drive over deep snow because the tracks kick it up and cool the radiator.  I did whatever I could to keep my skidoo from overheating because our final destination was 70km south of Arctic Bay.

The convoy stopped halfway for a tea & snack break.  The stop is near a well-known area where an ice crack forms, just to the north of Levasseur Inlet.  I’ve written about it in previous posts.  There was no visible ice crack this time, just endless kilometres of white snow & ice.  Another convoy of skidoos & qamutiks pulled up behind us as we were resting.  They were families also heading towards the same lake we were.  We chatted, and shared tea, hot chocolate, and snacks.

We continued driving for another few hours, following the main skidoo trail south.  I constantly looked in all directions: ahead, at the engine temperature, and behind me, making sure I was still pulling a qamutik, and the cadets were still on it.  We eventually drove off the main trail and ice and arrived at Ijuyuarjuk.  The cadets & I have previously camped here in 2016 & 2018.  The landlocked lake was completely frozen.  We parked in the near centre of the lake which is solid ground.  The lake looks U-shaped on Google Maps.  I was relieved my skidoo made it and was still in one piece.

Inside an Iglutaq.

We spent the next hour setting up the tents.  The time was 11:15pm but the sun was still shining.  It’s 24-hour daylight in late May.  I chose to sleep inside a wooden iglutaq attached to a qamutik because we had only brought one Arctic green tent.  The male cadets managed to squeeze into it with the help of two cots.  The Ranger and his wife, and a hired adult driver had their own tents.  I made two mental notes for next year: make sure to have 4 skidoos & qamutiks and pack at least 2 green tents. 

I didn’t mind having to sleep inside an iglutaq; in fact, I had wanted to try it out for a long time.  I removed everything inside and placed an air mattress & my sleeping bags on the wooden floor.  It would be my sleeping cubicle for the night.  Well, actually day. 

Fishing until 1am.

I held another briefing with the cadets, welcoming them to Ijuyuarjuk, and going over the basic FTX rules.  We all had to be on our best behaviour because other families were present.  Some had already drilled holes in the ice for fishing.  I let the cadets stay up until 1am to jig for fish.  Then they went to bed.  They would need their rest.

Saturday was going to be a busy day for everyone.       

                                                                    To Be Continued . . . 

Spring Camp, Cabin, & Upcoming FTX

Inuujaq School held its annual Spring Camp during the week of May 6 – 10.  The week-long event sees all staff & students head out to a designated camp site on scheduled days to participate in a range of on the land activities that reflect Inuit culture & heritage.  Planning began in March with the school’s Events Committee holding weekly meetings to iron out all the details.  If I had to summarize the main parts, they would be staffing, food, safety, transportation, scheduling, equipment, communication, and activities. 

The school hires drivers & Elders as additional staff.  Drivers ferry participants & equipment to & from the camp site and the Elders instruct students.  The main mode(s) of transportation are snowmobiles & qamutiks (sleds).  Teachers mostly provide added supervision but are permitted to prepare backup activities.  School Administration orders a week’s worth of food from the local Co-op.  The quantity is a lot because we must feed around 300 people over 5 days.  Safety is very important because risks & dangers are present out on the land.  The two at the top of the list are polar bears & snowmobile accidents.  Only drivers & Elders are permitted to carry firearms.  The Events Committee takes great care in crafting a well detailed safety plan.  Classes visit the camp site on different days, making management, supervision, and food distribution easier.  Visits start with high school classes and then descend in order.  Various communication methods are employed to keep the school & camp site in constant contact.  We use VHF radios, instant messaging, satellite phones, and the snowmobile drivers as a last resort.

The Events Committee held a meeting before the start of Spring Camp with the hired drivers & Elders to go over everything.  I led the meeting, and it was informative & productive.  Some of the activities taking place would be: seal hunting & harvesting, fishing, sewing, cooking, Bannock making, dog sledding, qamutik maintenance, and Inuit games.  The drivers & Elders agreed to head out to the campsite over the weekend to set up the tents. 

Classes headed down to the ice in front of the school at 9am, carrying their belongings, and food from the school kitchen.  The convoy of skidoos & qamutiks would be waiting for them.  The drivers & students packed the qamutiks evenly.  Students & staff then got onto the qamutiks after attendance was taken.  The convoy then proceeded south towards the campsite, located about 12km out of town.  It’s far enough to give the feeling of being out on the land, but close enough to town in case of emergencies.  Students & staff were brought back to Arctic Bay by 4:30pm.  This process repeated every day during the week.  I would have attended the first day with high school students, but I had to stay behind and assist running the school as acting vice-principal.  However, Friday, May 10, the last day of Spring Camp, was reserved for Inuujaq School staff.  Students got the day off from school and a 3-day weekend.

Staff assembled out on the ice at 9:30am.  I brought my own skidoo & an extra filled gas can for the day trip.  My backpack was filled with day supplies.  Once attendance was taken, staff found empty spots on qamutiks.  The drivers brought their skidoos to life and the drive to the campsite began.  The drive took about 20 minutes.  I mostly followed the convoy but raced ahead at one point and stopped to take pictures of the passing convoy.  I let the convoy pass and then drove to catch up.  I stopped in front of the camp site, snapped landscape photos and then drove off the ice.

The campsite consisted of 5 tents of various sizes.  The head of the local District Education Authority (DEA) called for everyone to assemble in a circle.  She officially welcomed everyone to Spring Camp and thanked them for their hard work throughout the year.  An Elder said a prayer for the day to go well and then the circle was allowed to disperse.

Staff were given time to hang out with the Elders outside and/or visit them in tents.  I watched one carving a doll out of wood using her ulu knife.  Several staff members played a boardgame made by the woodshop teacher.  A Canadian North plane flew above us after 11am, heading towards the airport to land.  It was around this time I started to feel unwell.  I’m not sure what brought it on, but I retreated into one of the tents and laid down to rest.  I managed to get some sleep, but it didn’t stop the migraine from forming.  In the end, I decided to head home.  I apologized to staff, hopped on my skidoo and carefully drove home.  I safely made it and headed inside to sleep.  The migraine subsided the following day.  Unfortunately, I missed out on seal hunting & fishing.  There’s always next year.

Overall, Spring Camp was a success.  Students & staff had fun out on the land and learned new things. 

The annual Fishing Derby happened over the Victoria Day Weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to participate or head outside to document it.  I really need to set time aside for this event, even if I’m not a fisherman.  It’s great to watch.  The challenge is driving out to the fishing lakes.  The closest one is at least a 2-hour drive by skidoo.

Sorry about the blurriness.

I saw a cabin on the move on May 22.  Well, it was being moved by a CAT loader.  The driver carefully lowered the completed cabin onto a qamutik near the shoreline in front of the Northern Store.  The driver had a spotter helping him.  Three large wooden logs lay on the qamutik to support & distribute the weight of the cabin.  My guess is the cabin will be moved to a camp site or fishing lake.

Looking ahead, this coming weekend is going to be exciting, because I’ll be heading out on the land with the army cadets for a field training exercise (FTX).  The spring FTX has finally returned!  More on this trip when I come back.